The moment you realize regular pens are great

I have become accustomed to a great number of digital tools in my life. Most of which I use on a daily basis. I could not really imagine going somewhere without my phone or tablet anymore. It is a little sad, but these digital devices are my personal Swiss pocketknives (well as long as I have got enough juice).

Yet, sometimes I come across a few tiny-winy obstacles that show that the IoTs world we are all talking about, is not truly there just yet.

Apple pen vs regular pen

A few days ago, I had lunch with my colleague at a nice little restaurant in Munich. We were on our way to visit our client and we had decided to sit down for some good ol’ Bavarian food to fill our tummies first.

The food was absolutely fantastic and I paid by card. Nothing special of course, but I asked the waiter for a tax receipt and he happily handed me one. As my tax advisor ‘lovingly’ told me on numerous occasions: I should write down on the receipt who I was there with and the occasion. Easy enough right?

But I did not have a pen… well I had a few pens actually, but they were all perfect for digital devices (my iPad Pro or my Surface Book). So I asked my colleague if he had a pen, and he pulled out 2 beautiful… Apple pens 🙈.

The solution to my little problem

I was in a bit of a shock. I had not used a pen in ages! My initial plan of action: take a picture of the receipt with my phone using Evernote’s scannable app (which I love) and fill it out on the tablet. Yet this seemed to be somewhat of an overkill for something as small and simple as this.

I hope I am not the only one out there that has these little issues. In my ideal world, “everything” would be save up in some sort of cloud. I would not have to worry about things like tax receipts and paperwork. It is such a ridiculous waste of time.

Oh, you want to know how I solved my little dilemma…? In the end I ended up using my ‘non-internet of things super powers’ and I asked the waiter if he could put me out of my hilarious misery.

Note to self: no matter how digital I might think I am, a pen can come in quite handy sometimes.

Have a great day everyone and remember to keep 1 pen on you at “all times” (or at least in your laptop bag).