What is the world's greatest office invention?

[bobevenson]

The staple, paper clip or Post-it note?

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Desktop computer?...just guessing...


I mean...like you said, paper clips are pretty awesome too.






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[Terrapin Station]

(Female) secretaries.

Well, or just female employees in general.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Not sure we invented females...lemmie check on that...




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[bobevenson]

Actually, I was referring to just those three commonly used items, and while I don't think you can choose one as being greater than the others, they were all invented in the USA.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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...and, actually NONE of those three items are used anymore...so, they have that in common too.






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[bobevenson]

...and, actually NONE of those three items are used anymore...so, they have that in common too.

Jesus Christ, you must not work in an office!

[Skip]

Nobody should work in an office.
Those three inventions have one other characteristic in common: they facilitate the duplication, mobility and further redundancy of work, most of which was unnecessary even once.
Pencils are really good, though - so many diverse uses! How many can you think of (besides grinding one away to a nub for the excuse to stand at the sharpener, which happens to be near the desk of that little red-haired girl)?

[bobevenson]

Is Skip your real name or is that just what you like to do?

[Walker]

The staple, paper clip or Post-it note?

I just got a new stapler from Staples and it is awesome, so I'm biased.

[bobevenson]

I've got to wonder about anybody calling a stapler "awesome."

[Skip]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMNZXV7jOG0

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Awesome in the sense that I meant it to be sarcastically awesome.

FTFY






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[Arising_uk]

Actually, I was referring to just those three commonly used items, and while I don't think you can choose one as being greater than the others, they were all invented in the USA.

Wiki - Paper Clip
...

According to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay, in 1867. This clip was originally intended primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used to attach papers together. Fay received U.S. patent 64,088 on April 23, 1867. Although functional and practical, Fay's design along with the 50 other designs patented prior to 1899 are not considered reminiscent of the modern paperclip design known today. Another notable paper clip design was also patented in the United States by Erlman J. Wright in 1877. This clip was advertised at that time for use in fastening newspapers.

The most common type of wire paper clip still in use, the Gem paper clip, was never patented, but it was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by "The Gem Manufacturing Company", according to the American expert on technological innovations, Professor Henry J. Petroski. He refers to an 1883 article about "Gem Paper-Fasteners", praising them for being "better than ordinary pins" for "binding together papers on the same subject, a bundle of letters, or pages of a manuscript". ...

The Stapler -

The first known stapler was made in the 18th century in France for King Louis XV. Each staple was inscribed with the insignia of the royal court, as required. The growing uses of paper in the 19th century created a demand for an efficient paper fastener. ...

[thedoc]

The typewriter, and it's prodigy the word processor.