Unbreak my heart, Nordstrom Rack!

As many of you know, I've been searching for the perfect fall boot since the THE SPRING. I have spent hours and hours on this expedition. Yesterday, I thought my boot hunting excursion had come to a triumphant end when I spied the perfect boot at Austin's new Nordstrom Rack. They had everything I'd ever wanted in a boot:

• knee high but worked scrunched down, too.
• soft, grey suede
• the perfect circumference around my ankle and calf,
• and UNDER $50!

These boots were the last pair left in the entire store and they happened to be MY SIZE! It was fate, right? Squeeeee! I literally danced around the store in excitement and even high fived a perfect stranger for my find.

That's why I think my stinging tears of disappointment were justified when I got the the check out counter and discovered that these shoes were falling apart. They were either a return that never ever should have been accepted and/ or these were someone's actual shoes that they swapped in store for a better, newer pair:

They wouldn't sell these to me, even for a deep discount. The manager Esme tried to be nice about it and even offered to do a merchandise search at other Nordstrom Racks, but as the closest one is in Dallas, it just wasn't worth it to me. Alas, my arduous boot hunt continues today.