The Capricorn coworker is a unique type. One assumes that, because Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, that Capricorn is the type to rise in the ranks while doing nothing but working extremely hard. Not so.

Capricorn is the melancholic coworker, the one with the tragic backstory and deep, sad eyes. They don’t move around that much. Or, they don’t appear to.

Capricorn is the one who manages their home life like a workplace, negotiating with their partner about how much each contributes with the utmost consideration and managing their kids or pets with a helpful spreadsheet. At work, all of the emotions that they hold back when they are at home come flowing out. They talk at length about great social injustices and spend long hours gazing through a window while thinking about their past.

“You know, I’ve never told you about my ex,” Capricorn coworkers are sometimes found saying even though they have, in fact, told you about multiple exes extensively over the years spent working together. “She was the one true love of my life. We dated when I was in my twenties and I lost her to my best friend. She always smelled like Dior.” For the next few hours, Capricorn will be found looking out the workplace window wistfully, not thinking about the number of tasks that they need to complete for the day.

No, Capricorn does not leave anything unattended. They just don’t work during the day when everyone else is around because that’s when their feelings come out. Capricorn works at night when they’re supposed to be at home with the family who they’re always writing sad poetry when on the clock.

At night, Capricorn does a lot of overtime. They tend to get the most work related tasks done between the hours of 6 PM to midnight. They sleep very little and think that they don’t need it. Often, Capricorn is an after hours or weekend worker. They like to come into work when no one else is there because, finally, they can start to get some stuff done.

Don’t look over their shoulder. How can anyone get anything done when they are supervised? Watched? Ugh! Not Capricorn.

So, you rarely see a Capricorn coworker actually do work but they do. Quite a lot. They do so on their own time (not because they’re trying to opt out of domestic chores and drive their partner or roommates crazy) but because they like to work on their own time. You see, Capricorn hates having to work on someone else’s schedule. They like to dictate the terms of life and the substance of life is time.

“You will not tell me when to do something,” your Capricorn coworker might think privately in their mind. “I’ll do it when I do it. You’ll just have to trust me.”

In fact, the Capricorn coworker is even willing to take more work if that means that they can do the work on their own time.

Got a big project? Capricorn is willing to take a larger part if that means less meetings and less waiting for other people to complete something. Hell, just let them do the whole thing. They’ll even pull an all-nighter. That, to them, is preferable to waiting on something from someone else.

Yes, Capricorn can be a bit secretive. You never really know what they are doing or thinking. That’s on purpose. The less you know, the less you’ll get in their way.

I think that, most of the time, when you work with a Capricorn, you spend a lot of time being a bit worried about them. Capricorn gives off an air of tragedy, of being overburdened at work and at home. However, when you offer to help them out, you’ll quickly find that they refuse to give any responsibility up.

In fact, the Capricorn coworker is often the person who is always trying to make sure that you’re alright. Got something that you don’t really want to do? Capricorn will take that right off your hands. They got it. They’ll handle it. You can kick back and relax.

What does Capricorn want from their coworkers? That is the hardest question to figure out. Sometimes, when Capricorn asks you to do something, you’ll feel overjoyed because “Yes! Finally, this self reliant goat is asking for some help!” but no. You’ll find that Capricorn has simply assigned you some busy work because they want you to get out of their hair while they take care of what they really want to get done.

What is the Capricorn coworker truly seeking from you, their coworker? Not really practical help. Something more along the lines of emotional support.

I think that the Capricorn coworker mostly just wants emotional regulation from their coworkers. They like coworkers who commiserate with them. They tend to get along with truly laidback like Pisces—the types of people who don’t try to get anything done but are willing to stand alongside someone and just hear them out. Capricorn coworkers are willing to do it all but they really can’t stand being lonely.

The goat is the goat. They will do the heavy lifting but they want to be ridden by a companion. They perform best when someone else comes along for the ride. That person doesn’t need to do that much. They just need to give the goat gentle company.