The Price of Quality: The Tale of Gessler Brothers

There was a famous, well-known boot shop in the city. The nameplate “Gessler Brothers” and a few shoes on the window were on top. Shoes are made to order. 

The narrator of the story describes one of his interactions with Mr. Gessler. He claims that because the shoes he makes are the best of their kind and last a long time, it has not been possible to visit him often. 

An Incident From The Past

One day, the narrator goes to their shop to buy Russian leather shoes. Mr. Gessler goes upstairs and goes away for a while before coming back with a fine piece of golden Russian leather. He claims he will receive his shoes tomorrow after receiving approval from the narrator. Finally, the buyer received the shoes as promised.

The narrator visits their boot shop one day and tells him that the shoes he bought last time creaked. Mr. Gessler asks him to bring the shoes to him after a lengthy pause. He promises to refund the money if he is unable to fix them.

Another day, he goes to Gessler Brothers to order a new pair of shoes. He is wearing shoes bought from a big company in an emergency. Immediately, Mr. Gessler realizes that the shoes are not his own creation. He claims that the narrator’s shoe hurts when he touches a particular spot where it is uncomfortable. 

He expresses his disdain for the large corporations’ use of shiny, impressive advertisements to sell lower-quality goods to customers. The narrator then explains to him why he needed to purchase those shoes.

The brand-new shoes held up for nearly two years. He also gets quite a shock during his subsequent visit. 

Upon entering the shop, he sees the younger Gessler’s brother, who informs him of the elder Gessler’s passing. He ordered several pairs that day. They are made more slowly, but the quality is even better than it was with the previous ones.

The narrator departs soon after for a foreign country and returns more than a year later. Mr. Gessler’s is the first shop he visits. At first, the 75-year-old Mr. Gessler is unable to recognize him. The narrator issues a huge directive. While the quality continues to improve, the wait is longer than ever.

After a week has passed, the narrator decides to go inside and tell Mr. Gessler that the boots are perfect. However, the nameplate is no longer present when he visits the location where the shop used to be.

He enters the shop, disoriented, and is greeted by a young English person. When the narrator inquires about Mr. Gessler, she learns that the younger Gessler has passed away. The narrator is astonished to hear this.

He hears from the young man that Gessler died of starvation. He used to put so much effort into making shoes that he forgot about everything else. Leather and rent received all of the funds. The outcome was crystal clear from the start. However, both the young man and the narrator concur that the Gessler brothers produced boots of high quality.

Moral of The Price of Quality: The Tale of Gessler Brothers

Hard work and dedication to one’s craft can come at a great cost. The Gessler brothers put all their time and energy into making the best shoes, but at the expense of other aspects of their lives.

Maintaining quality in any work you do is important, but it should not be at the expense of one’s own health and well-being.