#23: "Off Brand"

On Friday afternoons I teach here at my college, and it takes quite a chunk out of my workday. To try and make up just a bit from it, I usually plan to eat lunch here at my desk so I can have a bit of last minute class prep or just a few more minutes to get some things finished. It's raining today so I didn't want to walk far to get something, and as I'm eating this Chinese takeaway, inspiration struck...

When I was a kid in elementary and middle school, my parents bout us off brand things all the time. We had all manner of off brand (or even no brand) clothing, we had knock off toys (anyone remember Go-Bots as one example?), and it felt really difficult as a child to not have the brand name things. I remember one neighborhood kid had lots of GI Joe toys, and we had many less as well as the off brand ones. We even had no brand lego blocks that were all white plastic and barely fit together with themselves. We did luck out in the Star Wars toy department. We had/still have a Millennium Falcon, an X-Wing, a TIE Fighter, and lots of figurines (some of which got into lightsaber battles with each other and ended up decapitated. hey, we were kids!)

I know I appreciated having these toys because we amazingly even still have some of them - my brother's children play with them when they visit my parent's house and Freddie probably will too. Yet somewhere likely around age 10 I started to notice that what we had wasn't the official, real, brand name thing. It really hit me in the clothes department right about the time kids start to turn into adults. I saw classmates with nicer things and as anyone would, wanted those things. Later when I was in high school and actually was able to get some of them, I wore them until they were completely in tatters. 

Of course now I completely understand that my parents were trying to do the best they could with two growing boys that were constantly outgrowing and wearing out clothes and who misplaced toys with such skills that I hope my child can never match. As I've aged I also better understand the idea of paying more for better quality that will last longer, but that's not always the best solution to keeping onesies on an 8 month old.

But let me say one thing with painfully clear certainty - off brand Sriracha is disgustingly awful. Do not purchase this, and if someone tries to give it to you do not accept it. It is not a gift, but instead it is a painful reminder that you don't have the real thing. It will not make your lunch taste better and might lead you to write a few hundred words about off-brand crap when you're supposed to be preparing for class...