box checkers

Noun

box checker (plural box checkers)

1. (derogatory) A person who follows instructions to the letter and avoids taking any risks.
   • Unfortunately, appearing to just be a box-checker is a very common occurrence in today's fire service, and this results in a number of candidates actually failing an event, particularly the emergency simulation exercise.2021, Steve Prziborowski, 101 Tips to Ace Your Promotional Exam, page 81
2. A person who strives to live up to the expectations of others; a person who follows the rules and strives to achieve the conventional definition of success.
   • Sometimes we feel like we have to be the box-checkers of our lives. We make a list, and we don't stop until we check off every box. We strive for perfection.2017, Joy Mangano, Inventing Joy: Dare to Build a Brave & Creative Life, page 250
3. One whose job consists primarily of administrative work indicating tasks that have been completed.
   • Then the box checker would say, " Yep, has a Schedule B," and by the time somebody read it, they'd understand there was nothing in it.1992, Record - Society of Actuaries - Volume 18, Issue 1, page 397
4. Someone who is counted in an organization as representing a minority ethnic group but who is so assimilated into the dominant culture that their ethnic status becomes meaningless.
   • Today a box checker may escape detection by claiming Hispanic origin at the outset of a hiring, contracting, or admissions process. Would-be box checkers realize that having a Spanish surname is not a necessary condition of being “Hispanic,” so they need not call attention to themselves by changing...2003, Kevin R. Johnson, Mixed Race America and the Law, page 309

   Synonyms:

   high-cheekboner

5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see box, checker. Someone or something that checks boxes.
   • Examples of the types of jobs the women worked at are fast food attendant or cook, box checker at a department store , housekeeper, dietary aide, beautician, bakery shop clerk, assembly line worker for a manufacturing company, child care aide, hot dog stand attendant, cashier, waitress, hostess...2004, Mark Pogrebin, About Criminals: A View of the Offender's World, page 91