We don't give out free office supplies

[sms001]

which began with an o) I carried around pink sparkly pins. 98% of the customers were male. So, my pin never ever dissappeared.

Used to have a GIANT burly iron worker at the c-store who bought those bright pink Bic lighters for just that reason - said they were the only ones no one ever stole

[reformedwaitress]

when waitressing at the o'club (for thoes of you who have no idea what i am talking about it is the officer's club on the local air force base. which began with an o) I carried around pink sparkly pins. 98% of the customers were male. So, my pin never ever dissappeared.

Yep. I carry colored and highly distinctive pens at The Bar cause they are less likely to be stolen -- by customers or other waiters. Cause if I see someone else with one you bet your a$$ I'll be taking it back. And the other waiters know it too.

People are always like "Hey, got enough pens there? *yukyukyuk*" and I just look at them, completely straight faced, and say "No, because people steal them. I'll have 3 by the end of the night."

[Dreamstalker]

There needs to be a pen cup down in the dungeon
office, but the only pens I'll use are my good ones (the entirety of the store's motley collection of pens and pencils is crap). I know if I put any of my pens in the drawer of "my" stuff (camera, other computer-related stuff) they'll disappear.

*ponders...I've seen those USB dongles where the computer they're plugged into won't even boot if the transmitter carried by the owner isn't within a certain range. They need to adapt that for pens...*

[Emrld]

Maybe it is just me . . . I thought office supplies were for those working in the office. (or library in this case)
Also, I would think that white out would be a no-no with all of the books. Can't risk someone editing for others.

Another anti removal that I have seen . . . go to a craft store and get some large single fake flowers and some florist tape. Attach a flower to a cheap pen using the tape. People tend to not forget and walk off . . . and if they really like it . . .tell them for $2.00 they can keep it.

[Seshat]

"Ok, then you can get another from the stationary cupboard then."

With that, he put MY BLOODY PEN into his pocket and swept out of the office. What the hell, you checked first, discovered it was my pen, and then still stole it? Some people...

I think he (probably wilfully) misinterpreted you. He understood 'my pen' to mean 'the one I use', not 'the one I bought'. His 'you can get another from the stationary cupboard' implies to me that he thought you, personally, wouldn't be out of pocket for it.

If there's a next time, say 'my pen that I, personally, paid for' - rather pointedly if you have to. Just to cut off the possibility of wilful misinterpretation.

[Geek King]

I mainly use some pretty nice Japanese ballpoints (Uni Power Tank--JList is the only place I can get them). So I'm also very protective of my writing implements--one has to be when shipping is equal to the cost of the instrument. I've "stolen" a couple back from work (how they wound up there I know not).

Hmm, I'll have to look those up. I use Bic Atlantis that I buy from Sams. Best pens I've used that weren't individually sold.

[Andara Bledin]

The woman that works in the main office at my work has an interesting way of keeping her pens from walking off, or being chewed on (her assistant is so bad about chewing on things that she once picked up a pen and had so much saliva pour out of it that I could hear it hitting her desk from across the room!).

She has a cardboard cone that is taped to the pen barrel. It's a cheap bic, so when it runs out of ink, she just pulls the old point and ink tube out of the barrel and puts a new one in. She hasn't had a pen disappear in about 4 years.

^-.-^

[Tigress]

I worked in a doctor's office for a short time and had a cup I kept on my desk which I used to hold my pens and pencils. I bought 2 or 3 really nice pens to keep in my cup but I soon discovered that there was a thief in the office. When I returned to work after lunch my pens were missing. So, I replaced them...and the day after that they were gone again. I ended up buying some cheap pens and those never seemed to disappear. Never did figure out who took them.

I hate pen thieves.

.

I dealt with that in Geek Squad. The store was so cheap that they would not give us pens, but they were kind of important so we could write notes on what we did on the machines. (They gave us wingtipped shoes that we were supposed to wear, but no pens?) I brought in some really nice pens that I got free from various charities. Co-workers would ask to borrow them and never brought them back.

Finally, I stopped by the dollar store and picked up a package of cheap ones to keep in my car. Co-workers suddenly remembered to bring me my pens back.

[jb17kx]

Gah! Pen theft - along with borrowing without permission - is one of my biggest bugbears, seeing as I go to efforts to obtain good stationary for my personal use.

This is particulalry annoying becasue I'm left-handed - writing is enough of a pain that I want a good pen to do it with, hence the reason I detest using standard biros. I have to shove them across the page and that gets very tiring. Instead I buy, let's look, Pilot Hi-Techpoint V7s. These are needle rollerball pens that are soooooo smooth, and are just the right size as well.

So naturally, as soon as given the chance people take them. I counter this by always keeping them on my person, and by knowing that nobody else uses them - I see one, I check it for a little identification mark, then I take it back.

Scoundrels.

[Andara Bledin]

Instead I buy, let's look, Pilot Hi-Techpoint V7s. These are needle rollerball pens that are soooooo smooth, and are just the right size as well.

My boss uses Pilot V7s almost exclusively. They are quite nice.

However, they can have a tendancy to blot.

I had a pen about two months ago that was really, really nice. But someone swiped it off my desk, and I can't remember what it was, other than it was a gel rollerball. Smooth writing, no blotting. It was fantastic.

^-.-^

[Dreamstalker]

Another anti removal that I have seen . . . go to a craft store and get some large single fake flowers and some florist tape. Attach a flower to a cheap pen using the tape. People tend to not forget and walk off . . . and if they really like it . . .tell them for $2.00 they can keep it.

The learning center at my college does that. Fake flowers, spoons, or other silly looking things.

[XCashier]

Gah! Pen theft - along with borrowing without permission - is one of my biggest bugbears, seeing as I go to efforts to obtain good stationary for my personal use.

This is particulalry annoying becasue I'm left-handed - writing is enough of a pain that I want a good pen to do it with, hence the reason I detest using standard biros.

I have recurring tenosynovitis problems, and having been filling out a lot of job applications lately, I can sympathise about needing a really good pen. Something that writes smoothly and feels comfortable in the hand. And since those are usually the expensive pens, no way in hell am I going to let anyone swipe my pen!

[chops]

This is exactly why I bought pens at Wally World and Dollar Tree when I sold cars. Even though other people on the sales force had fancier pens—no doubt to make themselves look more professional—I opted for the nickel-and-dime pens so that if they got stolen, it was no big whup.

Of course, it kinda sucked that we had to bring our own pens to begin with, but that's another story for another time.

[gunsage]

Semi-on the topic of stealing pens...

http://www.circlecity.co.uk/picture_jokes/pen_stuck.php

[Bluenomi]

She has a cardboard cone that is taped to the pen barrel. It's a cheap bic, so when it runs out of ink, she just pulls the old point and ink tube out of the barrel and puts a new one in. She hasn't had a pen disappear in about 4 years.

^-.-^

I do that. I have a bright yellow post it note inside my pen. everyone knows it is mine now. I've been known to walk around the office and steal my pen back.

I also find my cute Winnie the Pooh pens never get nicked