No Cap’n Crunch for you! Just another reason why I miss my work-bag

Earlier today after walking up the street to mail some letters, I thought I’d stop in at my local Rite-Aid to pick up some items.  When I stepped inside, the first thing I saw was a big display of Cap’n Crunch cereal (which always brings a smile to my face) beneath a sign that said the magic words:  BUY ONE GET ONE FREE.

Okay, I know eating this stuff is akin to sitting on my couch with a 5 lb bag of sugar and a spoon, but it’s still my favorite cereal of all time and gosh it’s probably been a couple years since I’ve had a bowl.  I put all thoughts of soap & shampoo aside, and plunked two boxes on the counter.  The woman behind the register put down her sandwich (she’s always eating something) and asked me if there was anything else.  Nope.  She said “I need your Rite-Aid card.”  I said “Eh?”  and she said “I can’t give you the free box without your card.”

I didn’t have it.  She told me to check my wallet—I told her I don’t carry one.  She said “Well, you always come in here with one.” NO LADY I DON’T, that’s my bus-pass holder, and that’s back in my apartment, in my work-bag!  (I didn’t tell her that, I just said thanks & I’d try again later.)  She said “We’ll be here!”  Yeah, I figured as much!

I MISS THAT WORK-BAG.  I mean—I miss having a legitimate reason to carry it around with me.  When I was working, I often did my errands—Hallmark, Rite-Aid, the post office—after leaving the office, before heading home.  So I pretty much went everywhere with that Land’s End bag strapped over my left shoulder.  Now when I walk up the street to my town’s business district, I need to pat myself down to make sure I haven’t forgotten something.   I’m about THISCLOSE to getting a fanny-pack, maybe I’ll make them an “in thing” again and yes I know, they were never an in-thing to begin with. 

It always mystified me a little, the reaction I occasionally got in the office from that bag at my desk.  Never from another guy, always from the women.  “You carry this around just for show?” or “your laptop in there?” or “all you need is your keys, why don’t you use your pockets like Steve?” or “I bet you don’t keep any work in there” and once I even heard this:  “So what’s in there anyway, your makeup and tampons?” 

That just reminded me, I’ve yet to empty the thing—I’ve left it by my front door since my final workday a little over a month ago, in case I got called back to active duty or something.   I guess now’s as good a time as any to see what’s in there.

The contents of ApacheDug’s workbag—REVEALED

1. The actual bag 
2. Totes umbrella 
3. Pat Transit schedule (to shake & jab a finger at when the bus was late) 
4. Work-notes and calculator  (my job was pricing—I did a lot of calculating)
5. Connect Card (for bus) & hey, no Rite-Aid card!
6. Kleenex, hand sanitizer, Advil & Halls cough drops 
7. That’s no bow tie, it’s my clip-on sunglasses in their little bag
8. Grandpap’s coin-purse (hey, that thing came in handy) 
9. ABC Movie of the Week Companion (which gives nifty plot synopses for every made-for-tv movie in the 1970s) 
10. Sony MP3 player 
11. pens 
12. gum, breakfast bar & Lil’ Debbie oatmeal cream pie (in case there’s nothing to snack on in the office) 
13. comb 
14. earmuffs (my last day of work was only 20 degrees, y’know)

I’d like to say in my defense, I made good use of all this stuff—it’s not like I drove to work like some of my former coworkers, I took the bus & it was a 35-40 minute ride to & from downtown… and that was on a good day!  So compared to some of those other commuters carrying shopping bags, duffel bags & knapsacks, I considered myself a light traveler.  

Oh and by the way… I found that Rite-Aid card.  I had it with me the whole time!