Everytime I need to order supplies for the office, I have to get some kind of new pen. But since I order everything online, usually pens are only available by the dozen. Do I let that stop me? NO! I placed a supply order today and probably $50 of it is pens. Felt tips, gel pens, rollerballs, etc. I like them all except basic ballpoint. I think I'm constantly searching for the perfect smooth-writing pen that won't smear since I'm left-handed. I'm sick of the side of my hand being covered in ink - not to mention the phone messages and other notes I take being smeared. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL!
There was one kind of pen I fell in love with in college - Fountain Pentel. You can't find it in any stores anymore. So I went online and the only place that sold them was based in England! Needless to say, I ordered a box and had them shipped overseas. That search led me to an England-based online store for lefties like me, and I ordered some specialty pens from them, too. They alleged the pens were quick-dry to avoid smearage, but that was false. Oh well. England has a few extra dollars/pounds from me!
It's not just pens, though. If I had a money tree, I could spend so much money at Staples. I'm also a sucker for organizer stuff. Things for the top of my desk and drawers. I can barely see my desktop because it's covered with organizing systems! LOL! I'm always trying to find some new kind of post-it note holder, office stamps, pretty colored flags, etc.
If furniture weren't so expensive, I'd get myself a new L- or U-shaped desk every year too! With a matching printer stand and file drawers, too, of course. Alas, I continue to sit at a desk that broke when I moved to my own office and is being propped up by old/closed files right now. :)
Do I need to go to office supply rehab? Overwriters Anonymous? Anyone else have this problem?
I order the pens for my work. I usually get Uni-Ball, and Sarasa. They come in all sorts of nice colors!
Years and years and years ago I ordered markers, and got the scented ones. We still have a couple. They were dry-erase. They are in our conference room. Best one was green (mint).
Posted by: SherylM Date posted: Thu Jul 17 8:41:19 2008
Message: Funny you posted about this because we went to a 4th of July cookout at our neighbors house and her grown daughter has an obsession with pens and collects pens from many businesses including drs. offices and was especially proud of the one that advertised Viagra, lol.
My daughter (22) is a pen/marker/highlighter addict. She lights up like the sun when she's in Staples. Any office supply will make her weak in the knees, but pens/markers/highlighters - they are her true addiction, post-its coming in a close second.
She (like Sephora) has a pencil case which she covets. She HATES it when room mates or classmates go into her bag without asking. They "smush" her felt-tip pens, or, God Forbid, leave a cap off of her grape smelling marker.
I thought it was weird at first, but now find it endearing. Stuffing her stocking at Christmas is a blast.
If you hear of a support group, please let me know.
Nicky
Posted by: auntie en Date posted: Thu Jul 17 7:37:47 2008
Message: One of the best things about my job is that I get thousands of dollars to spend on art supplies. Can you imagine?? I pore over the catalogs and make list after list...good drawing pens are a must for the art room, but high quality ones are so expensive. I get to sample all sorts of products on the schools dime, all in the name of research! LOL. I love office supplies in general, and I get all sorts of cool things for my classroom. I need to get an order together for the beginning of the school year actually. It usually takes me about 10 hours or so to sort it all out and total it up.
It is one of the many things I am supposed to be doing over the summer, along with lesson plans and curriculums for all 4 grade levels I teach, by aug. 15...so much for the myth of summers off! LOL.
Posted by: fuzzwuzz Date posted: Wed Jul 16 23:05:09 2008
Message: Well, you learn something new every day! I've never even heard of a gel pen or any of the other ones mentioned either!! Guess I've been deprived my whole life!!! LOL Next time I'm at Wal Mart I guess I'll look for a gel pen or a roller ball? pen just to see what I'm missing!!!! Carry on...
My sister in addiction! I love gel pens especially. Since I work with numbers I like the extra fine point or micropoint pens. How about you? Then of course there's the whole color issue; blues, blacks, reds. My personal favorite (at least for now) is the blue-black ink; darker than blue but not as dark as black.
Where do you stand on highlighters? Another trap - so many pretty colors!
Then there's the post it notes and flags. So many colors, so many sizes.
When we check into rehab maybe we can be roommates!
Posted by: Sephora Date posted: Wed Jul 16 21:33:54 2008
Message: I love pens and stationary too!! I had the biggest pencil case when I was in university and it was full of all sorts of pens and colours. At work now, I have a purple pen, pink pen, different funky shades of blue, and the usual red and black. I also have the cutest post-it notes. They are in the shape of a flower in fluorescent pink, yellow and orange. Everyone asks me where I buy them from...I buy them myself not from the office budget.
I'm picky about pens but had to look to see what kind I use now. They're Papermate Visibility (I prefer black ink). My best pen when I worked was one of those jumbo size, I still have it. It's also a Papermate, uses refills, very pretty pearl and silver casing. So easy to write with.
May be OT but when I worked, I loved pencils!! Give me a good #2 pencil and legal pad and I could write lengthy things out easier than typing. Somehow I could put my thoughts down better with a pencil (someone else typed for me, the good old days). But then the quality of pencils changed, couldn't find a good one though my stockroom person kept trying his best to find ones for me. They wouldn't stay sharpened and the erasers were shoddy.
This time of year is a favorite because a lt of office supplies I use in arts-n-crafts project go on sale. Glues, tapes, clips, pins, etc..
One new pen I "discovered" is the Pilot FriXion. It's a gel ball pen with disappearing ink. Good for patterns and templates that you don't want the ink on the finished product. So far, it's worked on both paper or fabric.
Posted by: Fay Date posted: Wed Jul 16 20:27:08 2008
Message: I have to laugh at this. I could have written that post myself. I have had a "thing" about pens for over 40 yrs and passed it on a generation to my daughter. It is great to know I am not the only one.
Posted by: auntie en Date posted: Wed Jul 16 20:04:52 2008
Message: I love pens, too. And I have to share this, because you will get a kick out of it. For some reason, almost everytime I see the word pens, my mind inserts an "i" between the n and s, so I read it as penis. So your topic gave me a big giggle. which I really needed today.
at our church, they give out pens with the program, and in an effort to not have them all walk off with people, they have these big receptacles by the door to drop them in on your way out. they are black boxes with a round hole on top.To make it very clear there is a sign that says "PENS HERE!" and I giggle every time I walk out of church thinking it says Penis here!"
Posted by: misspm Date posted: Wed Jul 16 19:50:21 2008
Message: I have a gel pen thing going on. For at least the last 7 years I can only carry and use gel pens. If I am somewhere else and I'm handed a regular pen. I am appalled by it's inferiority, LOL.
I love pens too. When I go to seminars or fairs, the first thing I take are the free pens from the booths, LOL!!! They come in handy because I have a pen cup on my desk and they end up disappearing.
My favorite pen is my Dr. Grip. It has a fat barrel so it makes for comfortable writing and it's a gel. Gel pens are the best because they're smooth. Whenever Dr. Grip goes missing in the office, I go on a rampage!
But I don't spend $50 on pen orders. That's a little too obsessive Susie. ;-) But being the office manager, I do the Staples orders and it's fun to go through the catalog. The office supplies they come up with these days is unreal!!!
I've got a pretty good size collection of floating pens. I started collecting them back in the '80s just for yukks and when co-workers saw my little collection, they started bringing me floaty pens when they came back from vacations and business trips. Then my sister got in the act and brought me floaty pens from all her travels. I used to keep them in a crystal pen holder in my office at the law firm and let clients choose which one they wanted to use to sign their legal papers. They always got a kick out of that.
My all-time favorite was the where Elvis was driving his pink cadillac in front of Graceland and crashed it into a tree. I don't know what Graceland was thinking when the licensed that product but I guess it's no worse than some of the other kerap they put his name on.
Posted by: Evil Charity Date posted: Wed Jul 16 19:10:27 2008
Message: Oh yeah...I have a major pen fetish. And, I'm very particular about what I use each pen for and color coding and all of that. At my last job I was in charge of ordering supplies so I always made sure we had the kind of pens that I like.
I'm a lefty too, I wonder if that has anything to do with all of this! My faves are roller ball pens. Also, turning the paper sideways can help you to not have ink on the side of your hand, that way you're writing above and not in front of your hand.
