nottaTOY is an Austin-based company formed by four friends who had an idea and decided to run with it. We all have day jobs outside of this little project and wanted to put something cool out into the world that we hoped people would relate to.


With over 50 years of collective experience in all kinds of office environments of varying levels and flavors of dysfunction, we at nottaTOY have a lot to draw upon in coming up with the Office Cronies characters. We are four keyboard-clicking, chair-spinning, cube-wall-staring schleps just like you. All of that pent up frustration had to go somewhere. Hence, the birth of nottaTOY and the Office Cronies collection.


We have found that humor is the best coping mechanism to get you through those days when you feel like you’re in the middle of a bad joke, peppered with buffoons that seem straight out of a late-night comedy sketch. We decided, “If you can’t beat ‘em, mock ‘em.” While imitation is the highest form of flattery, mockery is the highest form of … well, maybe nothing … but it sure is fun.


The crotchety admin, the useless executive, the big mouth — you could switch jobs a hundred times and still bump into the same characters. Different setting, different name, but the M.O. is the same. We came up with about 100 of these characters that you typically encounter in most workplaces. It wasn’t easy narrowing it down to six for our initial release.


If you relate to these guys, pick one out (or three or ten), set it on your desk or in your cube, and prepare to bond with your coworkers as you all simultaneously jeer, “OMG! That is TOTALLY so-and-so (fill in the blank)!” Chances are you’ll all know right away who fits the bill. Even better, give ‘em out as mock office awards, for coworker birthdays, or at your next team building or trade show and go from zero to hero in two seconds flat!


In any case, we hope you like ‘em. We hope you’ll tell your friends about ‘em. And we hope you’re not one of ‘em (wink).