Written by Every office has a thief.
Not a dangerous thief.
A weird thief.
The kind that steals:
- pens
- sticky notes
- chargers
- and occasionally emotional stability
At this office, the problem was pens.
Not expensive pens.
Not luxury pens.
Just normal office pens disappearing at alarming speed.
It started small.
One missing pen here.
Another there.
People blamed forgetfulness.
Classic corporate denial.
But eventually the numbers became impossible to ignore.
Entire packs vanished overnight.
At one point Jason ordered 50 pens on Monday.
By Thursday?
Gone.
The office entered full detective mode.
Linda from HR sent an email:
“Please be mindful when borrowing stationery.”
Nobody respected this email because everyone knew:
borrowing office pens is basically an international workplace sport.
Still…
the stealing continued.
Then suspicion fell on Trevor.
Naturally.
Trevor always looked guilty even when innocent.
People noticed Trevor somehow ALWAYS had pens.
Different colours too.
Blue.
Black.
Red.
One glitter gel pen for reasons nobody understood.
When questioned, Trevor simply said:
“I like options.”
Suspicious behaviour honestly.
Meanwhile tensions escalated.
Employees began protecting stationery aggressively.
Kyle chained his favourite pen to his notebook using string.
Priya labeled hers:
“PROPERTY OF A TIRED WOMAN.”
Someone else started carrying pens in their sock.
The office was unraveling psychologically.
Then came the breakthrough.
At 14:17 on a rainy Thursday afternoon…
Cheryl from Admin spotted something horrifying.
The receptionist desk drawer.
Filled.
With pens.
Hundreds of them.
Different brands.
Different colours.
Some dating back to what looked like 2019.
The office gathered immediately.
Nobody spoke.
The drawer contained enough stationery to open a small retail branch.
The receptionist, Mandy, looked genuinely confused.
“Oh…”
“I thought everyone was leaving them here.”
Silence.
Mandy had apparently been unconsciously collecting stray office pens for YEARS like a stationery raccoon.
She wasn’t stealing them.
She was… rescuing them.
Emotionally complicated honestly.
The office held an unofficial “pen redistribution ceremony” the next morning.
Employees reclaimed pens dramatically like reunited family members.
One man whispered:
“I missed you.”
To a pen.
Corporate life changes people.
Mandy still collects pens sometimes.
But now people just let her.
It’s become part of office culture.
Honestly?
She’s probably happier than management anyway.