Cobbler – A Job For Life, Re-defined

Cobbler – Fixing Shoes for life!

Cobbler – this term is almost extinct.

Basically, a Cobbler is a person who repairs shoes, rather than making them.  Since we live in a throwaway society, most of us purchase a set of new shoes produced in a sweatshop somewhere instead of having them repaired.

Hence, the demand for Cobblers has almost disappeared.

However, they are still out there – and one of them was my Great Uncle, Zio Giuseppe.  He’s passed away now, but he used to live in a small village north of Catania, in Sicily.  He was my Grandad’s brother and was the prime example of working past the retiring age of 65, and having a Job For Life.

His Cobbler Shop

I’ve included photos of him and his shop below.

When I visited him in 2002, he had reached 87 not out and was still working five days a week, still doing the same Cobbler job (or Calzolaio in Italian) continuously in the same, old, rustic, dusty shop for over 60 years.  A Job for Life is now a thing of the past  – more the domain of the Baby Boomer generation.  Generation Y is expected to have up to 30 jobs throughout their career.

But imagine having the same job for over 60 years.

I thought of suggesting Zio Giuseppe as a case study of how to combat Australia’s skills shortage to the Prime Minister, as a model convincing Australia’s ageing population to work until they die.

From what I deciphered amongst the cobwebs, the only change I accounted for over the years were his prices.  These were hand written in his Sicilian chicken scratch on the crumbling walls – the old Italian Lire prices were crossed out and had been converted to the equivalent price in Euros, without taking advantage of the price inflations Euro conversions had caused in all of the European Union since the introduction of the currency that sounded like a cheap three cylinder car.

Even though the price list was probably the newest item in his cobblers shop, it still had a romantic and antiquated feel about it.  He even had a steady stream of customers that must have been loyal for decades, and had a large backlog of repairs to go through.

I thought his shop was fantastic – completely unpretentious and understated, and a refreshing change from large multinational shops that seem to dominate many western societies.

Other things to do in Italy – check out Italian Television and the Worst Drivers In The World.

You never know, you might find a Cobbler near you!

More Cobbler Stuff

But I haven’t been convinced to become one myself, so I’m not buying this Men’s Polished Cobbler Belt.

If you are, check out Make your own shoes.