Stood My Ground Today!

[Lorna Reed]

At church this morning I was asked to sign a card for a colleague who is leaving. The conversation went like this -

 

Will you sign this card for Jenny. Here's a pen.

It's OK thanks - I have a pen (bringing out my Pelikan 400)

But that's a fountain pen isn't it?

Yes it is.

Well I'd rather you didn't use that.

Why not?

Well - It will smudge when other people sign it.

Sorry - I don't use ball points.

Can you use this pen just this once?

No - I'll sign it right at the top where it won't get smudged.

 

I signed, and walked away feeling I had been rather petty, although I did hear someone say it was nice to see someone using a fountain pen these days.

 

What would you have done?

 

[jar]

It would depend on how much I liked "Jenny" and also the person circulating the card.

[Djehuty]

Depends on whether the ink would actually smudge or not. If not, then I'd use the fountain pen, but if it would, I'd use the ballpoint, accepting that we no longer live in a world in which paper products must be fountain pen friendly.

 

But if you know it won't smudge, then I see no reason to cave to foolish pen prejudices.

[graystranger]

Ballpoints and gel pens smudge, their inks take a very long time to dry. A quick drying fountain pen is better (unless the card is one of those that water based ink does not wet very well).

 

Glad you stood your ground.

[domnortheast]

A frequent occurrence at work this scenario, there's barely a week goes by when it's not someone's, birthday, or wedding, or someone's died or been born. I always sign with whichever FP I have with me and mostly people have gotten used to daft Dom and his peculiar pens and let me get on with it.

 

Perhaps you could try reversing the situation one day, bring a card and a fountain pen and then ask everyone to sign it, offering them the fountain pen. Could be amusing...hey, what can I say, you gotta get your fun where you can these days!

[perfaddict]

I sign office birthday cards with a fountain pen with no problems at all

[sidthecat]

I've never been asked to forgo a fountain pen, but I'm not a Stalinist either. If I recollect rightly, I signed all eight hundred pages of my refi documents with the proffered ballpoint.

 

My signature actually changed when stores started using those touch-sensitive card readers, so now I need to develop a new, fp-optimized signature. Any else have this problem? And if it changes too much, do you have to get a new passport?

[Freddy]

At church this morning I was asked to sign a card for a colleague who is leaving. The conversation went like this -

 

Will you sign this card for Jenny. Here's a pen.

It's OK thanks - I have a pen (bringing out my Pelikan 400)

But that's a fountain pen isn't it?

Yes it is.

Well I'd rather you didn't use that.

Why not?

Well - It will smudge when other people sign it.

Sorry - I don't use ball points.

Can you use this pen just this once?

No - I'll sign it right at the top where it won't get smudged.

 

I signed, and walked away feeling I had been rather petty, although I did hear someone say it was nice to see someone using a fountain pen these days.

 

What would you have done?

 

 

Good for you..you stood your ground............Bravo!

"What would you have done?"

Same scenario as yours.....The following:

I would have taken the card..and without any delay {as they're complaining}

Sign it..almost certainly with some blue ink....waited till they stop talkin'...

Then hand over the card..'cause I really like Jenny.....Now what are the odds

that someone signin' this card that day in Church..is dealin' with primary

and or secondary hyperhidrosis..............................................

Fred

I want a Sunday kind of Love..........Who will show me the way............

~ Etta James

[Ernst Bitterman]

My only amendment in your approach would be to hang onto the card until the ink had set. Stand firm!

[flipper_gv]

Blow on it a little bit and it should be fine.

Edited April 12, 2015 by flipper_gv

[Freddy]

My only amendment in your approach would be to hang onto the card until the ink had set. Stand firm!

 

 

After..person zipped there lips.. re ball-points, fountain pen, smudged,we can safely assume {with out proof} {freakin'happysmileyfacetimethingy}....'Tis dry as the Salton Sea is........................

{fill in }...........................................................................

 

Fred

[Barkingpig]

I might have "gone her one better" & said I planned to send Jenny my own personal card or note written with pen of my choosing.

I have always thought those "communally" sent cards seemed a bit of "afterthought" and afraid I still can hear my Mother saying "store bought cards are for those persons who are too lazy to expend their efforts (or minds!) to compose a properly executed NOTE!" I believe she allowed the exception for: Christmas & Birthday greetings. ANYTHING else she said was too personal to be trusted to a commercially designed sentiment. I cannot say she disdained receipt of same BUT do know she was always quick to say what a "lovely or thoughtful" note she had received from X. No mention was made when commercially printed sympathy or (Heaven's Forbid!) Thank you acknowledgments. I "caught on" quickly & saw no reason to inspire rancor over something insignificant to me as a young person. (That was to be saved for the more important battles foreseen in my future!)

I simply wrote the notes & 50 years later continue to do so. I might also have thanked her for her offer to include me in the offering but just felt I would rather send my personal message to Jenny. ( If I felt in a nasty mood I might decline by saying "sign a card from a GROUP of persons? OH NO! I have already sent a personal note to Jenny.........." It is always fun to see people grasping for the card while you are looking @ it as though it was a "dead rat" brought into the sanctuary.)

[ISW_Kaputnik]

It would depend on how much I liked "Jenny" and also the person circulating the card.

Yes, if Jenny was just another face at the office to me, I would sign with the ballpoint. If someone I liked, I'd use my fountain pen, and sign with an extra flourish or two. But I'd explain that I only use water resistant inks, and if they gave it twenty seconds, thirty at the outside, it wasn't going to smudge.

 

The last time something like this came up, the woman circulating the card wanted people to use a fine-point Sharpie, because the ink looked richer than a typical ballpoint. I used a fountain pen, which meant my signature was the only one not in black, but I don't think she minded.

[lisadan]

I sign cards at work quite often. I usually use a pen with F nib (always have one in rotation) and blow on the ink for a few seconds, to make sure it's dry, before handing it to the next person. Haven't heard any complaints so far, and my signature/text usually stands out because I use ink color that is not so common with ball point pens.

[Dronak]

I don't usually have to sign or write something and then immediately give it to someone else. In a case like that though, if the person asking me to sign had a pen ready and my FPs weren't immediately at hand, I'd probably use the pen offered. It's just easier than refusing the ballpoint, say, and going to get my own pen. If I had my FPs on me though, I'd probably want to use one of them. When I am writing with a FP and giving the result to someone right away, typically I'll do one of a few things: (1) warn them that the ink may be wet for a bit and to handle it carefully, don't just immediately slap it in an envelope or cover it with something, (2) wave or blow on the paper to dry the ink before handing it back, (3) carefully blot the ink with a tissue, napkin, or similar object if one's on hand. Exactly which one likely depends on the specific situation (e.g., if there's nothing to blot with, obviously I won't do that), but I don't think I've ever had any problems with using my FPs on paper that's going to others. I think the inks I use generally dry quickly enough that they don't cause problems, and if I am still a little worried, air-drying or blotting resolves that.

[Mr. Dante]

The person who circulates the card doesn't get to decide on the content or edit the messages that signatories leave, correct? Then what right does he have to decide how the content is imprinted on the card?

 

In these kinds of situations, one should just proceed deliberately with the FP of one's choosing with a smile and reassuring tone that everything will be fine.

[ink-syringe]

 

What would you have done?

 

 

Signed with the ball point.

 

Not the hill I want to die on.

[Kuscer]

Nice! I probably would of done the same. I'm one of those stubborn people

[inkstainedruth]

My only amendment in your approach would be to hang onto the card until the ink had set. Stand firm!

 

 

Or make a concerted and obvious point of using blotter paper after signing -- *especially* if you know the ink won't smudge. (Yeah, I'm also petty about things like that -- plus I have a really pretty glass and pewter blotter that more or less permanently resides in my purse...).

Husband & I were in a restaurant Friday night, out in central PA, and had the usual "discussion" of which credit card to use (his or mine), which lead to the discussion with the waitress of my "fancy" pens. Who liked my ebonite Konrad a lot, and said she used to use dip pens growing up. But the bill still ended up on my husband's card.... I would have pulled out the vintage Pelikan 400, but my hand hit the Konrad first -- simply because it's a longer pen and sticks up further in the side pockets (which seem to have been *designed* for 1 or 2 pen pen cases ).

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JLZenor]

But if you know it won't smudge, then I see no reason to cave to foolish pen prejudices.

 

Haha, that made me laugh.

 

 

Perhaps you could try reversing the situation one day, bring a card and a fountain pen and then ask everyone to sign it, offering them the fountain pen. Could be amusing...hey, what can I say, you gotta get your fun where you can these days!

This is actually a good idea and may convert a few people to fountain pens.

 

 

Anyway, as to the original post's question, I'm not sure what I would have done. I too hate ball points and avoid them whenever possible, and also I hate using community pens. Maybe I'm turning into a germaphobe or something but knowing that so many other people have touched those pens just makes me want to use my own. I always have at least one pen on me within easy reach.

 

But yeah, if I had an ink that wouldn't smudge I would just have politely explained that it won't smudge. I don't like causing problems, especially in churches where there are too many petty arguments and disagreements already. But people just don't understand... it isn't just a pen. I knew this before I ever used a fountain pen.