Why the fuck do people steal pens!?

[lucysmam]

It does my fucking nut in!

I go to work with two...often come home with one & end up chasing it down to someone in First Aid the next day who is happily using it.

I take a flamin' pencil case to Rainbows and Guides so I have everything I might want. One of my other leaders literally brings herself...every week...borrows a pen...and makes it disappear ffs...& then when I ask about it says "oh yes, so I have" but they never re-appear.

I'm down to one pen now.

& yes, I know they're cheap as chips, but ffs BUY YOUR OWN BLOODY PENS! I buy the ones I buy specifically because I struggle to write with some shapes of pen (circular ones in particular I'm a fussy fucker)

Colleague bloody walked away with my pen yesterday. I actually had to say ‘oh you've gotmy (rather nice) pen!’ She’s so scatterbrained though.

I used to collect abandoned pens and keep them in a box to lend out. It didn’t matter if they vanished because I hadn’t bought them anyway.

Pens,and also lighters, are almost communal property. Can't of anything else that is treated in the same way.

Boxes of tissues on desks seemed fair game at my last job. "Can I nick a tissue" while taking one and then someone else would say "get me one too" and then the box would be taken to offer the second person - and then not returned. I soon learned to lock my tissues away in my desk!

these are the ones I have hidden.

I like writing in different colours.

Actually, I think I'm lucky with my work colleagues. No-one seems to nick pens. Someone nicked my milk, though.

Thanks MNetters...been looking for ideas for my Christmas present so hav asked for a nice pen. I have to sign lots of documents every day so need a nice pen. I'm a pen donor it seems as I never have one to hand as they've all been stolen

I bought myself a very cheap (something like 79p!) fountain pen, from Home Bargains, at the weekend just to see what it felt like to write with one again...bonus is, not one single person has borrowed it . I did get a couple of funny looks but my pen is safe from borrowers it seems!

Now to properly look at some decent ones. I'd rather steer dd2 to a nice pen for me for Christmas than the shopping trolley she told me last night I'll be getting since mine is wonky and falling apart.

Now to properly look at some decent ones.

I have a few Lamy ones that I bought from Amazon, they cost between £10-£20 and I love them. Although not left handed, I tend to buy the ones with left handed nibs as I like a fine nib and they're very rounded so comfortable to use.

I worked with someone who used to pick up pens and put them in a drawer if they saw them lying around. If we ran out, I would simply raid the drawer!

People do tend to take pens without thinking though.

Pens,and also lighters, are almost communal property. Can't of anything else that is treated in the same way.

Maybe not communal property, but virtually all stationery is fair game for theft by employees. In my first accountancy practice job, we used very expensive analysis pads with the firm's name printed on - they cost something ridiculous like a fiver per pad. In the stationery cupboards, there were also always piles of cheap A4 lined pads but I never saw anyone ever use them, but the piles would fall rapidly. I once asked my manager and he told me they just bought them so staff would stop stealing the expensive analysis pads and nick the cheaper ones instead.

I took that with me to my first industry job. Theft of stationery was a problem, and previously they'd transferred stationery stores into the general stores/parts department so staff had to requisition office supplies. We're not talking cheap office stuff, there was also slide rules, fine writing pens/pencils, and top notch geometric sets for the drawing office, A3/A2/A1 paper for technical drawings, etc. Unfortunately it was very expensive as it was almost a full time job of one of the parts managers to keep track of stationery. It didn't solve the problem either as people would requisition another slide rule even though they already had one, just to take home and would still take plotter paper home for the kids to draw on! One of the first things I did was to order loads of cheap stationery, A4 pads, pens, pencils, rulers, etc., and reinstate departmental store cupboards. The reduction in orders for the expensive/technical stuff was enormous and the savings far outweighed the trifling amounts we'd spent on cheap stationery!

It's all about human behaviour. People like thinking they're getting something for nothing, or souvenirs, etc. It's not all about just picking up a pen and walking away with it forgetful. Some people want to feel like they're getting something - that's why there's always some freebies at seminars/presentations etc - people don't need yet another keyfob, or pen, but after any event like that, it looks like a plague of locusts with nothing left.

Has anyone posted this yet?

Would you actually dare steal Putin's pen?

I do this a well Troels .. I'm using a Wales pen at the moment which my friend got me and she's using her Valencia one I got her !!!...

It's the pen circle of life .. I acquire them from all over the place .. hotels.. events.. trips.. I love pens but sometimes they just carry on their journey with someone else !

The problem is caused by Pens Envy. Freud wrote about it.

Brilliant DontCallMe