Send It Back!
If I opened this box of brand new graphite pencils, I think I would have to send them back to the manufacturer and an angry note. Did someone think that maybe we wouldn’t notice the SINGLE backward pencil? There’s something about having just one pencil out of place that is so deeply triggering to perfectionists.
Artists are also people who are especially talented in spotting beauty and symmetry in the world, so this must be particularly unsettling for them. Who’s to say if this was due to human error or machine error, but either way, whoever was checking quality control was clearly asleep on the job.