Why? Is it a pick-pocket thing? Is it because you want to be seen as a biker? Are your pockets too small? Do you like the ching ching ching sound as you walk? What exactly do you carry that warrants a chain? Do you sleep at night with your wallet chained to your bunk? Do you handcuff your shower bag to your wrist as well? What about that other “junk” you have clipped to your belt? The knife, the flashlight, the bottle opener, pepper spray, cell phone and scientific calculator? How do you wear all this “hardware” when you’re driving?
What it is with truckers and wallets with chains? Until I drove a truck, I never saw anyone carry a wallet with a chain. There was the occasional motorcycle gang, but not many passed through my neighborhood in New Jersey. I never thought about taking my wallet and drilling a hole in the corner, then attaching a chain to it. My local hardware store carried chains, but they were used mostly for dogs, tires and to secure a fence or something with a Master lock. I never noticed anyone in high school or college with a chain wallet and certainly you wouldn’t ever use one in a business office in New York City.
Me personally – I generally don’t carry a wallet. When I parked my rig for the night, I would take my drivers license, some cash and my debit card, into the truck stop – travel plaza and that’s it. I never needed anything else. If the idiots stopped asking me for ID – my driver license – when I paid $8 for a Subway combo meal – I would have left it in the truck. I always used to say to the clerk, listen, if I was using someone else’s credit card, I would be at the steak house down the street, not here buying a lousy sub sandwich.
I would keep my wallet in the truck. I had my passport in it, all my driver payback and rewards cards, my fuel card and a whole bunch of other stuff. I never thought about chaining it to my pants, then walking around with it. In fact, it was too large to fit in my pants. A few years ago, my wife needed a piece of luggage for one of her scrapbooking cruises she like to go on. We went to the HSN – Home Shopping Network – clearance store. We found a large reddish suitcase with some smaller pieces inside as a bonus. We bought it.
When we got home, I unzipped the new suitcase. Inside there was a smaller matching piece, inside that another even smaller piece, inside that another piece and when I got to the bottom of all this “bonus” stuff, there was a wallet. A large one, about 8 inches high, that could hold my passport – for Canadian and US customs – and all my “plastic”. There were “neat-o” compartments for the little cash I carried, drivers license, DOT med card, insurance card and a special little “slot” for my TWIC card. Now mind you, it wasn’t a manly man wallet. There was no chain or hole as an option for any type of securement. You might call it a “unisex” wallet. My son, however, forbid me from ever taking it when we were together. I usually kept in my “man bag” – formerly an Army messenger – map bag with a shoulder strap.
Of course, I never carried my quasi girly-girl not so manly man “unisex” wallet sans chain in a truck stop or anywhere else for that matter. I once carried it into a Wal-Mart in Iowa and the cashier gave me a dirty – he’s gay – look. That doesn’t bother me, but it was best kept in the truck, usually on the dash or, as I said, in my man bag strapped to the passenger seat. My son bought me a real man wallet – small and black – made by those Swiss Army knife folks. It folded out into three available “sections” and easily folded back into one piece that fit right in any pocket. He demanded I use it when we were together. I kept it in one of the zipper compartments of my Army shoulder man bag, with nothing in it, for future use.
Well, it seems the future has arrived. I can’t drive because of my knees and I had to put my large red wallet in mothballs. I transferred my license, debit card, SS card and voter registration to the manly man wallet my son gave me. Sometimes I carry it in my “bag” – sometimes not. I actually did, at one time, have a wallet with a chain. Nobody liked me wearing it. I took the chain off and now use it on my Army “bag” attached to my house keys, so I can find them easily. I threw the wallet away – it had a large hold in it when I ripped the chain off. My wife handed me a little mini Croc shoe keychain for my key and told me to cease and desist with the chain.
Yes, that is Aaaa-nold, wearing a chain – there is a wallet attached.
If you liked that post, then try these...
No comments:
Post a Comment