# What's your single favorite office supply? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295 "2021-08-09T12:54:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/41 "2021-08-09T23:57:04Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Yodalicious](#): > > > > The unbent paperclip. As an IT guy, it is indispensable. > > I call those the “IT lockpick”. I am constantly ruining paperclips at work to reset devices or pop out SIM cards. > > My personal favorite is a staple remover. I don’t use them very often, but they are really fun to fiddle around with on a long phone call. The person calling me can’t see my savage staple remover attacking everything else in my office with its metal fangs. > > Now I really want one that looks like this: > > [https://www.medievalcollectibles.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CC11988.jpg](https://www.medievalcollectibles.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CC11988.jpg) That is so cool! I need one. Our staple remover at work is a dull brown and is named Stanley. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/42 "2021-08-10T00:18:28Z")
[Pentel P209](https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Automatic-Pencil-0-9mm-Yellow/dp/B005COAGI0). It has a nice fat led that is very difficult to break so I go through led very slowly. The fat body factor is comfortable to hold on to. The one I’m using right now is close to 20 years old so the mechanics are basically invincible. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/43 "2021-08-10T00:32:32Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Pilot G-2, the best (cheap) pen ever. Agreed ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/44 "2021-08-10T00:38:55Z")
Palomino Blackwing pencils—any of them. Also the Stabilo Sensor Fineliner (0.3) No smudge, so good for this lefty. Kinda like a Sharpie, but higher quality. Also the late, lamented Execugel by Pilot with the G2 ink ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/45 "2021-08-10T01:56:02Z")
Ooh, real toss up between a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen and a small Bienfang sketch pad. The Metropolitan - reliable, solid enough to feel good in hand, yet inexpensive. A great fountain pen for beginners who are curious but don’t want to spend a huge wad o’ dough on a pen they might not like. Its only competition for “best entry level fountain pen” is the Lamy Safari. My daily carry pen is a Lamy Studio, but as that’s a bit more expensive, I don’t really classify it as an “office supply” the way I would a Safari or a Metropolitan. Great pen, but fountain pens don’t write wonderfully well on cheap notebook paper. So my work notebook, for doodles and to-do lists and such, is a Bienfang 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook. Makes scribbling a reminder to get dog food on the way home feel like calligraphy. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/46 "2021-08-10T02:15:39Z")
I discovered the Pilot Varsity disposible fountain pen in one job 13 years ago and I was in love 😀! I left that job a few years later but could buy them at Staples. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/47 "2021-08-10T04:31:20Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I still have – and regularly use – a [red Swingline Tot 50](http://stapleroftheweek.blogspot.com/2007/05/stapler-of-week-archive-swingline-tot.html) stapler that I have had since I myself was a tot. **(Still in good operational condition too, tyvm.)** Just realized, I should clarify. I meant the Tot Stapler, of course. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/48 "2021-08-10T05:02:15Z")
But, would you really buy dozens of those for your office instead of the basic Pilot G1/G2 or Sakura Gelly Roll? I haven’t touched a Pilot Varsity in so long my memory is hazy, but I recall it being rather scratchy and unpleasant. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Great pen, but fountain pens don’t write wonderfully well on cheap notebook paper. One can get fountain-pen ink that works at least tolerably well on even the cheapest paper, but the last place I worked in that had actual bottles of ink in the supply closet just had some Quink or Sheaffer or something similarly bog-standard. Also, people were not usually writing on flimsy napkins 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/49 "2021-08-10T05:18:41Z")
I was all set for an evening of trying to pick my favorite pencil (for mechanical, I decided on the teeny [**Zebra Techo** TS-3](https://www.jetpens.com/Zebra-Techo-TS-3-Mini-Mechanical-Pencil-0.5-mm/pd/576#index=0), 0.5mm; for wooden, the [**Blackwing** 602](https://blackwing602.com/pages/the-blackwing-difference))… But then I remembered the first present I opened every birthday as a kid: **a ream of copier paper**. So white, and so blank, it just _had_ to filled with imaginative doodles. Now I try to find HP Premium Color inkjet Paper on sale… it’s 28lb, Bright White, and will even hold a clean Sharpie line (no spreading, no bleed-through). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/50 "2021-08-10T05:21:13Z")
I like the unalterable Signo pen. It makes me happy to sign with it and write checks. Yes, I still have to write checks in my business occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/51 "2021-08-10T06:02:08Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But then I remembered the first present I opened every birthday as a kid: **a ream of copier paper**. So white, and so blank, it just _had_ to filled with imaginative doodles. This is me too! I still doodle on any scrap of paper that slips by me. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/52 "2021-08-10T06:19:06Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > That is so cool! I need one. Our staple remover at work is a dull brown and is named Stanley. You wouldn’t happen to work at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/53 "2021-08-10T06:25:04Z")
> [@ASGuy](#): > > Got to be the magnetic tape write-ring. I remember those. But the most fun thing was threading a tape round all the rollers. 🤣 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eCBxNhEzIfc/maxresdefault.jpg "HP and Overland 9-Track Tape Drives Demo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCBxNhEzIfc&t=494) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/54 "2021-08-10T06:39:53Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@kitap](#): > > > > That is so cool! I need one. Our staple remover at work is a dull brown and is named Stanley. > > You wouldn’t happen to work at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin? No! It just felt right. Our tape dispenser is Harry after Houdini because it will vanish for a few days every now and then then reappear and my purple and silver stapler is Herbert. I spend most of my night by myself. Naming inanimate objects is a natural consequence. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/55 "2021-08-10T06:46:49Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Our tape dispenser is Harry after Houdini because it will vanish for a few days every now and then then reappear I believe I have heard of your tape dispenser before. > **[Haunted Tape Dispenser Unsure How To Demonstrate Hauntedness](https://www.theonion.com/haunted-tape-dispenser-unsure-how-to-demonstrate-haunte-1819587104)** > > The Onion brings you all of the latest news, stories, photos, videos and more from America's finest news source. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/56 "2021-08-10T13:01:17Z")
Paper - just ordinary, bright-white, 80gsm A4 printer/copier paper. I love drawing on it. With my Pilot G-2 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/57 "2021-08-10T17:19:30Z")
This thread should be renamed “What’s your favorite writing implement?” (I still love my binder clips!) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/58 "2021-08-10T17:26:24Z")
My husband literally changed my life with a gift of an adding machine. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/59 "2021-08-10T17:45:13Z")
Details? Something just doesn’t add up. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295/60 "2021-08-10T18:38:42Z")
In my office, I had an adding machine and something that was sort of like a microfiche reader. (I’ve forgotten the exact term.) They were on opposite sides of the room, both had to be plugged in, and neither could be moved. I had to scribble down several four- or five-digit numbers from the reader, hurry across the room, and add them up. This would go on for hours. It was incredibly tedious, and I had to double check the numbers, too. Then my husband bought me a battery-operated adding machine, with a tape so I could print things out. Cut the time I needed to get everything done in half. Much less overtime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-single-favorite-office-supply/948295.md?page=4)