Sometimes you start a collection, sometimes they’re started for you.
Margie never intended to collect calculators. But one day when she discovered an error in Jay’s expense report that resulted in a little extra cash in his pocket, he thanked her with a calculator-shaped chocolate bar. Later on her birthday, he revived the gag with a monogrammed calculator. Then of course, the way these things always progress, the idea took off with the rest of the office, and a collection was born.
As soon as friends think that you collect something – even if you didn’t know yourself that you collected it – you soon find yourself the recipient of hundreds of novelty tea towels or books about lawyers or ties with chickens on them. In fact, as more people catch on to the idea of the collection, the weirder that collection can get.
Margie has received novelty calculators in the shape of every kind of animal, celebrity and type of candy, and then most of her desk accessories include a calculator as well. She’s also building up quite a collection of vintage calculators. She has everything from a British Abatron to a Victron from Chicago, both from the 1970s – really beautiful pieces of design. In fact, the only thing she might not have is a CS-10A by Sharp. Of course, when that came out in 1964 it cost as much as a mid-sized car. So she might not be getting that for the next Secret Santa.
Margie says she gets a kick out of the calculators – they’re a sign that friends are thinking of her when they’re out and about. So even though a calculator might not have been the first thing she would have thought to collect, she loves receiving them. (Especially when they’re made of chocolate.)
