Pen OCD

I have pen OCD. I can only write with certain pens, and if I have the wrong pen, I have to search around and/or steal another person's writing utensil until I find one that I can use, or I feel like my writing is off. I have learned to carry my favorite types of pens with me in my purse, car, laptop bag, suitcase, etc. just in case.


I am not that way about anything else, (well, I might be, but I am not admitting to it), but to this day, if someone at work in a meeting takes my pen, or borrows it from my desk, I will follow them around the office like a mosquito at a blood bank until I get it back.

Once, when I was younger and worked in a small office (about 20 people) people were forever taking pens off my desk. I hid my favorite pen in my drawer and put crappy pens on my desk. But one day I left my favorite pen out, and someone took it. I sent an email to everyone at work, asking who took my pen, to which my boss replied that my email was "an inappropriate use of company email".  My response to that was to yell across the office "who took my pen?!"Apparently, that was inappropriate as well. I tried to explain that it was my favorite pen, and he said "it's just a pen"! That was the first time in my life that I wished I was magic and my pen was a wand so I could do something cool with it and then say "JUST a pen, huh"!?  Instead, I rolled my non-magic eyes at him, and walked away. (Side note -  we got along great, and I worked there for a long time)

Since then, I have calmed down a little bit about people taking my pens, (not even a little) and can afford to buy whole boxes at a time now to always have on hand, but the smart ass in me is still there. Recently, someone in a meeting asked if they could borrow my pen, so I licked it, and handed it over. My co-worker looked at me like I was crazy. I am hoping that I get a reputation of "pen licker" or something of that sort, so people finally leave my pens alone.