Required: Immediate shoe repair to prevent craziness!

April 16, 2010 9:26 AM

Half way to work, I walked through my heel tap. To me, the sound of metal on concrete is like nails on a chalkboard. Help!

I know that I can go to a shoe repair place and have the heel taps replaced, but what can I do to keep from going crazy today? I have a mile to walk back to the train station, as well as various jaunts for lunch and sunshine and such.

I have access mostly to office supplies, although there is a small grocery store around the corner.

Thanks for any suggestions!

posted by chatongriffes to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

I'd probably build up interwoven layers of Scotch tape to about a 1/16" thickness, then cut it to size and slap it on that bad boy. Electrical tape would be better, probably, but any port in a storm.

Plastic mailing labels could also probably be cut to size and used, or an interwoven Post-It/tape amalgam. I love everyday MacGuyvering!
posted by julthumbscrew at 9:34 AM on April 16, 2010

Best answer: Maybe you could try several layers of masking tape, colored with a sharpie pen to make it less noticeable? Duct tape would be more durable, but also uglier and harder to remove when you want to repair the shoe right. Maybe you could sandwich it inside some masking tape layers.
posted by vytae at 9:34 AM on April 16, 2010

Do you have any of those double-sided foam poster stickies? I'm sure they have a name, like foam adhesive. You can cut them to size and sharpie them black if you need to.
posted by amicamentis at 9:36 AM on April 16, 2010

Heh, I asked this same thing a couple of weeks ago.

I was unable to try out the suggestions while dashing around, but if one of them works for you, I'll go ahead and mark it as best answer.
posted by romakimmy at 10:06 AM on April 16, 2010

That happens to me all the time, and I just walk in to a shoe repair place and they always can fix it while I wait, in about 5 to 10 minutes.
posted by thebazilist at 10:08 AM on April 16, 2010

Make that 3 to 5 minutes, really. Honestly I was surprised how minor of a repair it is.
posted by thebazilist at 10:09 AM on April 16, 2010

The grocery store might have felt floor protectors used on chair and tables. The self adhesive kind would be easiest and the tack on kind a bit more durable.
posted by Mitheral at 10:12 AM on April 16, 2010

Shoe repair places will almost always do this while you wait.

Alternatively, the easiest thing is probably to just put on your headphones, pump up some music, and drown out that dreaded sound.
posted by Kololo at 10:19 AM on April 16, 2010

Response by poster: Oh Mefites, is there anything duct tape and sharpie can't solve? The nearest shoe repair place is a mile away, so I think this will hold me over til I can pop in there.

Thanks guys!
posted by chatongriffes at 10:28 AM on April 16, 2010

Response by poster: Oh, I want you all to know: the IT guy looked at me like I was absolutely insane. It made my day.
posted by chatongriffes at 10:29 AM on April 16, 2010 [3 favorites]