That myth that "we" (the elder people) used pencils to put cassettes back in a working state. Here's the truth: pencils don't work for that. They are too thin for the job. But the cap of a BIC Cristal pen was just perfect. It was rather weak, malleable plastic, so it gripped perfectly.

Bonus points if you know why the cap has a hole at the top ;)

UPDATE: Some in the comments insist they did use (angled) pencils. Poor folk. The BIC was the better way :)

Picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_Cristal