I went out to dinner last night and while I was waiting for my food, I took in some of the local wildlife and did a little people watching. I saw something happen at one of the tables, something I’d see happen before, but something I’d never really given a lot of thought to.

In the middle of a conversation, one of the girls at a table held up her finger, the “excuse me a minute” finger, then reached into her front of her shirt and pulled out her cell phone. I don’t know why, but for some reason it struck me as rather comical. It seemed a little like storing a Hershey’s bar in a bag full of marshmallows. I mean you already have a full container and then you try to stuff more things into it. It makes no sense to me.

So I decided to ask some friends to help clear up this sneaky front loading storage system. Apparently, in the bra wearing culture, bras make convenient and easily accessible pockets for those times when you go out and your outfit does not have any other storage facilities, like a purse or pockets.

Clubbing was the first example I was given. Apparently you can easily store your ID, cash (for entry fees, drinks, and a cab), and your phone (for texting friends, ex’s, and calling a cab if you can’t get someone to give you a ride home) in your bra and you don’t have to worry too much about losing anything while dancing.

Men don’t really have access to this type of extra storage accessory. I mean sure we have short sleeve shirts. You know that 1950’s cigarettes rolled up in your sleeve look. Thing is it’s a unisex storage option; it’s not just for men. Sure, if you want to get technical, the obesity problem in the US has created surge of man boobs, which is becoming quite the an epidemic, and men could easily adopt the use of bras as part of their everyday look.

There is also the demographic of cross dressers that we could take into account, but at this point and time I’d venture that bras are still traditionally and predominantly women only products. Well, unless of course you are trying to build your own woman, then I believe it’s part of the ceremony.

I suppose the only possible comparable option would be tighty-whitey underpants, but let’s face it, once you started dancing around you’d have a big mess to sort though, especially once you start looking for you car keys so you could drive home at the end of the night.

As it turns out, storing a few necessities in your bra is a very common practice. And in my opinion gives a whole new meaning to the term “wonder bra”. I mean, I was wondering where the cell phone came from when I initially saw it produced in the lady’s hand. And now with this new stuffed bra awareness, I’m sure people are going to be wondering what type of gadgets and contraptions are now being stored in there.

I wonder if it could be used as a viable selling point. For example, the new line of Victoria Secrets lush silk push-up “booby pockets”… hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right does it? Maybe the “cleavage stasher”… no… that doesn’t work at all, it sounds more like a code name that gigolo’s have given to women’s turtleneck sweaters. Maybe a more direct and to the point marketing scheme is what they need, I suppose calling them “pocket bras”, or “bra pockets” would work just fine. We could even add the little slogan like, “The perfect portable pocket.”

Then again maybe this is a lot like that little saw on a Swiss Army Knife, sure you can use it to actually saw wood, but you’ll only ever use it after you’ve exhausted every other possible resource for sawing a twig in two. Mostly it’s used to show others, “Oh look, I’ve got a little bloody saw blade in my knife. Aren’t I cool?”

I can understand the need that may occasionally arise that causes women to use their bra as a super sneaky secret storage spot for certain everyday items. But please be aware that even if men understand the reason for it, it still doesn’t change the fact that when they see you do this, they are going to tell the other guys they are with and they are going to start giggling, because, well let’s face it, they’re men and they thing you just pulled out of your bra was touching your boob.

On a side note, it looks like someone beat me to it, they call it the Cleavage Caddy, which I think is a is a crap name, and only reminds me of Bill Murray… which, when I put it like that, is actually kind of cool. Damn you Cleavage Caddy!