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Having spent the better part of last week in the hospital with my newborn son, who we (finally!) officially named Jack Nathaniel Israel (thanks everyone for your help on that!), I can report the following: there are more mini-pencils floating around Labor & Recovery than there are swaddling blankets and burpies.
You wouldn’t exactly expect the mini-pencil to flourish in a hospital, but they seem to be as popular there as they are in bowling alleys, golf courses and Ikea. I looked around for some history of the fabulous mini-pencil, but came up dry. I did discover, however, that the majority of pencils have been painted yellow since the 1890s. Why? Because at that time the world’s best graphite was produced in China and in China, the color yellow is associated with royalty. Apparently American companies started coloring the pencil casing so consumers knew the graphite was top-notch. (My favorite pencil, however, is the Blackwing 602, which is grey on the outside and which, sadly, is no longer in production.)
So mini-pencils: Ikea, hospitals, golf courses (regular AND, of course, miniature), bowling alleys… where else have you seen them in action? There are probably a lot of other places that use ‘em, right? Let’s get a nice-size list going of all the places you’ve seen these suckers in action in place of the regular-size pencil.
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Sushi bars, for filling out the order sheet.
posted by Celeste on 8-13-2007 at 2:53 am
My ex-wife and I filled in our marriage license application at Las Vegas city hall with mini pencils back in 2001.
posted by Brian on 8-13-2007 at 3:16 am
1. Sushi Bars, of course.
2. Church Pews (to fill out visitor cards)
3. My classroom. When a student forgets their writing utensil, they may use one of these tiny pencils. They usually hate it and remember their pencils after that.
posted by Becky B on 8-13-2007 at 4:16 am
These are good to have in geocaches for signing the log.
Do you remember the even smaller mini-pencils Reader’s Digest would put in envelopes with surveys or something back in the 70’s? They were barely thicker than the lead inside.
posted by Tim in Augusta on 8-13-2007 at 4:35 am
The local library has a small tray of mini-pencils and paper slips at each computer station so that folks can jot down call numbers.
posted by Anna on 8-13-2007 at 4:37 am
We hand them out at our Auto Auction.
posted by Kevin in Cincinnati on 8-13-2007 at 5:19 am
LOTTERY TICKET STATIONS. THERE ARE ALWAYS ONE OR TWO IN THE HOLDER IF FRONT OF THE LOTTO FORMS.
posted by MIKE R on 8-13-2007 at 5:20 am
In the bulk sections of co-ops.
posted by Adam on 8-13-2007 at 5:21 am
Public libraries use them. We give them to customers who “need some scratch paper and something to write with.” 3/5 of the time, we get them back.
posted by Jill on 8-13-2007 at 5:48 am
I work in a university department, and let me tell you, these things are like gold. Each department has to provide their own pencils for those bubble-form student evaluations. And each semester, no one returns the pencils he or she took.
One year, I actually had to raid the petty cash and take the subway to an office supply store because our faculty had been making off with whole boxes of them for classes of 15 people.
posted by Caleythia on 8-13-2007 at 6:57 am
Yep, they’re passed out to us with those scantron course evaluations. (Grad students like ink–almost no one has a pencil with them.)
posted by Kristen on 8-13-2007 at 7:53 am
Trivia contests held at some of the bars here in Memphis use mini pencils.
posted by DW on 8-13-2007 at 8:00 am
I think my favorite use of the mini pencil is at the Alamo Drafthouse where you use the pencil to write down your order so that servers can come pick it up and later bring you your beer and food. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any movie that isn’t improved with a nice pint of good beer.
posted by Ben on 8-13-2007 at 8:11 am
see lots o’ mini-pencils at the library!
posted by rj on 8-13-2007 at 8:35 am
I did a mental_floss presentation at a Mensa event last year, and put together a short written trivia quiz for the attendees… I bought a box of these pencils at Staples for the occasion, but joked to the crowd that I had almost gone broke buying enough rounds of mini-golf to collect them all.
Well, it was good for a laugh. It’s not always easy to make Mensa people laugh!
posted by Sandy on 8-13-2007 at 8:42 am
Pub quiz I go to on Tuesdays uses them if a team should forget a pen.
I also had a professor who had a box in case a student forgot a pencil to use on a Scantron test (those bubble sheets). Taking a final exam with a mini-pencil is painful.
posted by Annie on 8-13-2007 at 9:35 am
I don’t see them many places but I worked at an Office Supply place and they were labeled in the catalog as pew pencils for churches.
posted by Sarah on 8-13-2007 at 9:37 am
Baseball stadiums. You get a mini pencil to fill out the scorecard when you buy the game program. I usually have a New York Yankees branded mini pencil in my pocket, as they’re conveniently small.
posted by Jen on 8-13-2007 at 10:30 am
I don’t seem to be able to post links, but try searching for “Short Pencil Saga” on YouTube for a humorous look at short pencils’ journey to libraries.
posted by srah on 8-13-2007 at 10:34 am
My favorite Karaoke bar puts these out for people to use on their song sheets.
posted by Casey on 8-13-2007 at 10:43 am
there are mini-pencils on the pews at church. i have a lot of long curly hair, and it’s big, and one time about 7 years ago i came home from church and took my hair down and mini-pencils fell out.
posted by Katie on 8-13-2007 at 10:55 am
We use them in our university bookstore. They’re sitting out there for the customers to use, along with old 3X5 cards. They’ll usually write down ISBNs and then look for their books online.
posted by Tomas on 8-13-2007 at 11:35 am
hotels have them in the rooms fairly often.
posted by Melissa on 8-13-2007 at 2:19 pm
florida lotto booths where you shade over what numbers you wanna pick.
posted by heather on 8-14-2007 at 12:15 pm
not just the golf course at our local country club uses them, but the restaurant inside, also. i waitress there — & i have quite a collection at home that fall out of my purse, my apron, my pockets, my hair (not only do we take orders with them, but the customers use them to sign their bills – hiiiigh class)
posted by sd on 8-15-2007 at 9:49 am
Karaoke bars (for filling out the song sheets)
posted by Kate on 8-21-2007 at 2:57 pm