This morning I have been unpacking my recent government auction items--the usual miscellaneous office equipment, purchased because of several toner cartridges that will fit my big laser printer.

In one of the boxes was something that took me a couple of minutes to identify, because I had never used an automatic stapler. (I never saw the need--manual ones work fine.) It had a big note taped to the back of it saying "BROKEN".  Being the kind of person I am, I quit working on everything else.  "BROKEN" was just too much of a challenge.

As I was looking it over, I see that it only has a panel for battery insertion and no power port.  Okay, so I opened it up.  No batteries.  It requires 4 "C" batteries, not a common size these days, but like all good battery maniacs, I have some new ones in a box somewhere, still packed away from moving last year.

Twenty minutes and one barked knuckle later, I have the batteries inserted, and the stapler makes a noise at me.  I look at the side panel where it shows how to clear stuck staples, which I check for and there are no stuck staples.  So I put in two sheets of paper--and it works perfectly.

This little story is very common with the office items I get from these government auctions.  Probably someone just wanted a new shiny one on their desk.  Hopefully, it wasn't someone who was such a deadhead they didn't know how to change some batteries.  I won't ever know.  But I sure do get a lot of nice little office toys cheap out of it.