Stanley Hudson personality type: ISTJ

Stanley Hudson’s ideal workday has three parts: the crossword, lunch, and five o’clock. Bother him in between and you will learn something about yourself. When Michael tries to joke him into line during a meeting, Stanley stares at him and asks, ice cold, whether he stuttered. The room goes silent. Michael spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out what just happened to his authority, and Stanley goes back to his puzzle.

Nines want peace, and they will go a long way to keep it, including tuning out most of what happens around them. Stanley is a 9 with an 8 wing, and the wing is what makes him a bear when poked. He does not look for fights, but when one finds him, he ends it in a sentence. After Dwight’s fake fire drill, Stanley has a heart attack, and his doctor orders less stress. Michael’s idea of stress relief is a roast of himself, which tells you how hard it is for a Nine to find peace in that building.

Type-wise he is an ISTJ. Introverted sensing loves routine, reliability and the comfort of what is familiar. He knows which day is Pretzel Day, and he looks forward to it more than most people look forward to vacations. Extraverted thinking makes him competent in a no frills way. He sells paper, meets his numbers, and refuses to do a single thing beyond the job. That is not laziness. It is efficiency with a firm boundary.

A private warmth sits in his introverted feeling, and the office rarely sees it. It belongs to his daughter, his own plans, a future that does not involve Michael. Extraverted intuition is his blind spot, which is why he distrusts every new idea, team building exercise and brainstorming session. Novelty is noise, and Stanley hates noise.

The Florida trip shows another side. Away from Scranton, Stanley turns into a relaxed, joking, almost chatty man nobody in the office has met. In the finale he has retired to Florida and spends his days carving wooden birds. Peace achieved. Some fans read him as an 8, since he can be blunt and imposing. I considered it. Still, Eights seek control, and Stanley wants the opposite: to be left alone. His anger is a fence around his peace, not a bid for power.