Hold on, Let me get a Pen

[SteveZim1017]

Ok, I admit it... I'm a lurker. I silently read everyone else's posts from the shadows and sneak away without a sound.

But today I crack, and must vent... this happens semi regularly but today it happened 3 times, the last of which took the cake.

Me:
SC: slow sucky customer....

One

SC: Hi, I have a form I need to send to you, how do I get it to you?
(desperatly holding back from suggesting carrier pidgion and pony express)
me:well you can mail or fax it to us, I can give you both our address and fax number.
SC: oh, then let me get a pen...
(5 minutes of rumbling noises as I hear the woman run upstairs and down and tear through entire house)SC: pant, pant.... ok go ahead...

wow that was quite the indiana jones adventure you went on there lady, I think I even heard the giant stone ball rolling behind you at one point. That better be one fancy pen

two

SC: Hi, can I have your fax number please?
Me: sure, its....
SC: oh wait let me get a pen...

you are just realizing you need something to write with Now?!? What was your original plan, to write in blood?

Three
Me: Good afternoon, XXXXXXX agency
SC: I need your address right now!!
(ok..... and thanks for the loud baby screaming in the background too lady!)
me: no problem, its...
SC: WAIT! I Need an INK PEN! (ink pen?)
Me: ok....
SC: Hey, don't you hit your sister when I'm on the Phone! (otherwise its ok?)

followed by a loud slap and a sound of glass breaking that I can only assume was the child flying out the window after being slapped so hard. call disconnects. guess she never found her special ink pen.

[ArcticChicken]

SC: WAIT! I Need an INK PEN! (ink pen?)

Yeah people around here say that, I keep wanting to respond "As opposed to what other type of pen? A blood pen?" but I'd like to keep my job.

Actually, I have a theory. Most of the people who say it pronounce 'pen' like 'pin', so it could be to distinguish it from a straight pin, but I've never heard them say 'pin', so I can't be sure.

[Chanlin]

The first two I can sympathize with you on those two. I get those frequently. Bonus points for those dealer who call up without a writing instrument handy for when they are doing phone number changes or activations.

As for the lady with the kids I will cut her some slack. My sister has 3 kids ranging from ages 1 to 5. There are days when I wonder how she manages to stay sane let alone remember little details like having a pen to write with. And the sudden disconnect, yeah had that happen to me as well when talking with her on the phone.

[hopie144]

Yeah people around here say that, I keep wanting to respond "As opposed to what other type of pen? A blood pen?" but I'd like to keep my job.

Actually, I have a theory. Most of the people who say it pronounce 'pen' like 'pin', so it could be to distinguish it from a straight pin, but I've never heard them say 'pin', so I can't be sure.

Up until I met my (now) ex-husband, who's from NY, I always said 'ink pen.' It's just what I always heard everyone call it. I'm from the South...and yes, I used to be bad about also saying, 'cut the light on,' 'over yonder' & other famous "Southern" sayings. Bless my heart...

He'd say, "Ink pen? As opposed to a "pig pen?" The one thing I did learn from him was to use "proper" English in everyday sentences. Not that I didn't know proper English, mind you. I just didn't use it very often. And it's funny now, when I go out somewhere, especially in the rural areas around here, I notice now alot of people who don't use proper English. I just shake my head and keep on going.

[Music Mo-Gal]

Actually, I have a theory. Most of the people who say it pronounce 'pen' like 'pin', so it could be to distinguish it from a straight pin, but I've never heard them say 'pin', so I can't be sure.

That's always been my theory too.

[Fiyero]

I work at an appointment booking service and am still surprised how many people need to get a pen.
They are phoning us to book an appointment.
They expect us to give them an appointment.
They don't have a pen ready to write down the appointment.

Argh

[AdminAssistant]

"Pen" is one of my personal, um, colloquialisms () that I have self-corrected. As for the rest, meh. It's jest how I talk, y'all.

[AnaKhouri]

I get this every other call, it seems. People call to have something shipped, but they don't have their credit card/address/name of the book they want anywhere near them and have to waste 5-10 minutes unearthing one. Seriously...YOU called US and you don't have your shit together so WE can help YOU?

I ALWAYS have a pen. But then I am a writer.

[laundryhater]

Oh I hate those people!

I get those at the hospital A LOT (probably every fourth caller).

They called me KNOWING they want information they'll need to write down (patient's room # and phone #) and yet when I start to give the info it's always "Oh hang on I gotta get a pen".

Or the ones that make me repeat the info 2 times and THEN say "Oh wait I gotta get a pen". Couldn't have had one ready the FIRST time you asked for the info????

It's not like I caught them off guard...they called me. Geesh! It gets really old.

[Gurndigarn]

Yeah people around here say that, I keep wanting to respond "As opposed to what other type of pen? A blood pen?" but I'd like to keep my job.

Actually, I have a theory. Most of the people who say it pronounce 'pen' like 'pin', so it could be to distinguish it from a straight pin, but I've never heard them say 'pin', so I can't be sure.

I suspect it's a holdover from when there was a practical reason to distinguish a quill pen from one that had an ink reservoir. Hey, you were snobbish, you had to let those plebians know that you had one of the fancy, expensive pens that stored ink.

[Munkie]

I always have a pen in my purse - i just always feel like I'm missing something if I don't have a pen. Plus, where I work now (no longer at Subway! YAY!), I'm nearly required to carry a pen.. Picking orders without a pen handy to mark it off your list is somewhat difficult... especially when you have a legal-paper sized order that has maybe a dozen things out of 50 or so marked as needed.

[Phone Jockey]

One guy called me & told me that I needed to wait while he went to find an "ank pank." I assumed he needed a pen, but *shrug* IDK.

[PepperElf]

i prefer just opening my text editor on the laptop, but then again i often have the laptop available anyway

and wooo a blood pen? where can i get one of those? (as long as it's not that nasty pen from harry potter book 4)

[Bramblerose]

you are just realizing you need something to write with Now?!?

Obviously you are not married. OR, for that matter, in possession of children.

My Job- to try to put pens, pencils, and other such items in a cup beside the computer (or the mug on the back of my couch) or some other predictable place.

My Husband's Job: TO take said items from said cup/predictable place and broadcast them into obscure places (possibly hyperspace). A child could sub in for husband (save I don't have one) for this task. If you told me one of my cats assisted in this task, I would probably believe you.

So when I call you, I think that there might be a writing implement in the cup or at least right in front of me. Time comes to need to write, I look at cup, quickly pat down the lesser chaos we call the computer desk, and nothing! (I hate hyperspace) This is the point I make the unhappy noise and beg pardon while I try to remember where I am hiding my secret cache of pens at this moment and fetch one. I rarely have to make an Indiana Jones trek.

[SteveZim1017]

Obviously you are not married. OR, for that matter, in possession of children.

oh believe me I know all about the hoarding of writing utensils in a crowded house. we actually had to go to an office supply store and buy one of those pens that are attached to the little chain (like they have in banks) and glue it to the computer desk so no one could steal it.