It has been a while so I don't recall the exact place and time this occurred, but the story is good enough anyway.

The time was likely in August, just before school was to start, and Sandra was perhaps 11 and Karen perhaps 14. They were making up a list of needed purchases for the new academic year.

I became aware that each had Ralph Lauren jeans on their shopping list. Yikes! Those jeans were three times more expensive than the perfectly good jeans that could be purchased at Walmart or the PX. So I announced that Walmart or the PX was where their jeans would come from.

"Oh, no!" they screamed. "We need the Ralph Lauren's."

I countered with the fact that there was no reason anyone in his right mind would pay that much for a pair of jeans. So they explained that Ralph Lauren jeans were much different than the Walmart or PX brands, as they had the perfect fit.

So I summarized their argument: "You need Ralph Lauren jeans because they fit better and not because they are designer jeans?"

"Oh, yes!!!!"

"Then how about I buy the Ralph Lauren jeans but cut the Ralph Lauren tag off the back pocket?"

Of course that led to further wailing as I smiled with my great solution.

But you know the rest of the story: They got their Ralph Lauren jeans.