The 10 Most Common Office Stereotypes

How many of these do you have in your ranks?

Published July 27, 2021

Working in an office is a very unique experience. Much like high school, some very unique personality types tend to emerge. Here are a just a few examples of the most common office stereotypes.

The "Suck-Up"

We all know them and every office has them. They do whatever they have to in order to get ahead in the company. Instead of working hard and hoping for the appropriate reward - they just suck up to the boss.

The "Always Stressed"

They pace around the office. They slam things on their desk. They are always sighing. Regardless of the size of their workload or problems that go along with it, they are always stressing out. These folks can be quite the handful.

Unless they watched Seinfeld and they are just looking annoyed to skate by and not do any real work. Those people are geniuses.

Warning: clip contains mild language

The "Chatterbox"

You come into work everyday to get your job done. No problems, no drama and no extra hours would be ideal but it usually doesn't work out that way. The "chatterbox" always finds a way to derail your day. It's almost like they don't have enough work of their own to do. If you are constantly dealing with a chatterbox, here's some tips on how to work with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRa7e3RbPqw

The "Loud Talker"

They pick up the phone and the hair on the back of your neck stands up. You know what's coming.

"SALLY! (pause)

YEAH. (pause)

IT'S JOHN. (pause)

YEAH. THAT JOHN. FROM CARL'S. (pause)

I'M CALLING ABOUT TO INQUIRE ABOUT YOUR INVENTORY LEVELS ON 1001866! (pause)

ONE-ZERO-ZERO-ONE-EIGHT-SIX-SIX. (pause)

YEAH. I'LL HOLD. THANKS SALLY. (pause)

I SAID I'LL HOLD. THANKS SALLY!"

You can get angry about the office loud talker or you can strategize your way out. Howcast posted this oddly passive-aggressive video about how to deal with very loud co-workers. You could always try it their way?

The "Always Eater"

Tuna, hot dogs and hard-boiled eggs. These are examples of some of the most offensive food that you can bring to the office to disgust your co-workers. Some nice colleagues might suggest eating them away from common areas or your desk. Less supportive co-workers will just ask you to stop. The "Dwight Schrutes" of the world just want to see the world burn.

Warning: clip contains vomit

The "Prankster"

Most people love the office prankster - as long as they aren't the butt of the joke. Jim Halpert was the ultimate prankster and you could learn some very mischievous behaviours from him. Pack your gelatin and gift wrap and get ready to become the most popular worker in the office. Well... with 99% of your colleagues.

The "Health Freak"

There's nothing wrong with health and fitness. But there are always those co-workers who need to shove their diet and exercise regiment down your throat or worse. They refuse to shower before returning to their desks. By all means, get your recommended dose of exercise if your schedule allows but just don't be the guy in the BodyBuilder.com video below; you'll get on a lot of people's nerves.

The "Meeting Booker"

"Let's book a pre-meeting to talk about the meeting we have coming up."

How about instead, we just hash it out now. In some offices, you can get caught up meetings, most of which don't add any value. Office Space highlighted another meeting issue. Some call it "meeting bombers" or a "meeting drive-by". Everyone calls it a waste of time.

The "Delegator"

Their job title is ambiguous and you have hard time defining what they do on a day-to-day basis. You may have a master delegator in your ranks. Scott Adams' Dilbert often perfectly captures the inner workings of the office job and nails the feeling of delegation pretty flawlessly.