Take my underwear too why dontcha

[Kiwi]

my mum always asks to keep pens " I like to collect them"

she has bank pens, business pens, gift shop pens (all with the logo)

it makes me really mad at her because she knows the cashiers most likely are too afraid to say no....sigh

[traylk]

I hate pen theft too....
ok so next time a customer hands me one of those credit cards with the pictures on it I'm gonna ask em if I can keep it since it's such a nice card....lol

[Sofar]

"Well, I spend enough money here, I thought I should keep it." Can't remember whose customer said that.

I like fountain pens, and pretty pens with red and white stripes on. The thing about fountain pens, however, is that no one seems to remember how to use one. Most people who grab my pen try to write with it turned the wrong way around, and unfortunately for most people when they encounter a pen that will not write their instinctual reaction is to shake the pen vigorously, and a shaken fountain pen will almost always have an emotional breakdown and weep ink everywhere. The ink is alcohol based, so a bit o' rub alcohol will take it right out, but no one ever wants to hear that for some reason.

To keep customers from using my pen, I have attatched a chain to it. The thing is, this chain isn't long enough to reach to their side of the counter.

[Ciarrai]

I always have about 6 pens in my uniform at any one time. My managers laugh at me, but I never run out of pens! I used to have them stolen as a cashier all the time, but I rarely do now as an HBA girl.

[Lehk]

i too carry fountain pens in my laptop bag.

i carry

1 blue fountain pen (pilot Varsity) from the campus store
1 black fountain pen (pilot Varsity) from the campus store
1 ultra-fine .18mm (uni-ball Signo) ordered from JList
1 mega bold 1.6 mm (generic) from the doller store (5-pack)

for some reason noboy ever borrow my pens

[MissVendetta]

I have a biro for the customers and a nice gel pen for me. The biro cost £1 and is one I got at Claires for spending a certain amount of money; it's pink and glittery and somehow, since it was always suited office men who used to steal my pens, they don't steal this one.

That works! I have a pen that's covered in hearts in different shades of pink so suited office men no longer steal my pen. They actually look really embarrased when they ask for pen and realise they have to write with my super-cute pen. Like holding a "girly" object would lower their testosterone level or something!
Chewing is also a good method. I have a pen I absolutely adore, and only after my teethmark mysteriously appeared, no one wanted steal it anymore. Pity about ruining that beautiful object, but better having it slightly damaged than not having it at all.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I find that with the suited office men now; they look at me and some of them ask "Do you have another pen?" I say, "I do have this one" and then bring forth the gel pen which has silvery blue ink and is covered in even more glitter than the pink pen.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I have a solution to pen grabbers. I keep a fountain pen in my pocket at all times. I prefer to use them over any other type of pen with the exception of the roller ball pens with the ceramic tips.

Most people are afraid of them and of getting ink on thier fingers.

[wagegoth]

The current firm I work at is great. Always tons of pens in supply, so nobody steals from me.

Previous firms, not so good.

At the last one, I actually bought my own pens because I hated the incredibly cheap, leaky pens they supplied. I put my name on all of them with labels, and they were still stolen. Nice gel pens.

At another firm, purple pens were delivered one time instead of blue. I started using them when I realized that no one would steal them. Half a dozen lasted for me until the firm closed.

[Dreamstalker]

At the law office I used to work at, everyone kept stealing the pens that were kept in a cup near the receptionists desk. We got sick of having to search for a pen when there should have been some in the cup so one day one of the attorneys taped a plastic knife to the top of the pen because he figured that no one would want to take it. It solved our pen problems lol.

The learning center at college did that with the pens and pencils near the computers...it did work quite well. I tend to attach silly phone straps (Domo-Kun, Bearbrick-style ninja, etc) to my personal pens.

1 ultra-fine .18mm (uni-ball Signo) ordered from JList

I aboslutely adore JList pens. I have a Uni Power Tank pen and a "normal" ballpoint that looks like a syringe. For some reason I always get the syringe one back (if people dare to use it, that is).

[Melxb]

Grrrrrr. I had the opposite happen to me once a few years ago. At the grocery store I used my debit card as credit card and I signed it using a pen that had been given to me for my high school graduation by my aunt. It was heavy and black and, more importantly, it was engraved with my name and date of graduation. It screamed I AM MELXB'S PEN!!!!
As soon as I finished signing the slip, the cashier reached over and plucked the pen out of my hand. She oohed and aahed over it and put it in her apron and wouldn't give it back. I stood there and she started to ring up the person behind me.

Me: Um, can I have my pen?
Sucky Cashier: Oh? Was that your pen?
Me: Um, yeah, it has my name on it!
SC: Oh! <takes it out of her apron> You're right! It does have your name on it. Would you like it back.\?
Me:

I didn't actually say anything, just kinda looked at her. She gave a huge sigh, and reluctantly handed over my pen with my name on it, back to me.
It was such an odd encounter over an obviously engraved pen.

[Becks]

Somewhere in my house is a pack of pens I got from Wal-Mart that have my first name on them. I really should find them and take them to work. The produce manager is notorious for borrowing pens and lighters, and forgetting to return them. Since it's him, no one minds much. I have been known to follow him around the store to get my pens back, though.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Remember my ex co-worker at the TV station who would get baked on the job and then leave his dope lying around the station? He was a chewer. Working after him sucked. We had to log in every single thing we aired on the transmitter log, so we kept those cheap stick pens on the switcher. This guy would pop the little button out of the end of the pen and start chewing. By the end of his shift, he'd have the plastic so thin and distorted the pen looked exactly like a calla lily. I kid you not, you could have taken the writing tip out and used the thing as a funnel.

But yeah, don't loan customers your pens. You will lose your pen, and frankly, you don't need the germs. I am not a germ freak, but lets face it, we all know things like cold and flu and stomach bugs are mostly on people's hands. You really don't need that all over your pen. Heck, the worst thing in your doctor's office is the pen you use to sign in. When I worked at Kinko's, I was writing ALL DAY LONG. A good quality gel pen with a soft grip is great for relieving fatigue. That's what I used. I kept a collection of the cheap Kinko's pens in my apron, and a handful more of them in the cup on the counter. Nobody needs my personal pen, and nobody got to use it, either. People actually liked the Kinko's pens, and would ask if they could have them. That's no problem, take two.

But I managed to never lose my pen that way.

[MissVendetta]

I may have to explain about my desk before I start. I have a standard-height desk, with my computer, monitors, loads of stuff it. Then there's the till that's like a wall between me and the customers. It's quite high,around mid-chest of a average-height person. A bit too high for anyone to just lean on the till and bother me, thanks to that. But it really doesn't stop people searching the contents of my desk. Some even reach for the mail that's on my desk and start browsing it.
them:"Anything for me?"
me:"If there was, I would've told you".
Shee-ee-esh! The nerve of some people.
And today, some visitor noticed two newspapers on my desk. They were not my papers, but returns from some company from last week.
nosy guy:"Hey! Is that today's -insert paper's name here-?
me, very stunned: No, it's from last week...
-nosy guy leaves-
me, silently:...and it's not yours. It's not even mine.

[Lehk]

easyfun solution to people chewing on your pens is to coat them with bitrex

non-toxic it just tastes absolutely horrible, it's added to dangerous household chemicals to discourage kids from drinking them and to discourage people from trying to drink industrial ethanol (same as regular alcohol but it isn't taxed as a beverage)