Most work places have at least one. You know – that person who you ask for help, but ends up being a hindrance? Somebody who seems to get a kick out of saying ‘no’, and just loves to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Yes, the ‘office can’t’ is a recognised pest that we could all do without.

A recent survey carried out across the United Kingdom unveiled a region-by-region model of how we can expect the average office can’t to look and act. Going by an average based on each area surveyed, you are most likely to find this unhelpful and generally unpopular creature working in HR.

Women vs Men

Women pipped men to the post, with 54% stating this individual would most likely be female. In fact, based on an average of all stats taken, this female would most likely be called Sarah, between 5’3 – 5’4 in height, brunette and aged between 45 and 54 years old. The male equivalent would also work in HR, be named David, most likely have grey hair, be in the same age bracket as Sarah, and be anywhere between 5’9 – 5’11 in height. Just imagine the consequences if the two became a couple and had children?

Red faced

Respondents also picked out some rather distinguishing features that seemed to go hand-in-hand with the office can’t. Horn rim glasses, red face, moustache, large nose, wears sandals all year round and tattoos were the most popular features associated with unhelpful colleagues. It’s safe to say if you have a colleague that incorporates all these features, you may want to avoid them at all cost!

Attitude problems

In terms of how you might expect this person to behave, there would be a good chance they would be argumentative, confident, deceitful and unproductive; not a winning combination I’m sure you’ll agree. Personality traits they would be unlikely to have would be open, honest and frank, reserved and conservative, cowardly and calm and collected.

Screaming mad

We all react differently to people we don’t especially like and the office can’t certainly stirs a variety of different emotions amongst us. Interestingly enough, responses differed between men and women. 45% of women responded that they would vent their frustrations over this person by screaming or shouting in private, making this their most popular response. Men felt the best way to deal with this individual was to simply move seats; 36% of them responded with this answer.

Rather worrying is the fact that so many of us would consider seeking new employment (33% of men, 38% women) just to escape the office can’t. 20% of both sexes would call in sick for the sole purpose of avoiding this person. Whatever your reaction to this office albatross, it’s safe to say that it is perhaps an issue that any good employer should recognise as being potentially damaging to their workforce.