Desk stacking is the weird new trend taking over your office

EVERY office has one. But who are these bizarre people? What are they trying to tell us? Do they need psychological analysis? We investigate.

A real monster ... staring at the computer

CHANCES are there’s one near you right now.

A desk stacker. That strange breed of office worker who feels a compulsion to place one item atop another, atop another, and so on.

Sometimes they stack to the ceiling. In a world without ceilings, who knows ...? They may well stack to infinity.

This stylish stack belongs to newsdotcommer Sam Clench. He’s into Game of Thrones so, you know, that explains plenty.

Shhhh! Don’t let them know you’re speaking about them. You’ll only encourage their stacking.

Little is known about the psychological profile of the typical stacker, or why they choose to pursue their unique layered pastime.

Is it art? Depends on your point of view, really.

This delightful stack was sent in by reader Olivia New from Perth. Her company is currently redesigning the Java Juice website. Which means they’re drinking heaps of Java Juice lately. Which means ... CUP STAAAAACK! Olivia says her boss is yet to keep his threat of bowling them over, but thinks it’s only a matter of time.

Is stacking an attempt to take the fun of the beer snake at the cricket, and enliven office life a little? Yeah, there’s probably a bit of that..

This humble desk stack of used plastic cups was sent in by reader Nicole Landsberry, who works at a car yard in Mt Isa, Queensland. She also collects ring pulls from her Diet Coke. Onya, Nicole.

Some regard the desk stack as just a humble hobby. It’s a slightly unusual hobby if you ask us, but then, so is stamp collecting when you think about it.

Stacking coffee trays is also an exciting way to spend your time. Well, according to our deputy editor Lisa Muxworthy, anyway.

And don’t think it only happens in the city. Here’s a cluster of desk stacks on a desk at a coal mine in Moranbah, Queensland.

Reader Katherine Lynch sent in this delightful array of rocks and fossils. Good to see you’re keeping busy, Katherine!

And here’s possibly the “coolest” desk stack we’ve ever seen, if you catch our drift.

Thanks to reader Chris for this little piece of excitemint.

Here’s some muesli boxes. Someone’s keeping regular!

Thanks to healthy reader Johnathan Hicks for this one.

Some people make beautiful shapes with their stacks.

Could just be us, but we see a Christmas tree here in this stacknificent effort by reader Trent Northausen.

Others are a little more rambling and organic.

Adelaide-based reader Gavin Boyce does a rare bit of work between stacking duties.

On a more sombre note, we should consider the theory that desk stacking is a silent cry for order in an increasingly chaotic world. A desk stack provides a certain calm and assuredness while all around us is swirling, confusing and ever-changing.

Having the same flavour every day is typical behaviour for a classic stacker.

Truth is, we know a little, but most of it is guesswork. All we can really say for certain is that stackers are among us. They could be the boss. They could be the youngest kid in the office. They could even be you.

Stu tends to talk quite fast and be a bit jittery sometimes. No idea why.

As you read this while drinking your morning takeaway coffee, we urge you to throw your cup in the (recycling) bin rather than stack it. Please.

With stacking comes great responsibility. Don’t take up this pastime this unless you’re prepared for the consequences.

This unbelievably stacktastic artwork is from reader Frankie Wessing, who probably doesn’t get that much work done. But hey, some things are way more important than work.

In late breaking news, we’ve just been told that an even weirder office trend is taking over Australia. This one is called “making office stationery objects look like animals”. We can hardly wait to see more.

This awesome owl comes from reader Daniel Neil Mair and we think it’s an absolute hoot.

Reader Alex Walwyn sent us this, and we thank him for it. Good to see he’s using his time at work so productively.

Aaaaaaaaaaaarghhhh! Thanks to reader Paul Cruz for this alien woth a stapler head. Hope these guys never invade.

Is there a stacker in your office? Take a pic and email it to [e-mail] and we’ll upload the best of them in this piece throughout the day.