A story of pens

[lady_songsmith]

My desk at work is right next to the mail pigeonholes. That means that everyone who "just needs a pen for a quick sec" steals mine. Especially if I'm not at the desk. I have resorted to hiding my pens, but any time I leave one out it quickly vanishes. I go through them at a truly alarming rate -- it's becoming an office joke every time someone sees me at the supply cabinet, and if my office-mates had more wicked senses of humor I'd suspect them of doing it deliberately. I don't feel guilty running through our pen supply since I'm about 99% certain the pens are still in use in the office somewhere, but it is rather annoying. So far, the only pen I've managed to keep is a rather cheap ballpoint I've wrapped randomly with rubberbands -- it is annoying to use, which is the point. No one takes it. However, I don't like using it either; it's for emergencies (like us being out of pens and my last good one being thieveried).

The other day one of those companies that slaps your company brand/logo on anything that holds still long enough sent us a sample pack of branded pens. It was in a cardboard sleeve and it felt like there were about four pens in there. My boss handed it to me and said, "Here, you can distribute these to anyone who wants one." Upon opening the package, it was revealed that there was, in fact, ONE pen and six empty bubbles each half the size of a pen to make it seem like there were gonna be more in the box. After laughing about this with some coworkers, the true potential of this situation dawned on me.

That pen is MINE. It is the ONLY ONE of its kind ANYWHERE IN THE OFFICE. If it gets stolen, I will STEAL IT BACK. MWAHAHAHAAHA!!!

Comments

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

heeeeee. I would hate it if people stole my pens, but that is HILARIOUS.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

As the seagulls say in Finding Nemo, "Mine Mine Mine Mine"

[autumnia]

And this is why I get cheap (but not too cheap) pens at Staples. As much as I like using a nice pen, there's no point at the office when they can disappear on any given day.

Also, at least you have a supply cabinet. I don't think there is one for my department since our floor has too many groups and no one seems to know who we can go to for supplies. (I end up buying my own supplies for MY use at Staples.)

[snacky]

Once I was the receptionist at a tv production company that was open until midnight, and there was a two person staff who worked at night. I worked from 8-5, and I'd come in every morning and all my pens, my stapler, my tape dispenser and my scissors would be gone. So I used to have to hide all the things every night before I went home. The night staff HATED ME.

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Best Beloved provided me a solution to the Amazing Vanishing Pen. She bought me a gorgeous art deco fountain pen for Christmas. Nobody uses it except me. Nobody touches it. I can leave it on my desk and although people will root through the drawers I don't lock looking for a pen, they won't bother the fountain pen. Everybody knows that touching it brings very, very bad luck.

[turkeyish.livejournal.com]

I get quite attached to pens and I absolutely loathe people taking mine! Used to happen all the time in the office I formerly worked in. But now I work from home mostly, so nobody steals my pens anymore. :D