The Non-Professional’s Bag?
I’ve been looking to buy a larger bag to carry my stuff to and from my daily work commute. For years, I’ve had a trusty, JanSport slingbag - a one strap backpack similar to a traditional messenger bag - that I use to carry around my stuff: Zune, cell phone, umbrella, notebook, and work documents. I’ve realized that I need a larger bag and have been looking around online for something suitable to carry my laptop in addition to the regular stuff I carry. So, I hopped over to eBags and have narrowed my search to a Timbuk2 messenger bag (pictured above) that fits my needs. A family member happened to overhear me discussing the messenger bag I was considering and told me, “You’re a professional now. You shouldn’t be still carrying around book bags.” So, my upgrading from my slingbag to a Timbuk2 messenger bag is not professional enough? Does the fact that I carry a slingbag or a messenger bag mean I’m not a professional at all? I suppose I should be carrying around the briefcase purchased by my parents when I was in college, huh? Briefcases are for the “old school” business professionals. I’m definitely not old school, and while I’m a professional (and have been since I quit college), something rankles inside of me at the thought of carrying a briefcase…hence the reason why it’s still sitting in the same corner of my house after all these years, unused.
Now, the family member who told me that I essentially needed to grow up is from a different generation…the briefcase carrying kind. I politely explained to them that I’m not the only person in my entire office building carrying a slingbag or a backpack for that matter. Many young people my age (and younger) carry a backpack or messenger bag. And even if I was the only person in the building who carried a slingbag, I wouldn’t stop doing so and conform with the masses just because I’m out of place. I’ve always been a non-conformist. I’m not about to start following the leader now, even if I am a “professional now.”
I’m buying my Timbuk2 bag. And if the fact that I carry a messenger bag, slingbag, backpack, or a briefcase defines me as a professional or non-professional, then the world is more screwed up than I thought.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Damn good on you. People of an age before generationX could carry everything they needed in a midsize briefcase and have room for lunch. Half the briefcases I see nowadays won’t have room for much more than a cell phone, a medium laptop, and a few folders. To get anything out of it you have to fine a place to put the case to open it and half the time you have to yank it all out to find what you need.
from what I see the only reason to use a briefcase is if you are transporting alot of paper documents it is still very good at doing that with minimal wear on the documents.
When I left collage everyone who was using computers were already into computer bags and they bought ones withextra room forother stuff. Now its how the y make most of them.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
The briefcase my parents bought me couldn’t even hold my laptop. Also, briefcases are for the suits and execs. I’m neither; I’m a geek.
The laptop bag I already own can hold other stuff but not much. When I’m walking on the street, it also screams “steal me, I’m a laptop.” That’s why I want something more subtle (and stylish) like the Timbuk2 messenger bag.