Need dress shoes today? Our AI called 3 DC stores and got a pair on hold by 11 am

A call4me user's dress shoe broke on the morning of a 5 pm gala. Their AI phone assistant called two Nordstrom Racks and a Men's Wearhouse, found Stacy Adams loafers in a 10.5 for $119, and got them set aside for pickup. Here's what each store said, all 6 recordings, and how to do it yourself.

Nick Khami · October 1, 2026 · 18 min read

The short answer: call the store, ask a person to check the shelf for your size, and ask them to set the pair aside under your name. That's what a call4me user's AI phone assistant did on Thursday, October 1, 2026, after the user's dress shoe broke on the morning of a 5 pm gala in Washington, DC. Between 10:18 and 10:55 am Eastern, it made 6 calls to 3 stores. By 10:55 am, the Men's Wearhouse on Connecticut Avenue had black Stacy Adams loafers in a size 10.5 set aside for the user to pick up and pay for that day.

The user's ask: plain black men's dress shoes, size 10 or 10.5, no sneakers or white soles, $120 or less including tax, and something they could buy that day.

What it took:

1. Two Nordstrom Racks, no specific pair. One store put us on hold, and then our caller stopped hearing the line (our bug, more below). The other said it had "quite a variety" but needed an item number from the website to check a specific shoe.
2. Men's Wearhouse, call 1: a size 10 at $124.99 before tax, over budget. The call ended while the associate was checking for something cheaper.
3. Men's Wearhouse, call 2: Stacy Adams loafers, $119 before tax, in a 10.5, plus a $20 off discount if you sign up in the store. A shoe-only rental was "like, what, $80 to $90" for one day.
4. Men's Wearhouse, calls 3 and 4: after the user okayed a hold, one call got "Your call cannot be transferred," and the next one got the pair set aside.

All six calls were made by a call4me user in Washington, DC. Our caller didn't buy anything or give a card. The user's name and phone number and the store staff's names are muted in the audio and shown in brackets in the transcripts. Stretches of dead air longer than about 3 seconds are shortened to about 1 second, and each cut is marked in the transcript. Prices and stock are what each store said on that morning, and they can change any day.

The six calls, in order #

All times Eastern, Thursday, October 1, 2026.

Calls 2 and 3 overlapped: our caller was on hold at Nordstrom Rack Metro Center when it started the Men's Wearhouse call.

Why the $20 mattered: with DC sales tax, $119 comes to about $127, over the $120 budget. With $20 off, $99 plus tax comes to about $106.

Listen: Men's Wearhouse sets the pair aside (2 minutes 31 seconds) #

• 0:00 The store's recorded greeting: address, hours, and "To speak to a store associate, press zero"
• 0:49 An associate answers (the name is muted)
• 0:52 "I'm calling to see if you can hold a pair of black Stacy Adams loafers in size ten and a half"
• 1:13 "Is this something you're looking at on the website?"
• 1:23 "Is it black? Does it have like a little silver buckle thing on it?" "Yeah, that's the one"
• 1:33 "I'm gonna put you on hold." About 97 seconds of silent hold are shortened to about 1 second
• 1:37 "Okay, I got 'em, ten and a half"
• 1:42 "Could you set those aside... for him to pick up today before five?" At 1:48: "Cool, will do"
• 1:51 How late will they hold them? At 1:56: "We're open 'til seven, and then usually folks just pick stuff up at the end of the day and put it back"
• 2:04 The hold name and callback number (both muted)

Listen: Men's Wearhouse finds the $119 Stacy Adams (5 minutes 33 seconds) #

• 0:44 Our caller waits through the greeting and presses 0
• 0:56 "We just got disconnected while an associate was checking for black dress shoes, size ten or ten and a half, under a hundred twenty dollars. Could I pick that back up?"
• 1:09 "So I did have them, okay? I had shoes, but they're not tuxedo shoes"
• 1:20 "They're loafers. Loafers like, just like regular black dress shoes"
• 1:32 "Those are 119, okay?" Before tax
• 1:47 Our caller asks for something cheaper, "even as a shoe-only rental today"
• 1:54 "Shoe rental only today would be like... what, eighty to ninety bucks to rent them." At 2:10: "Yeah, it's crazy"
• 2:23 "Like I said, 119 for that loafer shoe, and you can definitely use a twenty dollars off discount"
• 2:47 "It's actually Stacy Adams brand"
• 2:58 The associate checks for a 10.5 while hold music plays for almost two minutes
• 4:54 "I have a ten and a half"
• 5:07 The total with the discount? "No, only because you'll have to sign up for the discount in store"
• 5:17 Our caller says it will check with the user and call back

Listen: Men's Wearhouse, the first try (3 minutes 48 seconds) #

• 0:45 "I'll get an associate." Our caller presses 0
• 0:50 "Hello, Men's Wearhouse"
• 0:52 "Do you have a black men's formal shoe in size ten or ten and a half in stock today?"
• 1:01 "Let me check, okay?" Hold music plays for about 85 seconds
• 2:28 "I have a ten"
• 2:38 "That one is around one thirty, I think one twenty-four ninety-nine." At 2:49: before tax
• 2:51 "That's a bit over budget. Do you have any other black dress shoes in that size that would come in under one twenty total?"
• 2:59 "One twenty total? Let me check, okay?"
• 3:04 Hold music again, until the call ends at 3:48. The call records don't say which side ended it

Listen: Men's Wearhouse, "Your call cannot be transferred" (48 seconds) #

• 0:00 The same recorded greeting
• 0:43 After about 10 seconds of silence (shortened to about 1 second): "Your call cannot be transferred. Please try again later." Our caller dialed again 22 seconds later, and that was call 6

Listen: Nordstrom Rack Metro Center, "give me the item number" (2 minutes 56 seconds) #

• 0:00 A Nordy Club and credit card message, then the phone menu: 0 for the operator, 5 for a store representative, 6 for a list of department managers
• 0:49 "Five or six for a human. Six sounds better." Our caller presses 6. About 4 seconds of silence before the store answers are shortened to 1 second
• 1:00 "Nordstrom Rack Metro Center, how can I help you?"
• 1:03 Our caller asks for the men's shoe department
• 1:19 "We don't have anyone in right now for that department, but I can try to help you"
• 1:23 About 8 seconds of silence in the recording are shortened to 1 second. Our caller's next sentence is partly garbled in the recording
• 1:33 The associate repeats the request: "Men's dress shoes. Size ten. Ten and a half... under one hundred twenty dollars plus tax"
• 2:01 "Let me ask a member of our floor team to see if they can check on that"
• 2:27 "Yes, we have quite a variety of them. However, if you would like me to look into the computer for specific ones... if you give me the item number... I can look it up"
• 2:56 The recording ends mid-sentence

Listen: Nordstrom Rack L Street, where our caller went quiet (2 minutes 21 seconds) #

• 0:00 A message about online pickup, then the same menu as Metro Center
• 0:43 "Let's go with option five"
• 0:55 "Thank you for calling Nordstrom Rack at L Street, how may I help you?"
• 0:59 The request: men's black dress shoes, size 10 or 10.5, "for a gala before five," under $120 including tax
• 1:15 "Say that again?" and then "Who?" while our caller repeats it
• 1:29 "So you called the main line, ma'am. We don't have like a person shopper, but hold on one moment"
• 1:46 Someone picks up. "Hello? Hello?" At 1:54: "Nobody on here." At 2:00: "Hello, is anyone available?" Our caller doesn't answer
• 2:06 About 77 seconds of silence are shortened to about 1 second
• 2:07 "Hi, thank you for calling Nordstrom Rack on L Street. How can I help you?" More hellos follow, and the recording ends at 2:21

Can Men's Wearhouse hold items for pickup? #

Yes, at least at this store, on this day. The associate checked the shelf, found the pair, and set it aside under the user's name for pickup the same day, with no card and no deposit. The catch is how long: "We're open 'til seven, and then usually folks just pick stuff up at the end of the day and put it back." Treat a phone hold as same day only, and go before closing.

Two things that helped:

• Name the exact shoe. "Black Stacy Adams loafers, ten and a half" got a quick yes. The associate still asked, "Does it have like a little silver buckle thing on it?" to be sure.
• Press 0. The store's recorded greeting lists its address and hours, then: "To speak to a store associate, press zero." Pressing 0 got a person in under 20 seconds on three of the four Men's Wearhouse calls. The fourth got "Your call cannot be transferred," and calling right back worked.

Can you rent just shoes at Men's Wearhouse? #

The associate said a shoe-only rental for the day would be "like, what, eighty to ninety bucks to rent them," and then added, "Yeah, it's crazy." With $119 to buy and $20 off for signing up in the store, buying cost about the same as renting.

Nordstrom Rack: what to ask for #

Nordstrom Rack's phone menu, at both DC stores: 0 for the operator, 2 for hours and directions, 4 for jobs, 5 for a store representative, 6 for a list of department managers, 8 to repeat. Neither store had someone in men's shoes to check the shelf over the phone. Metro Center said it had "quite a variety" in the size and price range, and asked for an item number from nordstromrack.com to look up a specific shoe. If you call a Rack, find a pair on the website first and read them the item number.

Where our caller fell short #

• At Nordstrom Rack L Street, it stopped hearing the line. After the store put it on hold, staff came back and said hello several times, and our caller never answered. Our saved transcript ends at "Sure, no problem," so our side stopped receiving the store's audio. That's a bug on our side, not the store's.
• At Men's Wearhouse, it went one question at a time. The first call asked about a size, then the price, then before or after tax, then something cheaper, and the call ended on hold before the cheaper pair came up. Asking "Do you have a black dress shoe in a 10 or 10.5 under $113 before tax?" up front would have saved a call.
• It asked for the total with the discount, which the associate couldn't give until the user signed up in the store. It should have asked what the signup is.
• It never asked how long a hold would last until the last call. "Can you hold it until 5?" is worth asking every time.

What to say: a script that worked #

Hi, could you hold a pair of [brand and style] in a size [size] for [name] to pick up today? They'll pay in the store.

If you don't know the exact shoe yet: "Could someone check the shelf for a plain black [style] in a [size], under [price] before tax? What's the brand and the price?"

Let an AI phone assistant make the calls #

These calls were made by call4me, an AI phone assistant that works inside the agent you already use (Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT). You tell your agent what you need. It calls the stores, sits through the menus and the hold music, and reports back with what each one said. These six calls took 37 minutes, start to finish.

If you use call4me, paste this into your agent:

Find me [item, size and color] I can pick up today in [city], under [price] including tax. Call [stores and phone numbers], ask someone to check the shelf, and get the brand, style, size and price. If one fits, ask them to hold it under my name until [time], and say I'll pay in the store. Don't buy anything or give a card. Put the answers in one table.

dress shoes · men's wearhouse · nordstrom rack · same day pickup · ai phone assistant