the briefcase, in brief

Today as promised I went downtown and bought some business casual work wear. I also bridged the gap between adolescence and adulthood by purchasing this, my first computer/work-totebag-briefcase-whatever-you-call-it bag.

Baby's first briefcase

I thought about this bag long and hard. First of all, it wasn't cheap--I mean it was at Filene's Basement so it wasn't exactly expensive, but it wasn't thrift store elegance either. I also thought about what this bag means; I stared at my Converse All-Stars and thought about whether I was ready to be all "adult" about going to my new job. I decided in the affirmative and brought the bag to the cashier's line.

Standing in line, I scanned the purses a final time. There was a bag that caught my eye--an oversized slouchy leather bag that probably wasn't that useful for toting a computer around. Getting out of line, I made a beeline for the bag. A woman was already there, looking over each purse. I asked her if I could look at one of them (there were three on the rack and she had two on her arm and one in her hand). "Oh yeah, sure. Nice bags." I sort of joked with her and asked her what she was examining on the bags--she was looking at the grain of the leather (note to self: when shopping at bargain basement places, be like that lady and look for quality). 

We ended up having the sort of light conversation that is made at stores across the world--that's nice, so's that, what are you looking for, etc. I told her that I was looking for a bag to bring to work, and looked doubtfully at the briefcase I'd been holding. She told me that it was "time to grow up" and buy a real work bag! No slouchy bags! 

And I got back in line and purchased this, my first real work bag. I can fit basically everything including my laptop in it. So thank you, lady at Filene's, for helping me make this informed and career-appropriate decision! And I like this new bag of mine, too.