The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

zagubov

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's about this very capable lady. At the age of 19, she was told by her then boyfriend that she could not dance. She hasn't danced since then. It's crazy what we allow other people to do to us!

I heard that show and I shudder to think about the effect some teenagers can have on each other. Their thoughtlessness can be off the scale.

GDB2222 wrote: »

I'm okay. Thanks. The op has gone very well. I'm booked in for the next procedure in 10 days. That has about a 50/50 chance of working, but it's fairly free of side effects. If that doesn't work, I'll have to have another operation that is pretty much guaranteed to work, but also pretty much guaranteed to have unpleasant side effects. So, I'm hoping the first one works, as you can imagine! It's all very modern, with an interventional radiologist. I don't think that speciality even existed a few years ago.

Glad to hear the op went well. We're all rooting for you for the follow-up treatments to go as smoothly as possible.

GDB2222

Oh dear! I spotted a bargain on Amazon. They were selling boxes of 20 ballpoint pens for the price they should have charged for each one. So, in the true spirit of MSE (mean scrounging expert), I ordered 10 boxes. Now that I have 200 quite decent pens for £7, what do I do with them?

Do you think a food bank would take some?

silvercar

These people send pens to deprived countries: https://www.pensforkids.co.uk/
As do these people:
https://www.school-aid.org/donate/books

Google throws up more groups sending to 3rd world countries, though I suspect the cost of you posting them is as much as the pens cost!

An old MSE thread suggests guides https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3706309/what-to-do-with-pens-biros-pencils-etc&page=1

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GDB2222 wrote: »

I ordered 10 boxes. Now that I have 200 quite decent pens for £7, what do I do with them??

:eek:

I reckon that would last me many, many lifetimes.

Only thing I do with pens is sign my name on contracts a few times a year. Everything else is done electronically. Even signing contracts is starting to be done online now.

Having said that I can never find a pen when I need one because the staff steal them all from my desk.

So actually, never mind, it probably wouldn't last me as long as I think!

GDB2222

We have them all over the house, but even so 200 is a lot.

I'll probably give some to the local charity shop. We have some old clothes to give away.

vivatifosi

In all seriousness, ask your local library if they would like them. We are always short of pens as the public walk off with them, and always short of money. There's also poetic justice in taking from Amazon to give to a library. Just speak to them first and let them know what you are doing.

PasturesNew

I come from a long line of families who never have a pen that works, to hand.

My parents had stacks of pens, few ever worked.

I grew up struggling to make pens work.

Each time I want a pen here I struggle to find one that works. I went through them a while ago, turfing out all those that didn't work... I'm still struggling when I want a pen that works.

I think they sell them in huge boxes because .... they have a built in self destruct memory.

ivyleaf

Pastures You might want to consider investing in something like a Parker pen - they always work, until the refill runs out, then you pop a new refill in. The refills cost the same as a few cheaper pens, but work for a long time.

GDB Glad all's as well as possible so far. Wishing you well for the next procedure x

SingleSue

I have a lovely (and expensive) pen that Joe gave me, it nestles in a nice little case in the bottom of my handbag. Unfortunately my hands are now so bad that I can't use the blasted thing in any kind of readable form!

PasturesNew

ivyleaf wrote: »

....until the refill runs out...

And that's where it would go wrong. That'd then be on the "must get round to it" list and I'm rarely anywhere where I'd be able to get one of those and years could pass before I get round to it.

Also, at least 10p pens can be picked up anywhere and you can have 100 of them everywhere if you wish.

I've currently got a selection of free ones picked up here and there over the years. Most are probably 15-20 years old, which is probably part of the problem.