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Author Topic: I now officially hate pens...
Shawshank
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I recently got my first job, and it's at Staples.

Now the truck comes in on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Today was the first day I had to do stocking.

That is why I now hate pens. Stocking everything was ... okay. I didn't know where anything was because I was new. But pens, I hate. You know why?

1. There is an entire aisle devoted purely to pens- one side to pens, the other side to pencils, highlighters, markers, and white out. That's a lot of pens.

2. They are all the same! They are all the same with very very tiny differences. What the crap is the difference between BiC Atlantis and BiC Velocity? Then you have to organize by color, and many times they aren't anywhere to be found nearby.

3. I couldn't find many of them at all!

~~~
That is why I now hate pens.

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Zeugma
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I volunteered stocking groceries at the local co-op for a while, and they taught me a trick... you can always match the barcode numbers on the product to the numbers on the shelves/bins. That made my life a lot easier. :-D
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Shawshank
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I was doing that too. [Frown]
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Tstorm
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Yeah, I hated inkjet cartridges after working at Circuit City. Oh, and memory cards. But honestly, there's usually a logical layout for ink cartidges. You'll learn the system eventually. Like any repetitious exercise, training your eyes on where to look will help. [Smile]

Look on the bright side: You'll get lots of practice tonight dreaming about it. [Big Grin]

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Kasie H
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I *loved* working at Staples! I worked there for almost two years while I was in high school.

Granted, I didn't have to stock shelves...they were still just sexist enough to make the boys do that instead. I ran the copy center, which had an entirely different set of headaches.

But my coworkers rocked.

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Heffaji
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This topic is begging for a dobie.
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Sharpie
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Um. Not all pens are the same. I can certainly think of one that is far superior to the others...
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Kasie H
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I'm partial to Sharpies, myself. They don't wash off.
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Sharpie
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That's right. Indelible!
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Shawshank
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I'm not including Sharpies in pens- they go under the section labeled Markers.

Edit to add: Same way with my store Kasie- I have the coolest coworkers and the coolest managers. I love the informality around the place- I heard the pregnant girl threaten to stab the general manager in the eye if he didn't do something she wanted (some boxes needed to be moved or something). Ha- it's great.

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Phanto
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I hate pens ever since I saw "how pens reproduce." Ewww.
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Sharpie
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quote:
Originally posted by Shawshank:
I'm not including Sharpies

This happens a lot [Frown]
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Shawshank
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quote:
Originally Posted by Sharpie:
quote:
Originally posted by Shawshank:
I'm not including Sharpies

This happens a lot [Frown]
How can you be upset Sharpie that I'm exlcuding Sharpies from a product I hate. I'm indifferent to mildly good-feeling about Sharpies.
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Shawshank
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Just imagine that this
only about 10 times more. I know- I'm being very whiny right now.

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Sharpie
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[Big Grin]
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Tante Shvester
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You've all seen the one where the pen got stuck in the printer, right?
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Tstorm
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That one was new to me, Tante. Nice. [Smile]
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fugu13
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The Zebra F-402 is far and away my favorite pen for writing. And there aren't any others like it at a reasonable price level (the only close ones are either badly balanced, cheap-feeling, or have too thick a point).
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Goody Scrivener
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Tante, I'd never seen it before either... that's just awesome!
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The Pixiest
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Must... Not... Dobby... Would... Get... Banned........
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Xavier
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I hated working at Staples, because my general manager was a jerk. I probably could have gotten him fired if I'd wanted to.

He was obsessed with the mystery shopper scores they get, and so attempted to cheat the system.

He gambled that the shopper would come at the beginning of the month, and so scheduled something like eight or nine of us on the floor for the first couple of weeks. At least three people were scheduled to work the register.

Then after the mystery shopper was over for the month (they get the report immediately after), he then scheduled one person to work the entire floor, and one person to work every register, and one person to work customer service, for the whole rest of the month. He had to do this because he spent pretty much the entire month's payroll in the first couple of weeks.

It was a nightmare. When I was working the floor, I would have about seven to twelve people waiting for help at any given time. When you are a sales associate at Staples, there are times you need to go back to get furniture, to go and get things off of high shelves, go get software or computer parts from the secure room, all sorts of things that take direct customer relations. There were people who wanted to buy things, but they couldn't because I couldn't get to them.

He left the store with two full weeks of terrible terrible customer service in order to get a good score on the mystery shopper, and by doing so completely abandoned what the program is supposed to measure. It was supposed to encourage good customer service, not folks leaving in anger and cursing under their breath.

I was planning on calling the Staples corporate offices to have Frank reported, and I can't imagine they wouldn't have at least given him a stern reprimand, if not firing him. An assistant manager talked me out of it though. I ended up just quitting a week or so later.

What really drove me to the edge was when he disrespected me in front of a customer when I was working the register, back when he was trying to cheat the mystery shopper.

I don't remember exactly what the circumstances were, but there was a customer whose total check-out time exceeded two minutes through no fault of my own. I think we had to try a couple of different credit cards or something.

The general manager came out from the office and apoligized to the customer, and the customer behind her. Then he insulted me to them. I don't remember what the insult was, but I am amazed that I didn't walk right out of there. The customer defended me, and was actually quite uncomfortable.

Anyway, that store was run about as half-assed and incompetantly as it could possibly be. I'm sure other stores are run better than that though, and I hope Frank is now out of a job.

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theamazeeaz
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quote:
Originally posted by Heffaji:
This topic is begging for a dobie.

This topic is begging for an indecent dobie.
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Icarus
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I think Pixie already went there. [Wink]
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Icarus
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When you have toddlers, you'll agree that pens are western civilization's greatest achievement. [Big Grin]
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cmc
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The BiC Atlantis is an awesome pen. Even as it evolves through the years - it remains a left-handers friend... Medium ink that dries quickly - so it doesn't look like I broke my pinkie by the end of the day!!! : )
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Shmuel
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quote:
Originally posted by Shawshank:
There is an entire aisle devoted purely to pens- one side to pens, the other side to pencils, highlighters, markers, and white out.

This is precisely the reason why I love Staples. [Smile]

(Edited to note that the PaperMate Xtend is my current pen of choice. Good ink, retractable point, soft grip.)

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theamazeeaz
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quote:
Originally posted by Icarus:
I think Pixie already went there. [Wink]

He tried to blame it on the houselves.
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Bob_Scopatz
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I like the PhD line, especially the version with the stylus for my PDA.

I love pens...glorious pens.

I recently took a tour of a mail car from the golden age of railroading (6 years of age, through to about 90, for some people). Anyway, they had this little wooden thing called a "sorting box" (Griffindor! Oops, wrong book). Anyway, when the guys weren't sorting mail, they would take out the sorting box and practice...sorting mail. They had to take periodic proficiency tests and if they weren't up to standards they got demoted and, I guess, couldn't sort mail anymore...

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Tante Shvester
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quote:
Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz:
I like the PhD line, especially the version with the stylus for my PDA.

I got the PhD pen, largely because I liked the line on the packaging ("a higher degree of comfort" or something like that). It was a good pen, but it ran out of ink way too fast, and, of course, replacement cartridges for that pen aren't so easy to find.

(and Bob, you ought to know that whenever I spell check, my spellchecker suggests that instead of "Scopatz", I probably meant to write "cowpats". I am deliberately not adding you to my dictionary, because, well, I don't know, maybe someday I'll let it have its way and call you Bob_Cowpats)

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Bob_Scopatz
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lol. I have, of course, seen the cowpats thing before, but it's been years because I finally did add myself to my own spell-checker after printing out something for signature... [ROFL]
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Bob_Scopatz
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Oh, and the refill problem does suck! What's up with that? I have to buy these cheapo refills and cut the ends off. How come the stores don't carry ones made by Papermate or something.

Grrrr.

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Icarus
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quote:
Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz:
I recently took a tour of a mail car from the golden age of railroading (6 years of age, through to about 90, for some people). Anyway, they had this little wooden thing called a "sorting box" (Griffindor! Oops, wrong book). Anyway, when the guys weren't sorting mail, they would take out the sorting box and practice...sorting mail. They had to take periodic proficiency tests and if they weren't up to standards they got demoted and, I guess, couldn't sort mail anymore...

Actually, my aunt had to do that when she worked for USPS. My father even made her a sorting box where she could practice sorting letters by ZIP code at home.

. . . of course, that was before she brought an UZI to work and blew everyone away . . .

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Sharpie
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I have to confess -- I actually have TWO pen drawers, one somewhat near my computer and one upstairs. Not office supply drawers, pen drawers.

It's kind of the same concept as having an upstairs vacuum cleaner and a downstairs vacuum cleaner. I think.

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Dan_raven
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If some pens are better than others, is even the worst pen better than the best sword, or are some swords better than some pens?

This is so confusing.

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Lalo
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I loved working at Staples -- but then, electronics has it WAY easier than office supplies. My coworkers rocked, we'd just hang out and wrestle in between selling warranties.

Honestly, I didn't know there were that many Staples vets here. I feel like knocking over a vending machine with you guys, now...

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