Inventory: I truly wish I was dead

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Inventory at the swamp is tomorrow. We started pre-counting the backroom today. This process normally takes three days to complete, but we're trying to do it in two.

I drew the worst section to have to count: School supplies. This is because we have massive quantities of small items that have been carried over two or maybe even three years. Among my findings:

• about 400 packs of one kind of mechanical pencils (which many teachers specifically say they don't want their students bringing in, so why are we investing so heavily in them?)
• Many, many trapper keepers (which again teachers don't seem to want their students using)
• about 5,000 notebooks ( at least those were on pallets and pre-counted, so I just had to type the quantities into the scanner)
• about 300 bottles of Elmers School Glue
• several hundred boxes of 24-count Crayola crayons
• about a hundred 10-packs of thin fine-line Crayola markers
• hundreds of erasers

And the best (cough cough) one? Thirty boxes of cheapy paper folders, 75 to 100 per box. These I had to painstakingly count by hand because of the different quantities in each box, plus some different folders found their way into the boxes, either due to customers sticking them in the wrong box or employees doing the same when restocking.

I am so happy I am not working Wednesday, and thus not doing reconciliation.

[Geek King]

about 400 packs of one kind of mechanical pencils (which many teachers specifically say they don't want their students bringing in, so why are we investing so heavily in them?)

Wait, what?

Mechanical pencils banned? I would have flipped. I hate using dull wooden pencils. There would have been revolution! You'll take my mechanical pencil when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!

[blas]

It's not a new thing. Anal retentive teachers have been around for years.

Growing up poor, you can only imagine how much fun school shopping was when I was younger and my parents had a problem (who could blame them?) with teachers who were too specific and had to many "do not"s and "ONLY"s on their list that pretty much guaranteed you'd be spending double on supplies.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Wait, what?

Mechanical pencils banned? I would have flipped. I hate using dull wooden pencils. There would have been revolution! You'll take my mechanical pencil when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!

It's mostly the elementary school teachers banning those things.

I guess the poor kids with wooden pencils might feel inadequate at the sight of their more well-off classmate's mechanical pencils or something. Oh, the pants-pissing horror!

[mattm04]

Never really had any teachers that were very picky supply lists. Any specifics were the size of the binder, etc. The most specific I can remember was A specific size of note books that had to be non-college ruled.

During back-to-school time last year, myself and several CW's were discussing the school experiences. One had a teacher that specified specific brands and SKUs of products they wnated form local office supply stores.

[Geek King]

Growing up poor, you can only imagine how much fun school shopping was when I was younger and my parents had a problem (who could blame them?) with teachers who were too specific and had to many "do not"s and "ONLY"s on their list that pretty much guaranteed you'd be spending double on supplies.

Our family was on the poor side as well. I do remember one year when a teacher tried to tell us what colors of folders to use for each class. She got mad at me when I didn't have the proper colors (we got the only-come-in-three-color-two-for-ten-cents-specials ). I asked her what difference the color made when I had written "MATH" on the front.

I had a lot of notes in my school record. I really should see if I can get a copy someday, just to share some of the things my teachers put in there.

[Raveni]

I get the teachers who like to change the list over the summer for my kids. I'll get a nice list to shop off of over the summertime, and be able to get some good deals. I'll pack everything nicely to drop off with them on their first day of school, only to have a note from the teacher sent home with them with an "updated" list that didn't have half of the stuff that I already bought but had a bunch of new things.

Got a follow up note from the teacher after a month of class, that I responded to by saying "If you return all the stuff that I sent that was on the school-approved list, I will think about buying the stuff on your new list". Never heard back. Really, I don't know what you plan on doing with a gallon of hand sanitizer, but if you don't need it for class and just took it home...

[Shalom]

[*]about 300 bottles of Elmers School Glue

The white stuff, or the gel? I've been looking for the latter, and I can't find anyone stocking it around here.

(I want to use it for cleaning LP records. No, I am not kidding. See this thread. Traditionally Titebond II wood glue is used, but someone discovered that the blue glue works just as well, and sets in about 1/4 the time.)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The white stuff. We don't get in much of the gel.