I was sit­ting alone in a booth at Spike’s today, scarf­ing down din­ner and skim­ming the Phoenix when a hip-looking Asian man walked over to my table.

“Excuse me. I don’t mean to bother you… but I really like your shoes!” he began.

“Oh. Um, thanks!” I replied, some­what con­cerned about where this con­ver­sa­tion could be leading.

“I think they’re the best New Bal­ance shoe ever made,” he added.

“Well, I bought them at the fac­tory out­let in Brighton, but this style has been dis­con­tin­ued, so you’re out of luck. I should have bought two pairs, though, because they are very nice.”

“Oh, I know. I have a pair myself. Actu­ally, the rea­son I noticed is because I’m a shoe designer at New Bal­ance. I think we should bring them back, so I’m glad to see you’re wear­ing them. Keep wear­ing those shoes, and keep fight­ing the good fight!”