Nick White’s TikToks Capture The Horror Of Australian Offices
Do do dooo.
As someone who has worked more temp jobs in the public service than I’d like to admit, it’s hard to deny that comedian Nick White’s impressions of Australian office workers are at times accurate to the point of causing me actual physical pain.
And look, we hear a lot about the zany characters that we tend to inhabit those open plan offices thanks to the success of The Office and everything that came after it – but White’s TikToks lean into the deeply specific ecosystem that is the Australian workplace.
His most well-known character is probably “that coworker”, the excruciating but omnipresent middle manager with pretensions of great importance despite having literally nothing to contribute. If you’ve come across a manager with a repertoire of phrases that include “back-to-back meetings”, “circle back”, and “touch base”, these TikToks will probably give you traumatic flashbacks to that time.
A newer character who has entered the fray is referred to by White as the “dull” coworker, a name that is proving divisive among the commenters who actually find her delightful. Most office workers will have met this girl – the meticulous meal prepper who will always name-drop her partner during conversation and has never once failed to smash her daily protein requirement.
She is also skilled in the art of telling long-winded and detailed stories from her life that have no real narrative pay-off, whether that’s visiting a specialty cheese shop in Marrickville, or her first experience of Costco. My only note is that her partner would be named Tim, not Matt. Do not ask me to explain.
Finally, there’s the overly familiar 40-something coworker with a penchant for cornering much younger women in office kitchens and performing unsolicited monologues about their horrible personal lives. Nick’s physical and vocal embodiment of a very Australian brand of Gen X bravado is so spot on that the next time one of these videos pop up, I’ll have no choice but to turn off my phone.