Charles Pooter, the protagonist, is a lower-middle-class Victorian Londoner who thinks of himself as a gentleman. His work as a clerk in the City is never clearly delineated; he might be in banking or accounting. He seems to enjoy his work, although he finds the younger clerks disrespectful, and they in turn enjoy teasing him. He is an easy target, as he is clumsy, conceited, and frequently makes bad puns that he laughs at and repeats endlessly.

His friends and acquaintances take advantage of him at every turn, dropping by uninvited for meals, offering him tickets to a show that turns out to be worthless, and inviting him to a ball for which he must pay for his own food and drink, among other transgressions. Even dogs and children abuse him: the Finsworths’ dog licks all the blacking from his boots, and little Percy James kicks him in the shins. He is also cowardly, repeatedly failing to stand up to insults and instead writing “determined” letters to everyone from a newspaper that misspells his name to the laundress.

Pooter constantly strives to associate with people above his class, and much of the novel’s humor derives from how his hopes are dashed, as when he tries to speak to a “grand” lady just as a gust of wind blows his hat into the mud.