October 15, 2024

Office life is interesting. In fact, it is no less than a soap opera. Each office personality is a character with a deep sense of individuality that sets them apart from the others in a million ways. Thus, giving us the opportunity to explore office humor.

Imagine matching your office personalities with some of the most iconic sitcom characters—it’s bound to be hilarious and totally relatable. Today, I will take you through some of the most common workplace characters whom I witnessed throughout my professional career.

Do you have this one competitive colleague and an overachiever always the first one to take charge, almost as if they are obsessed with having or doing things ‘perfectly’? I am sure you do. Think of Monica Geller from the iconic sitcom, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. She ran the rules in the apartment, from deciding the fabric softener to dividing the lottery tickets to choosing her china plates.

Now, can you imagine a Monica Geller character in your workplace? Now, that surely leaves room for me to create some hilarious office cartoons. In most instances, it is our Boss, right? His demanding nature combined with impossible deadlines can even get irritating. Whether you are the most dedicated employee or the lackluster worker, Boss has at least one ‘We need to talk’ meeting scheduled for the day.

Now, who comes to your mind when I say a middle manager constantly attempting to crawl his way out between his boss’s almost unrealistic deadlines and the eternal questions and concerns his team members raise? In sitcom terms, I can think of Marshall Eriksen from How I Met Your Mother. Remember the episode where Marshall had to fire an inefficient team member but struggled to come to a decision?

Unfortunately, we all have a friend, colleague, or a family member who is the middle manager in his company but is always stuck between the coworkers he loves and the deadlines he hates. In my company, unfortunately, it is me; Yours faithfully Norman Liker.

Now, there is one office character that is common to all workplaces no matter which corner of the world you are from. The Gossipmonger! There is always one employee who releases confidential secrets in a press conference to their colleagues. Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., for example, has a whole episode of her unsuccessful attempt at not gossiping.

In workplaces, this one gossipmonger knows when the appraisal is slated to begin, what Boss discussed in that one confidential meeting, or who likes whom. How is that possible? They say ‘according to my sources’. God forbid, nobody knows who these sources are.

More complicated than all of the above is the GenZ era. People from the GenZ world are baffling characters on their own. They speak differently, work differently and their lingo is from a whole other planet. (Sometimes, I feel I need a translator.)  As a middle manager, I find it hard to communicate with the GenZ employees, especially the interns. Their lingo throws me off my course and I completely forget my years of experience in a jiffy.

Modern Family’s Haley Dunphy is the perfect example. Even though not specifically from the GenZ era, Haley Dunphy embodies the Gen Z generation with her use of trendy language, social media obsession, and a modern, carefree attitude toward life.

In the end, navigating office life is like binge-watching your favorite sitcom—every day comes with new drama, quirky characters, and unpredictable plot twists. So, whether you’re dealing with impossible deadlines, office gossip, or trying to decode the latest slang your intern just threw at you—remember, it’s all part of the hilarious, soap-opera-worthy sitcom that is your 9-to-5. Also, don’t forget to check out Norman and Ozi where we bring to you relatable corporate humor in the form of comics.