So, I am going to the inauguration, and a black tie event later that night. I rented a tux, but not shoes as I thought, hell I will just wear my old dress shoes and save a few bucks.

Nope. I am leaving in 12 hours, and I polished up my old corframs with pledge, and noticed the soles were cracked on the bottom. Upon further investigation, the soles were soft and mushy. Put them on, and didn't make it 10 feet before chunks started falling off the sole.

Guess I am going to spit shine a pair of black dress shoes and use the old Mop-and-Glow hack right before the event. Wrong..... I can't find Mop-and-glow at walmart, Target, or the grocery store....

FML, I should have checked them earlier. Guess I am now buying a pair of patent leather shoes.

Bates never last worth a damn.

They do wear out fast with use, I just never expected them to wear out sitting on the top shelf of my closet.

SNCO PME one of the dildos in the class wanted everyone to do pushups during break. I laughed and drank my coffee (many furrowed brows and "not a team player" mutterings")

When the third pair of Bates blew out completely they stopped doing pushups

I had a pair frag on me during an event in Key West one time.  The soles literally melted away while pulling parking lot duty!

I had that happen before a Ball and had to pic up a new pair on the way.

Man my feet were jacked up after dancing and drinking all night

Yeah, they suck.

I had that happen to me on the way back from a funeral (fortunate timing that we were already done and headed back to post). I noticed black powder on the floor of the car and realized it was coming from a crack on the side of the shoe heel. The entire inside of the sole had turned to powder and was being held together by the outer "skin" of the sole.

I switched to a different style of Bates called Durashocks, which are a little more expensive but have a much tougher, oil-resistant sole with a bit of grip to it, instead of the smooth textured sole on the standard Bates. Here's a link to the Amazon listing:

Bates Durashocks

The sole seems much more durable - they survived a year and a half of daily wear at the Pentagon and seem to be fine. I actually ended up getting another pair just because the finish had gotten so scuffed up that they were starting to look pretty bad (the one drawback of shoes that you don't have to - can't - polish). However, it may be that whatever rubber Bates uses just deteriorates after a few years. Since I'm not wearing the new pair every day anymore, I'll have to see how they hold up down the road.