"once you have looked at the band aids and gauze covering bleeding blisters on your young daughters feet" ...

Get out the violins, boys!

I've always thought people ought to wear sensible shoes and I've often said to my wife that she doesn't need to wear high heels. However she insists on wearing them anyway. 

I'm sure "greed" will ensure a lot of waitresses continue to wear high heels. And aside from that profession (restaurants and bars are notorious for wanting their staff to wear the same uniform) I can't think of too many other work places that care all that much about what their staff wear to the point of dictating what sort of shoes they wear (aside from safety shoes of course). 

btw, one summer I worked in a warehouse where the boss wouldn't let you to sit down even if you weren't doing anything because he thought you'd somehow "not be working". My feet got pretty sore walking and standing on a concrete floor all day. But something like that is scarcely worth mentioning, eh?