It gets worse, if the admin is so super paranoid they implement some way of making it very hard to simply have word+digit incremented the users will just keep it on a sticky note on their desk... or laptops, I've seen it on laptops.
I've always been a fan of one off long passwords, or core long passwords with something either side of them.
Funniest thing is when you come across a system that complains your password is too long.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
