Possible Clues:

• One on the threshold of being taken advantage of?
• Item for wiping shoes on
• Mug excited by silly motor ad
• Submissive person; shoe cleaner
• Shoe wiper at entrance
• Coarse rug for wiping shoes at entrance
• Milquetoast
• "On these occasions he ceased to be a human –– whom an 'Oh Clarence!' could quell" (P. G. Wodehouse)
• Looked down on one's hair style ... or weave
• Downtrodden shoe-cleaner