Dishonesty in the shoe business
It’s no surprise that companies will go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their shady business. One case of dubious shoe-dealing business is at this guy’s workplace, where the employees are encouraged to sell faulty shoes. If the customer comes back to complain, the SOP requires you to play dumb.
But the OP deserves a round of applause for doing one good deed. A kid purchased a pair at the OP’s workplace for his 16th birthday. The OP actually pointed out that the shoe the kid wanted to buy had a fault of some sort. Hopefully, this guy got out of the business when he could.