the time when she wore dirty shoes and almost made a nice lady cry

Rebecca over at Modite likes her, and thinks she gave the Madison networkers some good advice. But why is Penelope Trunk so mean when she tells readers (most of the time) to be nice? (Now, as Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval will tell you, that's good advice.)

And why does she wear dirty shoes (see hyperlink to mean, above) while constantly promoting the importance of appearance?