The Office ran for 9 seasons and 200 episodes because it didn’t have to invent anything. Real workplaces offer all the material for that type of humor. What follows is the evidence.
11. The double-spacer
“I hate having to double-space Word documents that are single-spaced. It takes FOREVER.”
10. Google Translate: 1. Junior dev: 0
“A junior developer once sent me a chat message in his native language. I did not know what it said, but Google Translate is a thing, so I could see that he was saying some very unkind things about me. I did not let on that I knew; I just replied with ‘?.’ He was very apologetic and said it was intended for someone else. He was obviously hoping I did not know what it said. He asked me to ignore and delete it. I saved a screenshot instead.”
9. The fuel economist
“A colleague said the following when I complained about the high fuel prices: ‘I don’t care, I only ever fill up for 20 euros.’”
8. The time traveler
“Worked on a rotation schedule years ago that was time-sensitive. We hired a new guy and I told him to be at my station a quarter after… he showed up at 25 after and I questioned him. […] I asked how many minutes in an hour, he knew the answer but still argued that a quarter was 25. I about had a stroke trying to explain it to him.”
7. The meta-meeting
“A coworker once seriously asked if we could schedule a meeting to plan a meeting.”
6. Dumb or insensitive?
“I understand why handicapped people need their own parking spaces, but why do they always have to be the closest to the door?”
5. If a child were hired as a manager
“I’m sorry I can’t give you a raise. All nine of your co-workers, who had their evaluations earlier today, complained about their small raises and I made adjustments to make them happy. Now all the salary budget is gone and I have nothing for you.”
4. Who never?
“He opened a Skype window (yes, this was ~10 years ago) and started messaging me to talk crap about a person who was in the same call as us. He forgot he was sharing his screen.”
3. Which comes first?
“We don’t have good benefits because employees don’t seem to stay with us that long.”
2. Long-distance emails are killing this company
“We’ve experienced dramatic increases in our long-distance bills. In the future, please exercise restraint concerning long-distance phone calls, faxes, and emails.”
1. Maybe it would become another voicemail?
“Next time, when you leave me an important voice mail message, do the right thing — call me and let me know it’s there.”
Want to stay informed with content that matters?
Subscribe to the TechTalents Insights newsletter and get our best articles and interviews — completely free.
