One of the best things at a US airport is the shoeshine stand. If it is manned.

In San Antonio, the weekend and holiday morning shift usually has a young kid working his way through school. Or planning to go back to school.

Today, in San Francisco, I stopped at the T1 stand and had my Williams boots buffed up. I had polished them before I left Kerrville, but the guy did a much better job:

Interesting guy. 7 minutes per shine. He had a business making food for athletes, but could not do the selling (to build pipeline) as well as the prep. So one day the pipe was empty and he had no income.

He has spent 18 months doing the shoeshine shuffle, and is gearing up to restart his business, better financed.

Good on him.