office boys

Workplace errand runners

Office boys are young male employees who perform routine tasks in an office, such as running errands, delivering messages, filing documents, and fetching coffee.

The term dates from an era when offices employed teenagers or young men for menial duties before they worked their way up to more responsible positions.

Though largely obsolete as a job title, it survives in figurative use to suggest someone doing low-level work or being treated as a subordinate: I didn't get an MBA to be treated like an office boy.

Related

runner · courier · aide · pages · clerks · filing · making copies · copyboys · tasks · trainees · duties · mailroom · sorting mail · errand · dogsbody · apprentices · gopher · interns

Opposites
organizational hierarchy

office boysexecutives

Senior corporate officers

CEOs · top brass · managing directors · directors · bosses

task nature and responsibility

office boysdecision-makers

Those with choosing power

specialists · strategists · team leaders · professionals

age and experience

office boysveterans

Former armed forces members

old hands · senior staff · elder statesmen · retirees

Family

office, boy, offices, boys, officer, official, officially, unofficial, officiate

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G