Some bad things have happened on Sept. 30—the Elaine race riot, two more Jack the Ripper murders (Liz Stride and Kate Eddowes), among other things—but today I’ll focus on one particular event in 1841 that should make office workers happy.
On this day, inventor Samuel Slocum of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (not the one in Arkansas … imagine that!), patented what is believed to be the first stapler. And thus Milton had something to obsess about.
Don’t mess with Milton’s stapler!
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Presenting … the Museum of Staplers (not sponsored by Swingline). Yes, we get a little weird at work sometimes.
Milton and my buddy Nikki aren’t the only ones who get a little obsessive about their staplers. When you find a good one, you’ll do anything to keep it. Or you can scare your co-workers just for the hell of it.
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Very true. And where the hell is my staple gun? I need to do some ka-chunking.
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… and a hairball. Ya might wanna step back.
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I’ll never get it back now …
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The cat agrees. Kiss that Swingline goodbye.
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Serenity is a fuzzy belly 
Yeah, but who invented the staple remover?
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Probably someone who stapled his thumb. 😉
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OK, serious reply now, after I’ve taken care of my groceries: William G. Pankonin, nearly 100 years after the first stapler. No idea if he stapled his thumb, but I’m sure many did in the interim.
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S’funny how I can’t find a picture of his thumb. Left-wing conspiracy? What are the Clintons hiding?
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It was a political assassination of a right thumb!
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In my line of work and in the place where I work, staplers and stapler removers are STAPLE items. I don’t like it when someone else (and most especially nurses) borrow my stapler because some of them have a bad habit of leaving the stapler in the oddest and most unexpected places. On the other hand, though, at least the surgeons don’t try to borrow my stapler. I really don’t want to think about where my stapler might end up if a surgeon borrowed it and took the stapler into the operating room.
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Ha!
I had staples in my right arm when the surgeon had to put my humerus back together. Getting those out wasn’t all that fun. Good thing there was no Swingline involved.
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If a surgeon gets a flu shot and then operates on a patient, is the surgeon operating under the influenza?
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Yaysh.
And now I remember I need to get my shot.
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I once had a stapler at work that for some reason would jam occasionally, always at the worst possible, most stress-filled moment. It was driving me nuts. It finally occurred to me one day to take a moment and order a new one. Wow, who’d have guessed what a difference it made.
In front of me now is my little “home” stapler. Has worked flawlessly for years. I’d have bet is was a Swingline but I just looked and it’s a Rexel Matador. I’ve no idea where I got it and don’t recall ever hearing of that brand. And yet here it is, still going strong. Never a problem.
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I’ve had Swinglines and others, and as long as they work, I’m fine.
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