In the market for size 6.5 or 7 rock climbing shoes

I just bought a size 7.5 off of someone, and it's too big, even with my thick sports socks on. That's the thing with Craigslist exchanges. There's a real person involved and you actually have to be assertive like you're supposed to be in real life (yeah right, not my real life) if you don't want it.

If it's some big chain store, you just bring in the receipt and the employee hired for the customer service desk takes back your unwanted item, and gives you the store's money back for it. If it's an online purchase, no human encounter required! Just package it up, smack a return label on that shit, and boom--gone forever. You don't have to see it eye to eye ever again.

We agreed to meet at Coffeesmith. It wasn't clear whether we were supposed to meet in the parking lot (as is rote) or inside the establishment, so I stood outside my car for a bit answering text messages in the cold. Some cars pulled into the parking lot: an old Asian couple, a young Asian couple. Coffeesmith regulars. Maybe 5 minutes passed (I was right on time, surprisingly) and I decided to put on my identifying marker on (my backpack--I'd said I'd be working there afterwards--which maybe indicated "meet inside") and make my way in.

Not 1 minute passed and a young Asian (!  not a granola white person?) woman, maybe a few years older than myself, knew just who to go to: "Are you the one asking about the climbing shoes?" she asked with a Vietnamese accent. No canvassing eyes or anything. She must have been staking me out in her car where I couldn't see her (I'd looked into the driver's side of all the cars around mine).

She got chatty, which surprised me, because in our email correspondances she didn't even mention her name (I did) or identifying characteristics at all. I was ready to just try on the shoes and be on with it, but she maintained conversation as I was eyeing the pair of shoes. "So, are you a student? What are you studying?" So I asked her, "So why did you decide to sell your shoes?" And she gave me a whole history of her climbing, i.e. she has 3 climbing shoes and is trying to get rid of them, she climbs at Vertical Rock ("How's the Sportrock in Sterling?") with her fiancee, she only climbs a 5.8 which makes it difficult because others are either lower or higher than her, she used to have a monthly pass but then she started going only once a week and less and less because of traveling for work (I should have asked: "Where! I want your job!").

She asked me how often I climb, and I'll bet she didn't even need to ask me to find out because I tried the shoes on with my socks (too much slippage for real rock climbers). I asked her who she climbs with--Meetups? And she (not I!) extended the invitation to climb together. I made the subtle suggestion, but she gave the explicit offer.

So basically I paid a girl 50 bucks to be my climbing buddy. I don't even know her name.

Maybe the shoes will fit my sister. We can be an Azn Grrls! climbing group.