My guess is it had something to do with Michael Jordan and his shoes. Everyone used to wear leather shoes, and they needed to be polished, by someone. If time permitted, you got a shine.
It used to be a time killer, also. Train station, airport, bus station, yes, we used to have bus stations, time to kill, there was generally a shoe shine stand on the premises somewhere.
They generally had a small brush to put the polish on, then, usually two polish brushes worked together, left, then right, one continuous motion. Then the heels, both sides.
Then came the polishing cloth, zip, zip, pop, pop, the better they got at it, the louder the pop. Those polish rags did their job, a glistening shine.
The final touch was generally a small brush, often a toothbrush, where they applied color to the soles of the shoes.
But there was always that last, final, zip, zip, pop, pop, the louder the pop, the greater the shine, the bigger the tip.
I am sure that there were, and perhaps still are, many successful businessmen, lawyers, doctors, architects and others who got their start shining shoes. They learned something. To be polite, businesslike, work hard and diligent, do the best job you could, and in doing so, you reaped the rewards.
