Poll:Do You Carry a Pen?

[Music Lover]

I don't carry a pen on my person but there are a dozens of golf pencils in my car, the garage, tool bag, and around the house. I also keep pens and pencils in my musical instrument cases and music binder as I'm often charting out songs.

 

[Car-Guy]

Sometimes...

 

[rodi]

I carry several in my purse.... and mainly they are used to offer up to DH or the kids... You never know when there will be a form to fill out.

 

[Hermit]

Most all the time along with a 3x5 index card with my shopping lists on it. Its close to an hour drive in to town so I scratch items from the list when I purchase them. That way I don't forget too many things. I also use the pen to note the mileage on the gas receipt when I fill up. That info goes into Quicken.

I just got my first smart phone a few weeks ago. Maybe I will move to that list format. I'm not sure how the scratch-off would work.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I just got my first smart phone a few weeks ago. Maybe I will move to that list format. I'm not sure how the scratch-off would work.

I started to use Google Keep notes with check boxes for my grocery lists. It's quicker to type out the items than writing them down, but keeping the phone open to the list can be a pain sometimes, especially if the battery is running low.

 

[RunningBum]

The chance of me really needing a pen these days is less than the chance of a pen making it into the washing machine, ruining some clothes. So, no.

 

[Choices]

Free pen from my bank in the car and a free purple one from the dog's vet in my purse. I really like the doggy one. Should have taken more!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Don't need to. DW always has one in her purse.

 

[Jerry1]

Only at work. Mont Blanc Rollerball. Outside of work, I only carry a pen if I know I'm going to need one. I do keep one in the car.

 

[FlaGator]

I'll never stop carrying a pen. They'll have to pry my pen from my cold, dead hands.

......
If you asked me what my favorite store to just wander and browse is, I'd say Office Depot. Is that weird? I've always had a preternatural attraction to paper, pads, pens, and files. I think it's because I enjoy writing and organizing.
...

+1

Hard for me to get out of there without dropping a few bucks on a writing instrument or something else "useful", even though I've done less writing the last 3 years than I did the last 3 months of 2012.

The 80's were Cross pens for me, the 90's Mont Blanc, and the 2000's 0.5 mm mechanical pencils. Still love my pencils and use them for scratch work - quick notes, examples for kid's homework, etc.

If I were to inventory my house for pens and mechanical pencils, guessing I would come up with far more than a hundred, and only a few that would cost more than $10 to replace.

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

You nerds....I mean people who carry a pen in your pocket...do you also use a pocket protector?

 

[FlaGator]

You nerds....I mean people who carry a pen in your pocket...do you also use a pocket protector?

Never did, never will. Would have disrupted the image of the gold Cross pen against my Brooks Brothers shirt and clashes with the Columbia PFG shirts today

 

[marko]

I know people who own pens and they're not very nice people.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

And in a bar you are sitting on community chairs at a community table and drinking out of community glassware that we KNOW is sterilized. hahaha

To continue this line , hahahah. I was in the store with my mother in law and bride. This store had a self serve soup kettle, several types, split pea with ham, chicken noodle and I think Italian wedding soups. As I go over to investigate my mother in law says "BCG dont you dare!" I said " what ?" "You know that everyone touches that ladle and it sometimes slips into the soup!" She then whispers to me "feces". Thats it Im ruined. Every time I see one at a store I think of that day.

 

[Nemo2]

She then whispers to me "feces".

Going back decades here, when restaurants, (the ones studied were in Toronto, IIRC), had bowls of unwrapped after dinner mints at the cash registers......seems a study showed high levels of urine as a result of unwashed hands taking one or more mints from the bowls.

 

[timo2]

I just retired, but when I was working I realized that if I had a pen and paper in meetings people expected more of me than if if I showed up with nothing visible. (I did have a pen and post it pad in my pants pocket just for emergency use). I actually used one note in meetings, but the stigma of having a pen visible was quite noticeable. So now that I'm retired, I do not carry a pen or pencil. If something is important, I have my smart phone to make a note.

 

[ivorybird]

Saaayy...

That's a real nice pen you've got there. It would be a shame if something were to *happen* to it...

I have to confess I'm a terrible pen thief. I have several in my purse that I'm sure were the result of my absentmindedly pilfering the community pens from somewhere.

 

[timo2]

+1

If I were to inventory my house for pens and mechanical pencils, guessing I would come up with far more than a hundred, and only a few that would cost more than $10 to replace.

I don't carry pens, but I did have probably a hundred hanging around the house because I often pick up free pens and pencils. (go figure). When I retired and was decluttering, I put a package together about 150 pens, pencils, and colored pencils and put them out on the 'nextdoor' application. Several teachers wanted those items for their classes. If you have extra writing implements, teachers can use them.

 

[MRG]

Just out of habit I still carry one in my shirt pocket and occasionally it does come in useful. It's also a defensive weapon if you need to stab somebody in the eyeball. Probably nobody but retired law enforcement would think of that use.

I did carry a pen for defense while at Megacorp. No knives or weapons were allowed. I didn't worry about my co-w*rkers so much as the nuts on the street. (One of my co-w*rkers was shot in the forehead in a robbery attempt! He was OK, a little .25 auto hit his glasses and forehead. He was thick skulled programmer so it was just a flesh wound.)

One I loved was a pen a vendor gave out in the shape of a shark. Thing was all metal and weighed about twelve ounces. Had a good feel to it.

 

[Clone]

Sounds like a hostile work environment if you need to carry a pen like this:

I usualy carry a pen and some cards for making notes. When I am farming or building something I always keep a running list of stuff that I need or things to do.

 

[ER Eddie]

If I were to inventory my house for pens and mechanical pencils, guessing I would come up with far more than a hundred, and only a few that would cost more than $10 to replace.

I've got a dozen in a holder on my desk, another dozen in a holder on a table two feet away, a dozen in a holder in the other room, and about a dozen lying on various surfaces throughout the house.

And they're all the same kind! I've thrown out lots of inferior pens. Nothing bugs me more than reaching into a pen cup and pulling out a sub-standard pen, a pen that doesn't measure up to the other pens.

Like I always say, life is too short to spend with an inferior pen.

You nerds....I mean people who carry a pen in your pocket...do you also use a pocket protector?

If I have three pens in my pocket at the same time, I believe I've crossed some type of nerd threshold. Two is okay -- maybe I'm just being absent-minded. But three pens in the pocket? I've clearly passed over into nerdville.

And no, I don't use a pocket protector. I realize I am running the risk of ink leakage, but I've learned to live with that. At a certain point, you've got to throw caution to the wind and live out loud. I've always been a risk-taker like that.

I know people who own pens and they're not very nice people.

Oh, you've got it all backwards, my friend. If everyone just had a pen, the world would be a much better place.

See, look at this guy. Doesn't he look well-adjusted?

Saaayy...

That's a real nice pen you've got there. It would be a shame if something were to *happen* to it...

Get away from me!

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Anyone remember going to the Dept Of Motor Vehicles in the 80's? They had the plastic cheapo pen dispensers for 10 cents a piece. They barely wrote to fill out the forms hahaha.

 

[ERD50]

I often will grab a pen on my way out, and always try to have paper, pencil and pen in the car.

But as some others mentioned, now that I use a smartphone, the camera is often way better and more convenient than jotting down a note, and you can even take a video. Once you get in the habit of documenting things with the camera, it really is quite handy.

So far, the most common uses I have for the smartphone have been the camera and the flashlight (two "chops" to turn it on).

-ERD50

 

[Scrapr]

Of course I carry a pen. A Cross pen. Always a Cross. Since the early 80's Expensive enough that I keep track of it. Until about 10 years ago it was the Cross Classic. Now a Cross apogee or similar. I love the feel in my hand. The weight is just right and feels like it's balanced. A ballpoint always. Hate the rollerball. I want the pen to start writing from the first stroke. Rollerballs seem to have to have a warm up scratch

Up until about a year ago I always carried a planner. So it was natural to have my Cross pen in my planner. Now I'm in that awkward stage where i have a pen i love but no where to put it. In the summer I'm in shorts so I stick the pen in my shorts pocket.

Couple of free pens in my glove box. But it has to be special to make it into my glove box. Just an ordinary Bic will not make the grade

 

[ER Eddie]

Hey, this thread is longer than the hanky thread or the wallet thread. Take that, wallet and hankies. It's shorter than the gun thread, though. I guess the gun is mightier than the pen.

Note to self. Next thread: "Who carries a sword?"