OK, so I probably shouldn't be so paranoid about this issue, but a few years ago, Cathy and I were at dinner with some friends and I pulled out my wallet. The husband of my colleague on the council and a well respected lawyer in town, started laughing and said my wallet looked like George Costanza's wallet. I'll have to admit that I really hadn't watched many Seinfeld episodes, so it hadn't fully hit me what he was saying. However since that time, he hasn't been alone in his assessments and I've increasingly become self conscious about both the appearance and size of my wallet. Not to mention the physical discomfort in trying to get it out of my pocket. You see, it goes back even further.
I grew up, like any other kid, with my wallet in my back pocket. However it was while serving on my LDS mission to Japan, and the realization that the Japanese Yen would not fit in my standard back-pocket wallet, I went to a billfold wallet. It really wasn't a problem, since most of the time, I was wearing a suit coat anyway. After two years of that, I got to to like the fact I didn't have to sit on it, but when I was dressed casual, it was hard to find a place for the billfold. One day, I went back to a regular wallet, but refused to put it in my back pocket. It sort of fit in my suit, or I would put it in my front pocket. I was not always prompt in taking out my receipts and things tended to grow in it. I tried to hide it at lunch when I was with friends and everywhere I went, I knew people were likening it to George Costanza's wallet.
Fast forward to this last August and I was walking through the Outdoor Retailer's show and came across a vendor who proclaimed they had the World's Thinnest Wallet! (http://www.thinnestwallet.com/ - 800-642-2226). For the show price of $18, I was going to be liberated. I would literally, not be the butt of any wallet jokes again. Just to show you how bad it was becoming, I had a meeting with some downtown interest after I purchased the wallet. While waiting for the meeting to start, I was explaining to one of the gentlemen present, my wallet and about this wallet challenge. He also didn't really know who George Costanza was, and then in walked Senator Ben McAdams. Without saying anything to preface it, I held up my old Wallet and asked Ben, "What does this remind you of?" to which he replied, "George Costanza's wallet".
A month has come and gone, I took my new wallet on a 7 day cruise to Alaska. It fit in many different pockets, including my shirt pocket at times. I can put it in my suit coat (still don't like sitting on them) but I even put it into my back pocket once. It holds some receipts, most of the cards I need and even some cash, when I have it. I'm not quite sure life will ever be the same for me, but I just want you to know that I have the "World's thinnest wallet!"
Link to YouTube Video with the Seinfeld episodes and George Constanza's Wallet.
