Think of this comic like a zombie survival guide, except instead of preparing you to face zombies, it’ll prepare you to face your coworkers, your at-work blunders, and all your insecurities. (We accept you and your weird cat obsession, Manu.)

In need of a little more guidance?

Did Judy not answer all of your office mishap questions? Maybe you need to hone your communication, whether that looks like leading better meetings or finding ways to connect with your team abroad. Perhaps you have a lazy coworker on your hands—we’ve got a bulletproof plan for that. Are you having a hard time falling into step with your office’s time management system? Maybe it’s time to rethink it.

In any case, the key to surviving office life—and the colleagues that come with it—comes down to one thing: empathy. Everyone works differently, communicates differently, prioritizes differently. The more that you can get out of your head and imagine your coworker’s point of view, the easier time you’ll have managing teams and projects, communicating both up and down the management chain, and dealing with whatever particular habits your cubicle-mate has introduced to your life.

Time trackers, comic crafters

This comic was commissioned by Toggl. We fund our comics by making a great, simple to use time-tracking app that works on all devices.

But don’t believe us. The Wirecutter called Toggl “the best time-tracking application for freelancers,” and Allison from Twitter called us “the real MVP.” Dave on Reddit only thinks we’re fine. But that’s ok! We think he’ll come around.

Toggl is totally free for office workers of all types to sign up and use, so why not start tracking and see how much time you really spend catching up on meme culture (and also doing projects, submitting expense reports, answering emails, and all that)? It’s probably longer than you think.

Katherine Plumhoff