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Pushing the envelope, the jiffy bag and the file dividers

One of the main things Lol and I have in common is our insatiable desire to steal things. Not big things, just little, pointless things that no one will miss. We both get incredibly excited about discovering where the stationery cupboard is at each new freelance job. When we get in there it's like being let loose in an adult sweet shop. All of a sudden I start taking things I have absolutely no use for, such as enormous envelopes, sexy lever arch files or those thin plastic sleeves.

We once did a freelance job where they keep the stationery cupboard under lock and key. You have to find a special man with a special key. Knowing I wasn't allowed in there just made me want it even more. So I pretended I needed to get some layout pads when I really didn't, so we were allowed in for a whole 5 minutes. The stationery monitor watched us the whole time. I kept saying things like, whilst holding 3 staplers, 'oh yes, these will be useful'.

What is it about stationery? I love HAVING files, even though I don't use them or have ANY need for them. It's just nice knowing they're there. I suppose it's like having a car that can go up to 150 miles an hour even when you know you won't actually go that fast.  Unless of course you're driving the get-away car from a Ryman's robbery.
 
My fascination for stationery probably begun when I was about 15. I was turned down for a job in WHSmiths. Why? I was the ultimate stationery fan. I knew all about it. I used to look forward to the thrice annual trip to get a new pencil case before term started. It was always a big decision. You had to get a cool one. Do you remeber the fad for furry pencil cases and the long ones with maths printed on one side?
 
Anyway, I pose the question to you all. What is the best thing you have ever stolen from an agency? Lol's list of theiving achievments include..
 
Portable Heater (more on "Reginald" later)
Back rest
Foot rest
Speakers
 
My greatest achievment was an entire collection of marker pens. I had EVERY pantone. They were the really special ones with 3 pens in one.
I gave them to people as Christmas presents when I was on placement. (I was broke okay)

Anyway, now that we have fessed up, we hope that the stationery monitors will find it in our hearts to forgive us. We are sorry, we will try to keep our kleptomania (or is it OCD?) under control from now on.
 

All Comments

  July 16, 2008

I'm so glad it's not just me! After leaving my last job - I was made redundant and not happy about it - I didn't get a chance to raid the stationery cupboard and was most upset. Normally I use that chance to stock up on jiffy bags (and it was right before christmas!).

The best thing - well, things - I've ever stolen was from a job that I loathed. The managers were bullies, the pay was a joke and they made you work Saturday mornings. With no supervision. My last day was a Saturday morning, and I left at lunchtime with a storage box full of my desk's contents. Well... half full. Underneath it was anything I could nab from the stationery cupboard - jiffy bags, envelopes, A4-size whiteboards and pens (seemed useful), sellotape dispensers and rather a lot of the posh soap that they used in the bathrooms and stored in the stationery cupboard, which I then sold on ebay. Considering I didn't get a leaving present, I figured it was part of the package.

I'm not sure why stationery is such a thing to covet, but I have the same addiction. Oh, and the best pencil cases were the expensive ones with two compartments that came with new stationery already in. It was a good summer when I got one of those.

  July 16, 2008

good steal! top marks. yes, your absence of a leaving present certainly justifies the truck load of goodies.

My favourite pencil cases (lol) were those peculiar ones picked up in the french Hypermarches right at the end of summer just before term went back... ah, those halcyon days. And those with the sweet-smelling erasers that matched the pens.

OK, we all need to get out more...

  July 16, 2008

you really do

  September 4, 2009

Earlier readers of this blog may recall the confessions of our lever-arched kleptomania . So when Matt

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Lolly and Nat's Whipple Squeezer
Random squiggles and observations from a middle (but trying to lay off pasta) weight girl creative team in London.
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Member since: 12 Jun 2008

Last login: 20 Nov 2009

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