I Wear the Same Shoes as a Middle-Aged Chinese Woman

I consider myself a moderately fashionable person. I try to look nice for work. But in the lab, it's hard, given the risk of spilling noxious chemicals on oneself and the occasional trips to the mouse room. Mouse dander can be a bit unbecoming of a gentleman. So there are some elements of the wardrobe whose style is sacrificed for the sake of functionality. Case in point: my sneakers I wear to lab everyday. Reebok Classic Nylons. Tan/white color. Most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.

Comfort is a major consideration because biologists are on their feet for a sizable chunk of each day, what with running down the hall to the tissue culture room, over to the next building to talk with your collaborator, or down to the vending machine to score some sweet, sweet pop-tarts for your late afternoon fix. Good traction also comes in handy for those times when the freezer breaks and melts all over the floor in the hallway and you're scrambling to transfer its contents early on a Saturday morning when no one else is around. Both elements the Reebok Classic Nylon has in spades.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I was riding up in the elevator one morning and looked down to discover that a middle aged, slightly disagreeable Chinese woman shared my sensible taste in footwear. Not that Chinese women aren't fashionable. A Chinese girl in my lab is quite the trendsetter actually. It's just that, as a 24-year-old male, I find myself falling into a social class whose characteristic sartorial spectrum usually doesn't overlap with women who grew up four or five decades ago in a different hemisphere. I'll admit that the white/tan combination isn't the most common in footwear haute couture, but that was all they had at the Reebok Outlet in Jeffersonville, Ohio, and my coupon was about to expire. I had a blue and white pair before these. Those were way cooler. They're really comfortable. Shut up.