Newsrooms and Pens

[The Mockingbird]

In the movie "The Butterfly Effect" the waitress thinks Ashton Kutcher just got out of prison because of the way he eats, protecting his food.

I think it must be the same way with former journalists and pens. I have seriously somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 in two coffee mugs on my desk. I apparently have the ball-point kleptomania.

I'm convinced this stems from the days when pens were GOLD. At the end of the day, I'll realize I have another pen in my pocket.

Luckily, I seem to only be stealing pens from my subordinates. And they go through me for materials requests, anyway.

I'm thinking maybe I just never noticed because people were always stealing pens from me, so it worked out in the end.

Is there a support group for this? smile.gif

[Too Much Time]

Try this for a joke on co-workers.

Save bad pens. Pens that skip, wont work or run out of ink in a few words.
Save a lot of them.
Find a co-worker who has a cup full of pens and replace most of the good ones with bad ones.
Watch the frustration as the co-worker tries pen after pen and throws them away. when that emp;oyee leaves for the day, get the bad pens out of the trash and put them back in the pen cup.
This works best on co-workers who are already neurotic. I have done this for years and it is my favorite office joke.

[JoinUsForCake]

Ahhh, there is nothing more invigorating than sprinting up and down the hallways looking for a writing utensil to fill out a cutsheet 2 minutes before the news begins...

[CKMD]

I am a tyrant about my pens.
So much a tyrant that one of the reporters LOVES to freak me out by stealing them and placing them in places he knows I'll be at 5 minutes later.
Everyone steals my pens!! DAMN PEN THIEVES!!!

[Roy Hobbs]

Are you going to ask EVERYONE in the newsroom? :D

[CKMD]

LOL! I usually do! tongue.gif

[Fargin Icehole]

Originally posted by Too Much Time:
Save bad pens. Pens that skip, wont work or run out of ink in a few words.
Save a lot of them.
Find a co-worker who has a cup full of pens and replace most of the good ones with bad ones.
Watch the frustration as the co-worker tries pen after pen and throws them away. when that emp;oyee leaves for the day, get the bad pens out of the trash and put them back in the pen cup.
This works best on co-workers who are already neurotic.Oh I am SO doing this in the newsroom. Not just one desk, THE ENTIRE NEWSROOM.

Even if it takes a year collecting the required number of pens.

Muahahahahaha..... :D

[The Mockingbird]

Okay, sweet. It isn't just me, then. graemlins/icon_kidra.gif

[News Is Broken]

No pen obsession here, but if I don't get my red stapler back I'm gonna burn the building down.

[sportzchick]

I'll steal all your sharpies.

[wxgeek]

Originally posted by Too Much Time:
Try this for a joke on co-workers.

Save bad pens. Pens that skip, wont work or run out of ink in a few words.
Save a lot of them.
Find a co-worker who has a cup full of pens and replace most of the good ones with bad ones.
Watch the frustration as the co-worker tries pen after pen and throws them away. when that emp;oyee leaves for the day, get the bad pens out of the trash and put them back in the pen cup.
This works best on co-workers who are already neurotic. I have done this for years and it is my favorite office joke.It is my fervent hope that when someone important calls you to set up an exclusive interview, you won't be able to find a pen to take their number. Karma's a b!tch. lol

[Bureau Chief]

I found it fun to wait until after the pen-hoarder goes home and then partially fill that pen bearing coffee cup with liquid epoxy...which will harden by the next day and those pens become a permenant fixture in that cup.

[Shank]

I've been wondering the answer to this and ya'll seem like the best group to give me one...

A pen left in a public space... edit bay, news car, etc. Is that's now public property?

[Produce man]

Originally posted by Shank:
I've been wondering the answer to this and ya'll seem like the best group to give me one...

A pen left in a public space... edit bay, news car, etc. Is that's now public property?Hell yeah! (If it's station-issued, that is)

[The Thrill]

All your pens are belong to us! :D

[Lazlo Toth]

My practice has been the same for more than thirty years in this biz.

I carry two pens in my right front pants pocket. One is to write with. The second is there in case the first runs out of ink. When one of them runs dry, I replace it with one from the box in my desk.

My wife kids me all the time because I ALWAYS have not one, but two pens when she needs one.

[Shot A Load]

Our assingnment desk use to keep one of those exploding pens just for this reason, he has now replaced it with one that shocks you when you go to click the top.