Working in an office is ultimately a unique experience. It is a community within a community and much like school, different personality types emerge. Whatever your work situation, office stereotypes will always crop up. Here are a few very common ones that might sound familiar to you.
1
The Smooth Talker
This guy is the office charmer and flattering people come naturally to them; the boss, colleagues, clients. They are well aware of their ability to smooth talk their way out of anything but do it in such a way that no one holds it against them, or do they? Not that they care either way. Office life is an easy ride for this person and hey, if it works it works.
2
The Joker
The funny guy, always cracking jokes and looking for laughs. Most people like the office clown, as long as they are not the victim of a joke. Whether they are actually funny or not they will take every opportunity to be the joker, and there is only room for one of them. Did the mood just lighten or did they just create that ‘awkward silence’ moment? Who cares, they definitely thought it was funny, so “lighten up everyone, it’s a joke. Why is everybody so serious?”
3
The Dad
We are all thinking about it; Michael Scott from The Office. The self-proclaimed nice guy that paces around the office and can be quite a handful some days. They are always stressed out and sigh loud enough for the whole office to hear. The guy that tries to up the joker in the room with yet another ‘dad joke’ that just leaves a room full of people rolling their eyes or fake laughing. The office dad is probably the only person that calls you by your full registered birth name apart from your own mother.
4
The Competitor
We all have the dreaded “one-upper” in the office. The colleague who always wants to be the best of the best. Everything becomes a competition with this guy and is always proactive. They are constantly looking to move up the office food chain and will do the most to get there. This guy is both a sore winner and a sore loser so you never really win either way. Maybe you even let them win just to keep them happy, who cares, it was never a competition in the first place. Though you may have your reservations about this person, every workplace needs this type of guy. Because competitive colleagues are always motivated, they sometimes push others in the workplace to perform to the best of their abilities.
5
The Party Starter
“It’s five o’clock somewhere” is their favourite phrase. We know you can out-drink us all and that you never get hangovers, Kyle, you proved that at last year’s office Christmas party. But what is an office without someone to remind you how many days there are left before it’s “FRIYAY!” We love their high spirits and totally cool dance moves but please, can we change the music? At least if all else fails, you will always have a drinking buddy for that quick one after work.
6
The Office Nerd
Thanks to famous nerds, fictional and factual, such as Steve Jobs, Abby Sciuto, and Leonard Hofstadter, the stereotype of the nerdy, geeky office genius is fading in real life. The joker and the competitor are the most likely to pick on them but also the most dependent on the nerd to help them when “the printer doesn’t seem to work.” This is the actual nice guy of the office and mostly keeps to themselves.
The office ecosystem is a unique one and whether you love or hate these stereotypical people in the workplace, if you remove one of them the whole place will collapse. So, the next time you feel like throwing your entire computer at the competitor in the office, just remember that they are probably the reason you pushed that little bit harder today.
