Do You Ever See Other People Using Fountain Pens At Work?

[amberleadavis]

My daughter has started to come to the office to help out because she's curious about what to do now that she's "all growed up" with a college degree and everything.

 

She has liked the pen I got her for graduation, and she still hasn't returned the Safari I loaned her when she forgot her purse.

 

A destitute client recently insisted I take some glass pens as a retainer. Okay, "quasi-pro-bono," I guess.

 

Yesterday, I was walking in my office when I saw my daughter playing with those pens. I stopped and watched for a bit, and she was so engrossed that she didn't notice me standing there. I think she was enjoying playing with many different color inks quickly. I haven't decided yet whether to ask her, or to just keep the moment for myself. Maybe I'll savor it until my birthday and then tell my wife about it, and then we'll save it to share with the kids over the holidays. She crumpled the paper when she was done, so I'll have to cogitate about whether it's a secret I'll have to keep. Daughters. Much more complicated than sons sometimes.

 

Dip. Scribble. Rinse. Wipe. Ooooh, new bottle! Dip. Scribble. Rinse. Wipe. That looks neat. Dip. Scribble. Rinse. Wipe. Just like when she was a little girl.

 

But now, I don't have to worry about figuring out how to get the ink off her hands and face and nice new dress that Mommy got her.

 

And I reckon I'll probably have to now consider the representation "fully retained" at this point.

 

Thank you for that wonderful story. I think you should treasure that memory.

[Cincinnatus]

No - there is no one else. Being an Electrical Engineer in a very high tech company I am complete throw-back. Everyone else has their laptops and iPads to take notes. I have a fountain pen and a noteletts note book which gets me strange looks.

[uemuraw]

Thank you for that wonderful story. I think you should treasure that memory.

Thanks. By the way, all the FPN inks were out, and I think she liked .em. They really are very cool inks. You can tell the specs were made by ink afficionados!

[Bourriquette]

I only met one guy with a VP, just like me. When I engaged the conversation about him having a nice pen I got a condescending look.

"You call this cheap, bad-looking, poorly-writing pen "nice" ? " was his answer. "Mont-Blanc, those are real worthy pens ! " he added.

I backed away and never mentioned the subject again. I may in the future since I learned he is a master of irony.

 

Most of the top mamagement uses either Mont Blanc rollers are Paper Mates when they want to avoid showing off (in France the Mont Blanc is a symbol of status and power to some, so I am fine with my "cheap-looking" VP).

[jvcn]

I rarely see someone with a fountain pen but have met colleagues at conferences who do. However, there was a recent lunch where a colleague saw me scribbling with a fountain pen and he remarked that I had decent handwriting. He resolved that moment to work on his own penmanship, but sadly he drew the line at fountain pens. He said he used one long ago, but they were too high maintenance and pointed to my ink-stained thumb as evidence.

[Portamenti]

I see a few execs with Mont Blancs... I've yet to find one of them that was a FP. All have been rollerballs to date.

[amberleadavis]

So, two nights ago, I'm a convention. I meet this nice fellow from UPS freight. We get to talking and I ask him if he uses fountain pens. He looks at me aghast and says that he does, MB 149s mostly. I ask him to come visit me when I'm in Vegas, we will have a mini pen posse. He looks at me as if I've invited him over for pen porn (which I had) and then, when he tells me that he only uses black ink, I tell him that I will "ruin" him for mere black ink. (insert maniacal laugh). I'm so excited!

[haruka337]

You are the Pied Piper--who can resist?

[amberleadavis]

Exactly. Wait until I spell bind him with Ink of the Witch.

[sharmon202]

Never seen anyone using one. People notice mine but most do not say anything. One says she notices the different ones I use. I gave her one, she could not remember to put the cap back on. Oh well, I tried.

[bongo47]

I've seen other threads with a poll. Maybe this could be turned into one and posted by someone with such skills.

 

My vote is no, don't ever see anyone on campus with a FP and yet no one comments on mine except a few I work closely with. I once tried to give fountain pens to everyone who worked for me, with the promise I'd authorize ink to keep them going but no more disposables. The only person for whom this seemed to stick was a colleague from Switzerland who had grown up using them. Actually I was really happy when a Parker sonnet came back to me from one of the others in the office. That one is back in my rotation.

[ReacherCreature]

At work, in the office, fountain pens are rarely used. The only one I know and sometimes talk about it, is my boss. He uses a MB 146 with ink from MB. And I have to admit being jealous about it.

[dojocho]

Apart from my students, I see an occassional Lamy All Star, Parker Vector, Parker Sonnet, a Graf von FaberCastel and a MB 149 in the staffroom.

 

The rest, well, scribbles and jots with bics...

 

regards,

 

Hugo

[Ergative]

Now that I'm beginning to recognize brands, I've actually been sadly disappointed at the non-fountain pens that I've recognized. A fellow at a conference gave me his Lamy Safari to use to put down my contact info, but it was a rollerball. My advisor was fumbling with a Waterman Hemisphere (I think -- I'm not so good at recognizing that one yet), but when the cap came off it was also stubbornly ball-nibbed. I'm doomed to disappointment, I guess.

[Kiaxa]

Still in school so not technically "the office" but I've only seen 2 other people on campus using fountain pens. One was a Chinese pen and the other a Lamy Safari. The overwhelming majority of pens I see are Pilot G2s. Kinda makes me sad because here I am rollin' around with my Parker 51 and #3776 with my Black n' Red notebooks all fancy like and everyone else just uses rollerballs and 15lb composition notebooks

Edited September 22, 2015 by Kiaxa

[Alma]

Maybe half the people I know use fountain pens. Where I live Pilot G2 are the exotic writing tool. Sometimes people want a pen, I give them a G2 and they always want to keep them. Another exotic thing: Muji rollerballs.

[Bigeddie]

A spot of a MB 146 in a meeting yesterday, one or two Lamy Al-Stars or Safari's with students and a Pilot V-Pen or two.

 

The Vice-Chancellor sometimes sports a modern Parker Duofold in black (GT).

[FOUR X FOUR]

I don't think I've ever seen a fountain pen in the wild

[PorterPie]

I was walking to a building with the only co-worker I know that uses a fountain pen and there on the sidewalk was a fountain pen. There is another...

[tragique]

I think I've seen someone use a fountain pen a total of one time.