I stood there, waiting for the door to open. I knew what I wanted, and I knew where to find them. A pair of shorts, Old Navy.

I was early. The store wouldn't open for 10 minutes, but it was a pleasant Saturday morning to be outside.

As I waited, a line began to form behind me. Weird, I thought. As the line lengthened with tweens, teens and their moms, I became confused. This was Old Navy, right? The growing din of excitement made me suspect I'd made a terrible mistake. Was a Miley Cyrus fan club meeting here? What had I gotten myself into?

It became clear when an employee unlocked the door and said "Who's here for dollar flip-flops?"

A cheer went up from the crowd.

Seriously? Flip-flops?

As I entered the store, I quickly moved to the right to let the throng pass. They began running to the back of the store where thousands of flip-flops in a rainbow of colors hung on the wall.

Normally $2.50 per pair, they were on sale for a mere buck. That's a 60 percent savings. I understand the mind of a bargain hunter. I'm one myself. But they're flip-flops, people. Flip. Flops.

Hadn't these people heard of the dangers of flip-flops? Wear them long enough, says the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, and you'll have a host of foot and joint problems. And according to the GOP, flip-flops are the leading cause of changing your mind.

But these Old Navy customers wouldn't be swayed. They milled about, finding the right sizes and colors. The upside was I didn't have to wait for a dressing room. After all, flip-flops can be eyeballed for size, especially since they aren't real shoes.

"Flip-flops were never meant to be everyday shoes," said Marybeth Crane, a spokeswoman for the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, in a USA Today story.

"They were meant to wear from the locker room to the pool and back."

Yet for millions of women and girls they've become the everyday summer shoe, worn with absolutely everything and absolutely everywhere. Stop in any public place and listen for a second. You'll hear it -- the obnoxious, tell-tale slap-slapping of the flip-flop. It's the only shoe that announces when it's coming and going.

And on that Saturday at Old Navy, women and girls were buying them five pairs at a time, the per-customer limit. By the time I was ready to check out, the four open check lanes were snaked 15 and 20 customers deep. I'd only seen checkout lines like that once before when I foolishly thought I could score a $10 DVD player on Black Friday at Best Buy.

I saw several friends and acquaintances while waiting in the flip-flop line, so it wasn't time wasted. One friend and I chatted happily about our selections as she dangled a flip-flop rainbow from one hand. I told her how I had unwittingly stepped into flip-flop madness that day and she chuckled, pointing at the items in my hand -- a pair of shorts and two pairs of flip-flops.

Go ahead. Call me a flip-flopper. I can take it.