Characters 3.2: STANDARD JOE (ISTP)
ESTJ
Systematic, organized, relies upon facts and policies. Uses resources efficiently. Develops logical conclusions. Concrete, straightforward; requires clear specifications. Expects measurement by fair, explicit standards. Conscientious. Does not bring personal issues into the mix. Realistic. Focuses on concrete results. Enjoys action, and interaction with a variety of personalities. Takes charge easily, a role accepted by others.
ESTJ
Systematic, organized, relies upon facts and policies. Uses resources efficiently. Develops logical conclusions. Concrete, straightforward; requires clear specifications. Expects measurement by fair, explicit standards. Conscientious. Does not bring personal issues into the mix. Realistic. Focuses on concrete results. Enjoys action, and interaction with a variety of personalities. Takes charge easily, a role accepted by others.
ISTP
Practices, then masters. Efficient. Gathers, organizes, makes good use of data. Technical thinker, comprehends underlying principles. Strong observational skills, best when these are used in connection with the practical. Superior troubleshooter and problem-solver. Respects clarity and practicality, not wild about loose, unstructured situations or people. Do it myself—I don’t need anybody looking over my shoulder. Expeditious. Prefers to go it alone, doesn’t want somebody else to watch or follow. Wide range of personal interests, all challenging. Economical: doesn’t waste time or energy.
Potential Areas of Conflict
May be a challenge junky—goes for the excitement, not the reasonable choice. Tough time with sticking-to-it over the long haul. Chooses when and where to be diligent, when to cut corners. May take practical shortcuts that make others uncomfortable. Postpones serious decisions. Procrastinates. Doesn’t see the bigger picture, doesn’t always consider other people’s feelings. Too darned practical, too darned efficient, too focused on the chase. Doesn’t enjoy the result, however positive, because he is off to the next adrenaline rush.
Brief description: Standard Joe pays attention, and tells the others what he sees and hears. He parrots just about anything that sounds reasonable to him. Joe rarely connects the dots, doesn’t understand the big picture. In a word, Joe lacks context. He’s never traveled more than a hundred miles from home, and sees no reason to live any other way. He’s the valuable 20th century man (there aren’t so many around any more), still useful because he can do things with his hands, but Standard Joe is aware that the world is changing, that future may belong to women. Joe is endlessly likable. Physically active, Joe wants to be outdoors and independent.
Purpose: Asks fundamental questions. Not afraid to say “I don’t understand!” out loud. He’s not simple; he’s curious, and there is always so much to learn, but the pieces don’t quite come together for him in a meaningful pattern. Joe loves working in the cafe because he’s constantly exposed to smart people and compelling ideas, but he cannot those ideas. His warm and wonderful sense of humor cuts through the density of arguments and intense conversation. Just being there, Joe calms people down, gets them to lighten up. He’s our everyman. Joe is also connected to the outdoors—perhaps he calls it “the real world.” He loves to go on adventures with others, and share his enthusiasm with stories; Haps and True Blue are frequent companions. He’s interested in just about everything. He does the best he can with anything or anyone that’s available. Joe requires constant challenges. He is a 20th century man, Joe struggles to acknowledge and comprehend this profound paradigm shift.
Gender/Heritage: Working class background, proud of past family members for all they accomplished, often with limited resources. Lineage dates back to Scots / Irish in the early 1700s—before anyone gave a thought to anything resembling the United States of America. Their pioneering spirit inspires Joe to thought and action. His own father built houses. Mom taught fourth and fifth grade. They were ordinary people who did good things for the people who lived nearby. They never left the U.S., never applied a passport—no need when we’ve got all of those great cities and national parks, and the open road. Joe’s mom passed, and his father remarried when Joe was eleven years old. Joe didn’t get along with his new mother. Joe joined the service, then never saw his father again.
Physical Description: We’ll go with the right actor’s look. No preconceived ideas. Just not so big that he overpowers the puppets because they share scenes so often. Moves with confidence with understated masculine style.
Psychological: The physical comes easy. Inside the cafe, everything is under control. If the plumbing breaks or the router stops working, they can be fixed. Standard Joe’s got a good spirit, but his wall chart counts 112 past girlfriends, one flawed marriage, no kids. He can’t put the pieces together but he’s not sure why. While others are busy defining the problem, Standard Joe is already solving it.
Fears: Standard Joe does not show fear, but deep down, Joe is afraid his father abandoned him because Joe was not good enough.
Social: Doesn’t completely understand everybody, but gets along just the same. Lots of friends in the real world, too. Joe talks to Mom from time to time, quietly and when nobody’s around. (We see only see her back.) Joe drives Snap crazy because he can’t, or won’t, connect A to B. Joe drives Big Picture crazy because Joe is, in essence, Little Picture. The only thing that makes him angry is when people tell him how to fix something.
Key Relationships: He’s Mom’s son, Joe Nature. She took him in when he was just turning twelve. Mom runs the universe; Joe runs the cafe and goes with the flow. He’s indispensable. She wants him to move on, but she knows Joe is the heart and soul of the place. They don’t interact very often; when they do, it’s not easy for him. Still, Joe wants to stay because his father may return someday. He wants and needs his father. (When he leaves for an adventure, he always leaves a note for his dad. And only Joe knows that every adventure is just an excuse to search for his father. Each in their own way, Haps and Moonlight see this very clearly, but the others do not.)
Place in Cafe: There’s a vague home base around the barista setup, but Joe mostly roams from one table to the next. He often sits at tables with other characters, including puppets and celebrities /experts. Joe is something like a party host, making sure everyone is engaged and enjoying themselves. He’s either in the cafe or nearby (or off on an adventure). Joe responsible for everything, the practical guy who gets things done. If something breaks, Joe fixes it. If someone’s unhappy, Joe makes them happy. Joe controls the sensibility of the cafe, keeps every thing flowing. “I’ll take care of it.”
0-to-60: Joe is a practical guy, more interested in expeditious solutions than untangling personality conflicts. If there’s a problem, he’s more likely to fix it than argue. Don’t backseat drive—don’t tell me how to fix the toilet.
Accessory Characters: None, for now, but Joe might get himself a pet, or several, and he might make a home for them in the digital garden out back.
