January 29, 2025 • 48 mins
Ever wondered how your favorite TV shows mirror the chaos of your workplace? We’re breaking it all down by taking a magnifying glass to "The Office" and its riotous portrayal of HR nightmares. Join us for a joyride through the antics of Season 1, Episode 1, where every awkward pause and cringe-worthy moment holds a mirror to the absurdities of corporate life. From inappropriate pranks to inept management, we're not just reminiscing about Michael's cringes and Dwight's quirks; we're teasing out the HR lessons hidden within the laughs.
Immerse yourself in the pandemonium that is Dunder Mifflin, where we dissect the infamous personalities, like the inappropriately secure Packer and the ever-bewildered temp, Ryan. Discover why Michael’s premature announcement of layoffs is not just bad leadership but a comedic goldmine, and what Jim’s pranks on Dwight say about workplace dynamics. We share our own reflections on how the show’s absurdities aren't too far off from real office life, touching on those precarious lines between humor and bullying.
Workplace romances, fake firings, and casting brilliance — "The Office" has it all, and we’re turning each stone for HR insights wrapped in hilarity. Whether it's discussing Jim and Pam’s undeniable chemistry or how the show’s creators cleverly transitioned some actors from behind-the-scenes roles, we’re revealing the secrets that make this series a timeless commentary on work life. Join us for a walk down memory lane, as we relive the laughs and excavate the lessons that this iconic series offers to anyone navigating the wild world of HR.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Thank you, welcome to a very special not a very
special blossom, but a veryspecial episode of Jaded HR
where we are looking, taking alook at HR through the eyes of
pop culture.
That's probably not what I wantto say.
Well, we're taking a look atpop culture through the eyes of
HR.
Yeah, we're taking a look.
(01:10):
Most of the episodes are goingto be focused around the Office,
and today we're starting withSeason 1, episode 1 of the
Office here.
So, yeah, this is a new segmentCeCe came up with.
I love the idea that we're justvarious pop culture shows,
movies, things like that, thatinvoke HR, and there's nothing
(01:34):
that raises more HR nightmaresin my mind than the Office.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And rewatching season one to episode one, I'm like
how many fireball offenses couldI find in this episode?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So many and things like that.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's an HR nightmare, but it
could also end up being a masterclass in HR.
Who knows what direction thiswill take with us?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So yeah, I love it Kick us off.
Yeah, so I like to say thatI've learned everything I know
about working in corporateAmerica, and also working in
human resources, from the office.
Yeah, and I don't know.
I don't know, dear listener, ifyou are living under a rock and
(02:21):
maybe have never watched theOffice before, but we're going
to take you on this littlejourney with us and you can
watch along, because we'll letyou know what we're covering
next.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
We'll say, living under a rock.
I'm one of those people who Idon't watch the hit shows until
they're gone.
I'd never heard of the Officeuntil like four or five years
ago, oh my gosh.
And then I started watching it,watching it okay, I just
started watching Modern Familylast week.
(02:50):
I'm like so far behindeverything and stuff like that,
so I do.
You know, I have seen everyepisode of the Office many, many
times.
Is that ended up being one ofthose background shows that, if
right, doing the dishes oranything, you can always find it
being on somewhere?
and you just put it on thebackground and you're doing the
dishes or anything.
You can always find it being onsomewhere and you just put it
on in the background and you'redoing whatever else and watching
it halfway and things like that.
(03:12):
So I've definitely seen everyepisode multiple times.
But yeah, I was living under arock.
That Big Bang Theory was thatway.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh, that was one.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I didn't start watching until it was like
almost at the end of it.
I can probably name a dozenother shows like that that I
didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I was late to the party scrubs, scrubs was that
way for me okay, I was late toscrubs back then so then I don't
know and we're derailing theconversation already I love
scrubs.
It's one of my favorite tv showsof all times.
I didn't realize until aboutlike five, six years ago that
(03:47):
the music is different on thestreaming services than it is on
how it originally aired,because I guess there was no
licensing agreement forstreaming, so they had to go in
and like change a lot of themusic, but the show was known
for the music.
In and like change a lot of themusic, but the show was known
(04:08):
for the music.
So I told this to my husbandand I got, like last christmas,
the entire box set on dvd withall the original like music as
it's intended to be.
It's amazing and it's also likereally weird to put me, like
you know, use dvds again, butanyway, fun fact I don't know if
I have a dvd player anymoreyeah xbox that's what it is.
(04:31):
That's what we use I think, yeah, I guess I would be have to,
I'd have to use so I do want tosay, like, this show did
premiere 20 years ago and, as werecap some of this stuff, some
things might be spoilers ifyou've never watched it before.
However, it's been out for 20years, so if you haven't watched
(04:52):
it by now, you can't be mad atus.
So the Titanic, the ship, youknow the ship goes down at the
end.
So there's a spoiler for youtoo.
So, yeah, so for those whohaven't really watched the
Office or again, aren't familiarwith it, I just wanted to give
a little bit of background forthose who didn't know.
So it did premiere in 2005.
(05:12):
So that's 20 years ago.
It was an adaptation of anoriginal British show under the
same name and it was created byRicky Gervais and Stephen
Merchant and it did have a veryrocky start.
So the show was not popular tobegin with.
It was kind of always beingthreatened to be canceled.
And it really popped inpopularity, probably around like
(05:35):
the end of season one, kind ofseason two, and it really soared
in popularity during thepandemic and Netflix and all
that kind of stuff, becausepeople were just binge watching
it, binge watching it, bingewatching it.
It's known for its mockumentarystyle, its cringe humor and how
it's very relatable.
Everyone kind of findssomething relatable because it's
(05:57):
basically a mirror of everydaylife.
So why has it been so popular?
This is one of my things.
I love it.
Again.
I quote it at least once a day.
It's just part of my vernacular.
So basically, it's a veryrelatable show.
A lot of the characters and thesituations of the show are
reflective of the Americanworkplace Things like inept
(06:20):
managers or bad team meetings orlike the various interpersonal
dynamics you might have withsomeone in the workplace.
A lot of it is extremely,extremely relatable.
There's a lot of timelessthemes in there work-life
balance, the monotony of thenine to five.
It does use humor as a hugecoping mechanism, which I love
(06:43):
about the show.
There's a lot of things thathappen in the show that are very
like serious when you'relooking at it, especially from
an HR perspective.
But honestly, again, it's just.
You know, if you can't cry, youlaugh.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
That's because this is a podcast you can't see.
Behind Christina on her wall,along with their SHRM
certification, is a MichaelScott quote.
I think it's the Michael Jordanquote and then a Dwight Schrute
pillow.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I seem to remember something else I don't see.
I thought you had more Officethan that in other episodes that
I can't see.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I do have the complete history of the Office
as written by oh the guy thatplays, oh my gosh, I'm like
Kevin Brian Barmerger orwhatever Ron Gardner, yeah.
So I have the complete oralhistory of the Office back there
.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Wow, wow, so yeah, so you are like a super fan of the
Office and you talked about itsbeginning.
They I did listen for a longtime to office ladies.
I don't listen to it as muchanymore.
I sort of fell out of love withthat podcast, but I remember
(07:55):
that you know them saying like Ithink one of them was working
in a dentist's office, the otherwas like waiting table.
No, kensey was working in acall center for a dental place.
Yes, jenna was waiting tables.
Neither of them quit their jobfor until like the second year,
because they were always underthreat of losing losing their
(08:15):
job, which is a theme of episodeone a theme of episode one.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So, and just to let you know the that quote that's
behind me, the michael scottscott quote, it's actually I got
.
I gotta like just make sure Iread it right or else I'm gonna
ruin it.
Uh oh, hr is a breeding groundfor monsters, but what I fail to
recognize is that not allmonsters are bad.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's what it is.
Okay, I can't see.
I thought it was.
Every time I see something likethat with michael scott I think
it's the uh, when he's quotingmichael jordan quoting him.
He's yeah, you, you miss ahundred percent of the shots you
don't take wayne gretzkymichael scott michael scott.
Yeah, he, anyways, that'sthat's.
That's funny.
(09:01):
So where do you want to startwith this episode?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
so we can start at the beginning.
So here's a couple things atthe very beginning.
First of all, it starts coldopen, basically, with a meeting
between Michael and Jim andMichael kind of breaking of the
fourth wall and something todescribe for people who've never
seen it.
But the cameramen, or thecameras, are actually a
(09:26):
character as well, becausethey're filming a mockumentary.
So michael is very aware thatthe cameras are there and he's
like a ham and he's just like,oh you know, yes, jim, why did
you want to see me?
And like jim kind of calls himout like no, you, you asked to
see me.
And then Michael has to kind oflike flex his muscles and help
(09:47):
Jim close a deal.
So he gets on the phone and hedoes it.
But what I want to point outhere again, as the ultimate
connoisseur of the office, isthat Michael is good at
something and I'm going to referto this time and time again.
Michael is a competent salesmanand that is why he got promoted
(10:08):
into the regional manager andhe loves I think he just loves
his management position.
So he goes in and he introduceshimself, but essentially, like
he thinks very highly of himself, he doesn't have a lot of
self-awareness, as you'll findout, and he was one of those
individuals who was promotedinto a management position
(10:32):
because they were good at theirjob.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yes, and that's HR mistake numero uno so many times
.
Oh, they're good at their role,let's promote them.
And even though they don't haveany managerial skills, as as
michael scott, so, and, and,yeah, I, and, okay, I, I was
talking about terminal offensesin that meeting with jim that he
(10:57):
called you know that jim neededhelp, for you know it ends and
tell me if I'm stomping onanything of yours with him
saying, sir, you're a gentlemanand a scholar.
And then it's like, oh, thatwas a woman.
She has a very deep voice, shemust smoke a lot or whatever it
is, she must be a smoker, shemust be a smoker and it's just.
(11:20):
I don't know.
I can see that customercomplaint coming in.
Your dude just called me a dude.
You know, maybe that's notterminable, but that's
definitely worth a.
We need to talk.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Take a situation.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, and he?
What is it he loves to talkabout how oh, I've asked so many
people about how everyone saysI'm a great boss and how funny I
am, and blah, blah, blah.
And I even bought this mug fromSpencer's Gifts and it was like
, the joke being that he boughthis own world's best boss mug.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, yeah, I didn't pick up on that until I watched
it today that he bought ithimself, yeah, so yeah, well, I
guess what's the next best scene?
Well, okay, harassment.
Let's talk about harassment.
Okay, there's multipleinstances of sexual harassment
(12:19):
and unfortunately, I guess pamthe, the receptionist office
manager, is the.
He says something.
You think she's hot?
I'm butchering this quote.
You think she's hot?
Now?
You should have seen her 10years ago.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Excuse me, talk about the double whammy on that Gosh.
Once again we're getting closerto terminable offenses, but hey
, we're not there quite yet.
But I mean, we're all.
We're only in the first fiveminutes of the episode.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So far I I do love his like little gag of oh where
are my faxes?
And or pam pam gives him faxesand he's like oh, I told you,
this goes in a special spot inthe trash.
Can Like?
Ha, ha, ha, ha, like just theway he's just so cringy with all
these like really bad dad jokes.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, yeah.
And well, that takes us to thesort of the next scene, where
Jan the I don't know what hertitle is she's like a corporate
person, she's the VP.
Yeah, comes in and drops thenews on them that there's going
to be some downsizing.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Oh, I was going to say go ahead.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh well, you know, and Michael swears the secrecy
and everything like that, but Iguess you can imagine how long
that secret is kept.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He can't keep a secret.
He cannot keep a secret Likeyes, terms are coming, you got
to shut your mouth about it.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And then comes the I'm trying to Carol what's his
name plays him, who is?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Oh, are you talking about Packer, packer, packer,
that was good.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, then comes, while he's in this important
meeting about downsizing withthe vice president, his number
one sales rep, packer, calls,who was.
If you go further down theepisode, they're buddies and
they were both coming up assalespeople together.
Michael Scott, like man,crushes on him very hard, I
(14:34):
guess.
Very hard puts on thespeakerphone and he is so
grossly, overtly inappropriateasking if the vice president's
carpet matches the drapes, yep,and all this other like stuff,
(14:55):
with the vice president rightthere on speakerphone listening
to it and packard is like andthe thing is, I've had to work
with people maybe not quite asovert as Packard, but still
people are just that dumb.
Maybe it's not an essentialharassment, but they're just
going to do it and he makes mefeel you know, we've discussed
(15:19):
this multiple times on thepodcast yeah, do your number one
salespeople get away with morebecause you don't want to lose
them?
Yes, and is that the only thingthat's keeping Packard there?
Is it because he's a greatsalesperson?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That is such a good point Because remember spoiler
alert a few episodes in, at somepoint he takes a shit in
Michael's office as a prank.
And it's such a good point thatPacker must be an excellent
salesperson, because how is itthat he could say that on the
(16:01):
phone and take a shit like allthis stuff and he still has a
job.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.
He mentioned other veryinappropriate that he called her
what?
Hillary, hillary, rodham,godzilla, or something like yes,
or something like that, and youknow, just going on and on, so,
but this really sets up the,the, the context of, you know,
michael, and of Michael's notdoing the values.
Oh, okay, okay, and then Iguess he just sort of hung up on
(16:31):
him.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, yeah.
At first he's like singing hispraises like, oh, this is Packer
, he's a great guy.
And then he hangs up his phonelike idiot he's an idiot.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oh my gosh.
So where do we go next?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So, after this love, okay, so I'm gonna.
I might jump a little bit.
So so ryan, the temp isintroduced, he walks in for his
first day, um, and he's playedby, uh, bj novak.
I love bj novak.
Fun fact, he's also one of thewriters on the show.
But anyway.
So Ryan comes in and he kind oflike he just does such stupid,
(17:11):
stupid jokes to like welcome himso cringy and he talks about
how he loves comedy and then hestarts doing like, like, just
for shits and giggles.
Takes the placard off of Pam'sdesk just for gigs, shits and
giggles.
Takes the placard off of pam'sdesk, puts it against his face
(17:32):
like a mustache and then doeslike the hitler march across the
office as if it's like a reallyfunny joke.
And it's just so awkward.
Everyone's just staring at him,no one's laughing at all and
he's just like lighten up.
Ah, we're, we have fun here, wehave Like.
That was like the whole tone ofit I'm Hitler.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I just don't get it.
And he doesn't have a clue whynobody's laughing Right.
They just don't get that he isHitler.
They absolutely get that he'sHitler.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Everyone got it and it's funny because that's
definitely termable.
That is a little term of allthat would.
That would be.
So michael's already fired bylike the first episode but
suspension of belief, he has thejob the whole time and I have
to laugh because I have been ina room where, like, a leader has
(18:23):
made a slightly like borderlineracial joke and I'm like and no
one laughs because everyone'slike you say that like it really
freaking happens.
Is that really?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
and and yeah, so they .
I guess he keeps on you andalso to pick up man crushes.
This begins the man crush thathe has with Ryan, the Temp,
which we'll be talking a lotabout, I'm sure, over the course
of these episodes.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And the funny part is and, like I think the broader
gag is, the company's not doingwell.
They're looking at cuttingpeople and terminating people,
but Michael spends the money andbrings in a temp A temp.
And that is so stupid, sostupid.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Well, I think it's like the next scene that Michael
has an all-hands meeting witheverybody and announces that
corporate's going to be doing alayoff yes, and then he
basically guarantees and, mindyou, five minutes earlier he
just told Jan the VP, vp, thathey, you know, I'll keep this a
(19:49):
secret.
And what do you know?
He's got all hands meetingletting them know that there's
going to be, you know,downsizing, I think is what the
term they kept using.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Downsizing and the thing is like it's funny because
at some point, like before,before that meeting people are
already like understanding andwhispering that downsizing could
be a thing Like it's in the air.
You know, like we're kind ofthrown into this like situation,
like as in fresh eyes of likepeople are already worried about
it and they're talking quietly,like even Oscar is like I don't
(20:23):
know, you better update yourresume.
And then Michael just like justthrows gas on the fire.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Exactly, oh, the meat .
First, we're going to have alot of fun talking about Michael
and his meetings episode,because there's there's some
really good things If you, ifyou haven't watched, or haven't
watched in a while, thathappened in his meetings, but
anyways, he goes on to have ameeting and announces that yeah,
(20:52):
but then Pam who was in themeeting says because he's
sitting there guaranteeing thatit's not going to happen to him.
Well, I was in the meeting andshe said we're definitely on the
chopping block, I guess.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And once again, terminal offense, sharing that
confidential information.
Yeah, that's very high on thelist of things that Michael
could be termed for just inepisode one.
And then we see the pranks, andyeah, the pranks.
Which prank was first?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
let's see, so it was.
There was a sales pitch thatjim was trying to make and then,
while he's doing it, dwightkeeps like, just like disrupting
him, and I think it was likewith the pencil sharpener.
So then jim lines his desk upwith sharpened pencils to like
display a border, like abarricade, like to which you
(21:49):
know.
Dwight is just like thenpounding the pencils through the
thing, just being obnoxious andI do want to say he could get
hurt oh yeah, that's rightbecause he could.
He could get hurt, like yeah,that was what it was.
We've all worked with a Dwight.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
We can only hope.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I have to say like I am a big Jim fan, but I am going
to say that Jim is a workplacebully.
I'm going to say it justconstantly, all of his pranks,
and not to say, like Dwightdoesn't deserve it and he kind
of gives it back to him everyonce in a while, like Dwight
doesn't deserve it and he kindof gives it back to him every
once in a while.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
But I'm like I feel like Jim should have had a
conversation by now witheverything, Not only I think Jim
is the very first quiet quitterdoing the bare minimum.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And he even talks about hey, maybe not in this
episode episode.
It's one of the features of theOffice.
If you're listening to this,I'm assuming you're listening to
the Office but they have thesewhere they talk directly to the
camera, maybe answering some ofthe people's questions and
things like that future episodes.
I'm just doing the bare minimumto get by, or whatever.
He says something along thoselines later down, but I think
(23:10):
he's the original quite quitter,but he's also.
He is a bully.
A bully because some of it'sfunny, but it it could be funny.
It doesn't take the fact that,but dwight is such the only
target, the only person hereally targets is, well, jim and
Michael Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Or Dwight I should say, and Michael Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
He really targets.
He leaves everybody else alonefor the most part, as far as I
remember.
But yeah, I agree, he is aworkplace bully.
Yeah, and yeah.
So we get introduced to, Ithink in that same scene with
the pencil barricade.
We get introduced to jello jimputting objects in jello for,
(23:56):
and that'll come up again, whichI think is hilarious.
Okay, I've told any number oftimes we would prank the hell
out of patrick now you're makingme think I'm a workplace bully
but we worked together and likewe destroyed his desk.
We would when he'd go onvacation you know he hated
returning after like the secondor third time returning from
vacation or or something likethat, to see what the hell
(24:19):
they'd done to to my, my desknow.
But we, we screwed up with withhis stuff so much, and one time
to find his keyboard.
I hid the keyboard in them andit was a treasure hunt.
It wasn't his keyboard.
He comes back from vacation andyou'd find a clue here and then
you'd have to go over here tofind the next clue.
I did this whole elaboratetreasure.
(24:40):
Now I'm feeling sort of badbecause being a workplace bully,
but we did, that was all me.
I was the maybe not mastermind,but yeah, I was the master, I
initiated most of that and theneverybody else joined in.
But yeah, now I'm sorry, sorry,patrick.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think it was like I see, pranks are fun between
people who like each other,right?
I think it's like this Jim andDwight-ness, where Jim just does
it to get a rise out of Dwight.
I think that makes it abullying situation.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Especially when Dwight is so easy to push a
button.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Anything will push his buttons, dwight's buttons,
and that makes you a target forbullies.
So yeah, so yeah.
That's a good thing, but Iguess the biggest prank of the
episode is the jello?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Oh no, which big prank?
Because there's a couple pranks.
The big one when Mike andBrianrian bring pam into yes,
yeah, so so, yeah, they bringpam into the office and michael,
with ryan present, just toprove how like fun and pranky
(26:02):
they are, quote, quote, unquotepranks pam by telling her that
she is fired for stealingpost-its, and and she just
starts crying because she takesit so seriously, because she was
just terminated and and yeahand he goes on to say and
(26:26):
because this was grossmisconduct, you will not be
eligible for any severances.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I mean he's, he's laying it on really thick and
ryan the whole time.
New guy day one is just sort ofoh, you got this, what the fuck
am I getting into?
Right look and he's likelooking away and you know he's
like you just put me in the mostuncomfortable situation you
possibly could have put me into.
(26:52):
So yeah, that was.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's also like just bad timing for that.
Well, that's a bad prank.
To begin with, you shouldn'tfake fire someone which, funny
enough, happens another coupletimes, I think, in the series
but you shouldn't be fake firinganyone.
And second of all, youshouldn't be fake firing someone
when you're talking aboutlayoffs.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Exactly exactly.
And you know, in the real worldI've said before I was laid off
twice within six months of eachother, in 2011.
I've been on the layoff side ofthings, both as the person
being laid off and I've been theHR person discussing okay,
let's make our list and decidehow we're going to do this and
(27:37):
who's going to be on the list,and things like that.
Layoffs are not fun at allthey're stressful.
The second time I got laid off Iknew that I was getting laid
off because I didn't get invitedto that layoff meeting oh no oh
yeah, I, I we had weeklymeetings.
(27:58):
I was working that hospital.
It lost its license, so ourpatient count is going down
every day and we we were allowedto keep the patients we had,
but as people were beingdischarged we couldn't take new
patients in and a lot of the thepatients were wards of the
state and these agencies werepulling their people out.
(28:19):
So you know, there's a in amedical field you have to have
so many people working perpatient, you would say, and our
numbers are going down.
So we're laying people off andI'm in those meetings every week
.
And then I didn't get theinvitation to the next meeting.
I just went to the director andsaid I'm on the list, aren't I?
And she's like oh, she took it.
(28:40):
I was like you know.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
The writing is kind of on the wall.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, at some point I was going to be on that list,
so I've been there both sides ofthe story.
But yeah, layoffs are not fun,they're not something to joke
around about, and things likethat.
So yeah, so that's TerminableOffense.
And why the hell would Ryancome back for day two after
(29:05):
seeing the shit show he'swalking into with this, with
this job?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I would have called my temp agency and been like get
me out of here.
I don't care about the bonus.
Like get me out of here yeah,exactly, and how did the?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
how did the episode end?
What did?
What did we have going on?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I can't remember well , well, pam, like calls him an
asshole and like walks out ofthe room because like and then
the office place budding romanceI guess that is true.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yes, we learned that jim, even though pam's engaged
for three years to anotherco-worker, that jim and pam have
a thing going on already theydo.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
they're like work besties, but they also are like
each other's work husband andwork wives but they actually
like, actually they're crushing,they're crushing.
So I'm I'm so glad you broughtthat up, because when I was in
grad school I actually there wasa professor there who her like
(30:10):
area of expertise was workplaceromance, like, and she did a lot
of research around that and Ithought it was like super
interesting, so okay, so reallyfunny story.
I think she started off, likein her career, as doing research
with, like, like, air trafficcontrollers and their workplace
dynamics and their workplacesatisfaction and morale.
(30:32):
air traffic controllers have thelowest morale, so fun fact
about that I heard it's thehighest stress job it is, it's
the highest stress job and likemorale is really low and it's
just like really stressful, sohated that.
And then she fell into likethis whole workplace romance
thing and but yeah, she's likethe leading expert in studying
(30:53):
that and apparently like I thinkit's really interesting that
the office kind of touches on it, because we've all been in
situations where we know thepeople, the couple that's
getting too flirty or this orthat.
I've been in situations whereone like two people were working
in the same company togetherand the woman found out that he
(31:14):
was also dating somebody else inthe company and it was like a
little bit of an altercation.
But yeah, like this is it'ssuch a recognizable, relatable
thing that I love that theyinterweaved it in the office.
Plus, you have to have that fora hit TV show.
There needs to be a Sam andDiane.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Sam and Diane.
Well, it's so crazy that whilethey're crushing on each other,
you know she's engaged tosomeone who works down in the
warehouse.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
And so that's it.
But you get to meet that andthen so, oops, you get to meet
Roy and he doesn't want to goout to drinks with them, and
things like that, and I don'tknow so.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Roy is an idiot.
I hate Roy.
Well no, I love the actor.
The actor is pretty funny, butRoy himself, he's a schlub.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, he keeps it interesting there.
But all of them, you know Ilove the dynamic of all these
people and how crazy anddifferent and everything they
are.
I I think it's such a well castshow.
And okay, phyllis, you know she, she was hired to not to be on
(32:25):
screen talent, she was a castingperson on the show.
And then Toby and Ryan and ohgosh, kelly, the writers of the
show they end up from listeningto Office Ladies.
They were moved to the back,the annex, very quickly because
they're still having to write.
(32:46):
They're sitting there in theannex areas, actually they're,
they're still having to write.
They're sitting there in theannex areas actually, where they
wrote, apparently, and they'rewriting while they're filming in
the other side and they didn'tneed the.
You know they didn't need to bein there, they couldn't be in
every shot and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
So it's so it's crazy .
I thought it was reallyinteresting too that, like I
think it was the director whoinsisted that the three of them
be part of the show so that theyunderstood the flow of the show
and they understood thecharacters and the dial, and it
would give them better abilityto write better for the show if
(33:19):
they were in the show, and whichI loved.
And Toby, oh god, who plays him?
Paul Lieber plays him.
Paul Lieberstein yes, so PaulLieberstein actually hated to be
on camera, so any episode thathe produces he's not on camera,
he like purposefully doesn'twrite himself in because he
hates being on camera.
But what I was going to say wasso I, my team, is doing
(33:42):
something very interesting thisyear under the same, I think,
under the same guise is likeeveryone on the team has to be
working together, and I like theidea of like the writers had to
be on the cast too, so theyunderstood.
So my, our talent managementteam, we are starting to kind of
(34:02):
trade projects now.
So I think it's interesting,because my boss from a previous
company was like we used to dothis thing where someone would
take something on for threeyears and then pass it on to
someone else on the team and oneof those.
There's a couple of projectsnow that I'm being given that
(34:23):
someone else on the team hadbefore, and I think it's really
interesting.
First of all, my little ADHDbrain is like yes, variety,
let's do this.
So I'm like stoked, you know.
But it's also very interestingwhere listen, I may have done it
in a past, I haven't done ithere, but now I'd like to take
(34:44):
this and iterate on it, and thenit just everything that we do
as a team, like we're cross,like cross-pollinating for real,
and I feel like there'ssomething so good about, like so
healthy about that.
And I think, even as we'retalking about a show like the
Office, I think that's one ofthe things that made that show
so popular.
It's because they were like thedirector demanded that of them,
(35:07):
like you need to do thesethings so you understand it, so
that that will make you better,and we're like real world
application.
We're doing it on my team rightnow, which I think is something
to throw out there.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Well, that's one thing I was hoping.
I didn't think we got too muchof it in episode one, but that's
one thing I was hoping to getout of this.
The series we're doing is onthe offices.
There are some real hrtakeaways.
Maybe not this episode.
We can.
You know I'm teasing about allthe terminable offenses yes, the
whole the whole show, but thereare some actual good hr
(35:40):
takeaways that I, as we gothrough some future episodes, is
I've I've thought about it inthe past.
I don't know what episode theyare by season and episode number
, but there are some really goodHR takeaways in the show and I
might get a learning opportunityout of this.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Yeah, you know, as I was like thinking today, I was
like going through like thesearchetypes of, like these people
that work in the office and oh,I've worked with someone like
that, or I've worked withsomeone like that, or I've
worked with someone like that Iwas especially thinking about
Michael and how he's just likethe person that was just
promoted because they were goodat their job.
But, spoiler alert, ryanbecomes the opposite of that and
(36:21):
they demonstrate in the officethe dangers and the opposite of
that, because Ryan gets promotedas Michael's boss in later
seasons and he's only promotedbecause he got his MBA but he
has no work experience, he'snever made a sale and like,
literally, we see that shit showfall apart.
(36:43):
So it's funny because, as I'mlike sitting here, I'm like, oh,
like I never even clocked thateither and that they were very
like smart in the way that theywrote this show because it was
very real.
Like some of these, this stuffis very real, like we combat it
every day.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Absolutely, and I just really.
I think you know, in HR, Ithink it does have a special
resonance with us, but no matterwhat you've done, you do in an
office environment, whetheryou're a warehouse person, the
receptionist, accounting there'ssomeone.
You've worked with these peopleand I can pretty much say I've
(37:26):
worked with a Stanley, I'veworked with a Phyllis, I've
worked with every single one ofthese type of people to some
degree or another.
And if you've been in theworkplace more than a couple of
years, you probably have too,and that's what makes it so
relatable and so you knowfollowable, and then, of course,
you know the storylines developand it keeps you entrapped too.
(37:47):
But yeah, you've worked withthese people, you've been in
these situations and and thingslike that.
Oh, one other thing I wanted tobring up about season one of
the office kevin's voice.
Kevin uses his real voice inseason one and I think there was
like a nine month break betweenseason one and season two and
(38:08):
then he starts using the thestranger, weirder voice is
something I've picked upmultiple times before.
So yeah, he started.
I think it's season two he'llstart using the weird voice
that's funny.
I've never noticed that and I'vewatched the show so many times
oh, watch, watch episode oneagain and then go back and watch
(38:31):
something from the laterseasons and when he, when he
does, yeah, they change his, hisvoice in there.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
So that's so good.
Well, I will just say that youknow, as the the one thing I do
like how the show just kind ofends, is that michael.
Michael is feeling bad.
He's just ruined the morale ofthe entire office with his
stupidity and his big mouth.
But Jim does end up putting hismug in the Jello and I always
(39:01):
consider so here's kind of whatwe're talking about.
Is Jim being the bully?
I think he's a bully towardDwight, but I think when he
pranks Michael it's out of like,love, like because Michael, I
think Michael can communicate atthat level and if you prank
Michael to a certain extent,like he like he either doesn't
(39:24):
get it so it goes over his head,or if he does get it, like I
don't know, it's kind of likehe's there for the jokes, he's
there for the good time.
So that's why I'm like when Jimdoes it, it's almost like he's
doing it out of an empatheticway, like putting his jello in
there and like it'll probablyput a smile on his face the next
day.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, I'm thinking he's doing it because he doesn't
want Michael to feel left outtoo.
I think he's got a soft spotfor Michael, because if
Michael's feelings get hurt veryeasily and we're going to see
many accounts of that but beforewe get to that final mug in the
jello there's a scene whereMichael's talking directly to
(40:05):
the camera and he says I'm theirfriend first.
He says I'm their manager.
Second, he says I'm theirsecond, their manager second.
And then I'm an entertainerthird.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yes, and we've all been with maybe a manager.
Either we've had a manager oran HR.
We've had to deal with managerswho want to be people's friends
first yes, and that is sort ofthe crux, beyond promoting
somebody because they're good attheir task or their job to a
manager, that's sort of the cruxof the whole show.
(40:37):
He cannot be an effectivemanager because he wants to be
their friend, he wants to playwith them and yeah, how does
yeah?
Exactly.
He wants to be their friendfirst and that's we've.
You've either been there oryou've been hr.
(40:57):
You've dealt with somebody who.
That's what their, their goalis and yeah, that sort of
describes michael scott thatyou're going to, we're going to
be covering the whole, the wholeway through.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
so yeah, and we learned we do learn later that
his old manager, Ed Truck, hedidn't like his old manager at
all because his old manager wasa leader who-.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Was a manager.
He was a manager.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
He had accountability .
He was there to clock in, leadhis team, lead them well and
clock out.
And Michael Did not like it.
And it's just funny because,you're right, he just wants to
be their friend and he has noboundaries, so yeah, Yep, no
boundaries.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yes, that's another reoccurring thing no boundaries
at all period, end of story.
I think that goes through thewhole show.
A lot of the characters, noboundaries.
But yeah, I think this was areally good first episode of our
first take at the Officerewatch, and so I'm assuming
(41:59):
we're doing episode two nextweek.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yes, next month, I should say Next month.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
It'll be the third episode of every month will be
one of these rewatches, soepisode two.
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Episode two is diversity day, so that's
diversity, okay.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Is that the sexual harassment one, or is that
diverse?
I don't remember diversity day.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
I know I'm pretty sure the second one is diversity
day and they have to like wearthe cards on the head yes yeah
and now, okay, disclaimer herethey do a lot of things that you
know.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
The show aired 20 years ago yes, thank you things
that they would not do on tvtoday unless it was like on, you
know, hbo, like behind apaywall.
You're not going to do this onon-the-air TV anymore and we're
going to cover some of thesethings that are maybe not
politically correct or have agedvery poorly over years as
(43:07):
sensitivities has changed, butwe're going to cover it and just
know we're covering the showand not making any social
context of it.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
And thanks for pointing that out, Because there
are, like Diversity Day is.
It is very cringy becauseyou're right, if that was filmed
today, it would have beenfilmed very differently.
At the same time, likeremembering, we're watching this
through the lens of 2005,.
So things have changed, but itis, at the same time, just a
classic episode.
So I don't it is.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
It is a classic episode so, yeah, I hope you've
enjoyed it.
Give us your feedback on thisepisode and if there's any input
, uh, you know already thatwe're going to be covering
episode two in a month from now,so get in contact us on all
sorts of ways.
Are in our the, the show notes,the, the links to get in touch
with us on instagram, email us,text us all those fun things.
(44:00):
I think this is going to be agreat way to be interactive with
y'all a little bit more, and ifyou're on patreon and support
us on patreon, you can put achat.
I've been trying to look atthat every week, at least once a
week, to see if there's anybodyelse putting some information
out there.
So, uh, yeah, please, please,check it out.
But this is, this has been alot of fun.
This is.
I hope this will just continueto blow up as well as I.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
There's gonna be some great hr implications here,
yeah yes and like, if you haveanything else, you want us, you
want us to like look at, justsend us a, send us a request.
I do, I'm I'm chomping at thebutt to do office space at some
point, because that is a greatmovie one, one scene we did not
bring up, and I think it'sreally important michael's doing
(44:47):
this.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
He brings up the six million dollar man oh my god and
then he goes that sounds like agood salary for me.
And and Pam goes yeah, we could.
She says something I forgetexactly.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
We could all use a raise.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
You could all use a raise.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah, so innocuous.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
If you have a problem with your compensation, you can
take it up with HR.
And that hearing that againtoday was sort of a trigger for
me, because that's what badmanagers do.
That's not an HR thing.
Hr does not determine salaries,it does not we might set the
range or provide the range whatit is, and if they go outside,
(45:29):
sometimes that happens, but weprovide the range.
But the individual managers arethe ones saying sorry.
And to hear a manager say, ifyou have a problem with your
compensation, talk to hr versus.
Oh well, you know, once againwe're.
We're putting real world,trying to put real world common
sense into michael scott, but oh, you want to.
Would you like to have afurther discussion?
(45:50):
What can we talk about aboutthis?
Speaker 2 (45:52):
yeah, put time on my calendar if you like to have a
further discussion.
What can we talk about?
About this?
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, put time on my calendar if you want to talk
about it.
Yeah, put time on.
Don't send a fax, don't send afax.
Oh, and that's another thing,Because it's 20 years ago.
There's so many datedreferences.
We're going to have Faxes beingone of them for these dated
references.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It's going gonna be interesting, yeah, very
interesting.
Like and here's the funny thing, though and I don't know if you
ever like thought about this,but I think this is true of this
show and then of like, alsolike seinfeld comes to mind like
there are certain plot pointsthat will not, could not be able
to happen in today's day andage, and like, I think of, like
if they would ever do aworkplace comedy and a corporate
(46:36):
thing like it's like some ofthis might not resonate with
some younger viewers becausethey started working and yeah,
and like.
That's the thing that likeblows my mind and I was thinking
about that today like ifsomeone was on the band I know,
I know friends is very big rightnow with Gen Z, which, by the
way, I hated friends, I'm gonnasay it.
(46:57):
I thought it was a stupid show,but whatever one of my
favorites.
I watched it wasn't one of myfavorites, it was a little
boring, but whatever but yeah,if you've never worked in an
office, some of this may not berelatable, but I think a lot of
the other stuff is like theannoying co-worker, the inept
manager, like that stuff.
But those interactions that youhave in the office and like
(47:18):
office olympics, for example,like that stuff could never
happen if you were like to makethis in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
So it's just something, something to think
about yep, yep, I think we'llend it there yeah and, uh,
remember to send us yourfeedback for episode season one,
episode two, and we'll havesome gems in there and every
once in a while, like I said, wemight throw in a different type
of thing.
We'll let you know in advance,I think that the week before
(47:47):
we'll, if we're, we'll announce,I think, the the episode, the
regular episode, before we'llsay, hey, next week's episode
we're covering whatever it is,because we may skip some
episodes because not all of themare going to be, you know, hr
relatable in a way that we cantalk about, or we might, I don't
know we may skip some episodes,not saying we will, but we may
(48:08):
Because there's what?
10 seasons or 15?
, I forget how many seasons.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Yeah, we're doing one a month and there's 10 seasons
or 15, I forget how many seasons.
Yeah, we're doing, we're doingonce, one a month and there's 10
seasons.
So we're gonna we're gonna haveto be a little.
We're gonna have to pick andchoose yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
I'll be retired before we hit them all at one a
month, uh so, but hey, maybethis takes off and this becomes
the primary show, I know right.
Well, thank you for listening.
As always, we're here to helpyou survive HR.
One what-the-fuck moment at atime, yeah,
Thank you, welcome to a very special not a very
special blossom, but a veryspecial episode of Jaded HR
where we are looking, taking alook at HR through the eyes of
pop culture.
That's probably not what I wantto say.
Well, we're taking a look atpop culture through the eyes of
HR.
Yeah, we're taking a look.
(01:10):
Most of the episodes are goingto be focused around the Office,
and today we're starting withSeason 1, episode 1 of the
Office here.
So, yeah, this is a new segmentCeCe came up with.
I love the idea that we're justvarious pop culture shows,
movies, things like that, thatinvoke HR, and there's nothing
(01:34):
that raises more HR nightmaresin my mind than the Office.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And rewatching season one to episode one, I'm like
how many fireball offenses couldI find in this episode?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So many and things like that.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's an HR nightmare, but it
could also end up being a masterclass in HR.
Who knows what direction thiswill take with us?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So yeah, I love it Kick us off.
Yeah, so I like to say thatI've learned everything I know
about working in corporateAmerica, and also working in
human resources, from the office.
Yeah, and I don't know.
I don't know, dear listener, ifyou are living under a rock and
(02:21):
maybe have never watched theOffice before, but we're going
to take you on this littlejourney with us and you can
watch along, because we'll letyou know what we're covering
next.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
We'll say, living under a rock.
I'm one of those people who Idon't watch the hit shows until
they're gone.
I'd never heard of the Officeuntil like four or five years
ago, oh my gosh.
And then I started watching it,watching it okay, I just
started watching Modern Familylast week.
(02:50):
I'm like so far behindeverything and stuff like that,
so I do.
You know, I have seen everyepisode of the Office many, many
times.
Is that ended up being one ofthose background shows that, if
right, doing the dishes oranything, you can always find it
being on somewhere?
and you just put it on thebackground and you're doing the
dishes or anything.
You can always find it being onsomewhere and you just put it
on in the background and you'redoing whatever else and watching
it halfway and things like that.
(03:12):
So I've definitely seen everyepisode multiple times.
But yeah, I was living under arock.
That Big Bang Theory was thatway.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh, that was one.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I didn't start watching until it was like
almost at the end of it.
I can probably name a dozenother shows like that that I
didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I was late to the party scrubs, scrubs was that
way for me okay, I was late toscrubs back then so then I don't
know and we're derailing theconversation already I love
scrubs.
It's one of my favorite tv showsof all times.
I didn't realize until aboutlike five, six years ago that
(03:47):
the music is different on thestreaming services than it is on
how it originally aired,because I guess there was no
licensing agreement forstreaming, so they had to go in
and like change a lot of themusic, but the show was known
for the music.
In and like change a lot of themusic, but the show was known
(04:08):
for the music.
So I told this to my husbandand I got, like last christmas,
the entire box set on dvd withall the original like music as
it's intended to be.
It's amazing and it's also likereally weird to put me, like
you know, use dvds again, butanyway, fun fact I don't know if
I have a dvd player anymoreyeah xbox that's what it is.
(04:31):
That's what we use I think, yeah, I guess I would be have to,
I'd have to use so I do want tosay, like, this show did
premiere 20 years ago and, as werecap some of this stuff, some
things might be spoilers ifyou've never watched it before.
However, it's been out for 20years, so if you haven't watched
(04:52):
it by now, you can't be mad atus.
So the Titanic, the ship, youknow the ship goes down at the
end.
So there's a spoiler for youtoo.
So, yeah, so for those whohaven't really watched the
Office or again, aren't familiarwith it, I just wanted to give
a little bit of background forthose who didn't know.
So it did premiere in 2005.
(05:12):
So that's 20 years ago.
It was an adaptation of anoriginal British show under the
same name and it was created byRicky Gervais and Stephen
Merchant and it did have a veryrocky start.
So the show was not popular tobegin with.
It was kind of always beingthreatened to be canceled.
And it really popped inpopularity, probably around like
(05:35):
the end of season one, kind ofseason two, and it really soared
in popularity during thepandemic and Netflix and all
that kind of stuff, becausepeople were just binge watching
it, binge watching it, bingewatching it.
It's known for its mockumentarystyle, its cringe humor and how
it's very relatable.
Everyone kind of findssomething relatable because it's
(05:57):
basically a mirror of everydaylife.
So why has it been so popular?
This is one of my things.
I love it.
Again.
I quote it at least once a day.
It's just part of my vernacular.
So basically, it's a veryrelatable show.
A lot of the characters and thesituations of the show are
reflective of the Americanworkplace Things like inept
(06:20):
managers or bad team meetings orlike the various interpersonal
dynamics you might have withsomeone in the workplace.
A lot of it is extremely,extremely relatable.
There's a lot of timelessthemes in there work-life
balance, the monotony of thenine to five.
It does use humor as a hugecoping mechanism, which I love
(06:43):
about the show.
There's a lot of things thathappen in the show that are very
like serious when you'relooking at it, especially from
an HR perspective.
But honestly, again, it's just.
You know, if you can't cry, youlaugh.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
That's because this is a podcast you can't see.
Behind Christina on her wall,along with their SHRM
certification, is a MichaelScott quote.
I think it's the Michael Jordanquote and then a Dwight Schrute
pillow.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I seem to remember something else I don't see.
I thought you had more Officethan that in other episodes that
I can't see.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I do have the complete history of the Office
as written by oh the guy thatplays, oh my gosh, I'm like
Kevin Brian Barmerger orwhatever Ron Gardner, yeah.
So I have the complete oralhistory of the Office back there
.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Wow, wow, so yeah, so you are like a super fan of the
Office and you talked about itsbeginning.
They I did listen for a longtime to office ladies.
I don't listen to it as muchanymore.
I sort of fell out of love withthat podcast, but I remember
(07:55):
that you know them saying like Ithink one of them was working
in a dentist's office, the otherwas like waiting table.
No, kensey was working in acall center for a dental place.
Yes, jenna was waiting tables.
Neither of them quit their jobfor until like the second year,
because they were always underthreat of losing losing their
(08:15):
job, which is a theme of episodeone a theme of episode one.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So, and just to let you know the that quote that's
behind me, the michael scottscott quote, it's actually I got
.
I gotta like just make sure Iread it right or else I'm gonna
ruin it.
Uh oh, hr is a breeding groundfor monsters, but what I fail to
recognize is that not allmonsters are bad.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's what it is.
Okay, I can't see.
I thought it was.
Every time I see something likethat with michael scott I think
it's the uh, when he's quotingmichael jordan quoting him.
He's yeah, you, you miss ahundred percent of the shots you
don't take wayne gretzkymichael scott michael scott.
Yeah, he, anyways, that'sthat's.
That's funny.
(09:01):
So where do you want to startwith this episode?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
so we can start at the beginning.
So here's a couple things atthe very beginning.
First of all, it starts coldopen, basically, with a meeting
between Michael and Jim andMichael kind of breaking of the
fourth wall and something todescribe for people who've never
seen it.
But the cameramen, or thecameras, are actually a
(09:26):
character as well, becausethey're filming a mockumentary.
So michael is very aware thatthe cameras are there and he's
like a ham and he's just like,oh you know, yes, jim, why did
you want to see me?
And like jim kind of calls himout like no, you, you asked to
see me.
And then Michael has to kind oflike flex his muscles and help
(09:47):
Jim close a deal.
So he gets on the phone and hedoes it.
But what I want to point outhere again, as the ultimate
connoisseur of the office, isthat Michael is good at
something and I'm going to referto this time and time again.
Michael is a competent salesmanand that is why he got promoted
(10:08):
into the regional manager andhe loves I think he just loves
his management position.
So he goes in and he introduceshimself, but essentially, like
he thinks very highly of himself, he doesn't have a lot of
self-awareness, as you'll findout, and he was one of those
individuals who was promotedinto a management position
(10:32):
because they were good at theirjob.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yes, and that's HR mistake numero uno so many times
.
Oh, they're good at their role,let's promote them.
And even though they don't haveany managerial skills, as as
michael scott, so, and, and,yeah, I, and, okay, I, I was
talking about terminal offensesin that meeting with jim that he
(10:57):
called you know that jim neededhelp, for you know it ends and
tell me if I'm stomping onanything of yours with him
saying, sir, you're a gentlemanand a scholar.
And then it's like, oh, thatwas a woman.
She has a very deep voice, shemust smoke a lot or whatever it
is, she must be a smoker, shemust be a smoker and it's just.
(11:20):
I don't know.
I can see that customercomplaint coming in.
Your dude just called me a dude.
You know, maybe that's notterminable, but that's
definitely worth a.
We need to talk.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Take a situation.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, and he?
What is it he loves to talkabout how oh, I've asked so many
people about how everyone saysI'm a great boss and how funny I
am, and blah, blah, blah.
And I even bought this mug fromSpencer's Gifts and it was like
, the joke being that he boughthis own world's best boss mug.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, yeah, I didn't pick up on that until I watched
it today that he bought ithimself, yeah, so yeah, well, I
guess what's the next best scene?
Well, okay, harassment.
Let's talk about harassment.
Okay, there's multipleinstances of sexual harassment
(12:19):
and unfortunately, I guess pamthe, the receptionist office
manager, is the.
He says something.
You think she's hot?
I'm butchering this quote.
You think she's hot?
Now?
You should have seen her 10years ago.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Excuse me, talk about the double whammy on that Gosh.
Once again we're getting closerto terminable offenses, but hey
, we're not there quite yet.
But I mean, we're all.
We're only in the first fiveminutes of the episode.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So far I I do love his like little gag of oh where
are my faxes?
And or pam pam gives him faxesand he's like oh, I told you,
this goes in a special spot inthe trash.
Can Like?
Ha, ha, ha, ha, like just theway he's just so cringy with all
these like really bad dad jokes.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, yeah.
And well, that takes us to thesort of the next scene, where
Jan the I don't know what hertitle is she's like a corporate
person, she's the VP.
Yeah, comes in and drops thenews on them that there's going
to be some downsizing.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Oh, I was going to say go ahead.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh well, you know, and Michael swears the secrecy
and everything like that, but Iguess you can imagine how long
that secret is kept.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He can't keep a secret.
He cannot keep a secret Likeyes, terms are coming, you got
to shut your mouth about it.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And then comes the I'm trying to Carol what's his
name plays him, who is?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Oh, are you talking about Packer, packer, packer,
that was good.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, then comes, while he's in this important
meeting about downsizing withthe vice president, his number
one sales rep, packer, calls,who was.
If you go further down theepisode, they're buddies and
they were both coming up assalespeople together.
Michael Scott, like man,crushes on him very hard, I
(14:34):
guess.
Very hard puts on thespeakerphone and he is so
grossly, overtly inappropriateasking if the vice president's
carpet matches the drapes, yep,and all this other like stuff,
(14:55):
with the vice president rightthere on speakerphone listening
to it and packard is like andthe thing is, I've had to work
with people maybe not quite asovert as Packard, but still
people are just that dumb.
Maybe it's not an essentialharassment, but they're just
going to do it and he makes mefeel you know, we've discussed
(15:19):
this multiple times on thepodcast yeah, do your number one
salespeople get away with morebecause you don't want to lose
them?
Yes, and is that the only thingthat's keeping Packard there?
Is it because he's a greatsalesperson?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That is such a good point Because remember spoiler
alert a few episodes in, at somepoint he takes a shit in
Michael's office as a prank.
And it's such a good point thatPacker must be an excellent
salesperson, because how is itthat he could say that on the
(16:01):
phone and take a shit like allthis stuff and he still has a
job.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.
He mentioned other veryinappropriate that he called her
what?
Hillary, hillary, rodham,godzilla, or something like yes,
or something like that, and youknow, just going on and on, so,
but this really sets up the,the, the context of, you know,
michael, and of Michael's notdoing the values.
Oh, okay, okay, and then Iguess he just sort of hung up on
(16:31):
him.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, yeah.
At first he's like singing hispraises like, oh, this is Packer
, he's a great guy.
And then he hangs up his phonelike idiot he's an idiot.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oh my gosh.
So where do we go next?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So, after this love, okay, so I'm gonna.
I might jump a little bit.
So so ryan, the temp isintroduced, he walks in for his
first day, um, and he's playedby, uh, bj novak.
I love bj novak.
Fun fact, he's also one of thewriters on the show.
But anyway.
So Ryan comes in and he kind oflike he just does such stupid,
(17:11):
stupid jokes to like welcome himso cringy and he talks about
how he loves comedy and then hestarts doing like, like, just
for shits and giggles.
Takes the placard off of Pam'sdesk just for gigs, shits and
giggles.
Takes the placard off of pam'sdesk, puts it against his face
(17:32):
like a mustache and then doeslike the hitler march across the
office as if it's like a reallyfunny joke.
And it's just so awkward.
Everyone's just staring at him,no one's laughing at all and
he's just like lighten up.
Ah, we're, we have fun here, wehave Like.
That was like the whole tone ofit I'm Hitler.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I just don't get it.
And he doesn't have a clue whynobody's laughing Right.
They just don't get that he isHitler.
They absolutely get that he'sHitler.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Everyone got it and it's funny because that's
definitely termable.
That is a little term of allthat would.
That would be.
So michael's already fired bylike the first episode but
suspension of belief, he has thejob the whole time and I have
to laugh because I have been ina room where, like, a leader has
(18:23):
made a slightly like borderlineracial joke and I'm like and no
one laughs because everyone'slike you say that like it really
freaking happens.
Is that really?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
and and yeah, so they .
I guess he keeps on you andalso to pick up man crushes.
This begins the man crush thathe has with Ryan, the Temp,
which we'll be talking a lotabout, I'm sure, over the course
of these episodes.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And the funny part is and, like I think the broader
gag is, the company's not doingwell.
They're looking at cuttingpeople and terminating people,
but Michael spends the money andbrings in a temp A temp.
And that is so stupid, sostupid.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Well, I think it's like the next scene that Michael
has an all-hands meeting witheverybody and announces that
corporate's going to be doing alayoff yes, and then he
basically guarantees and, mindyou, five minutes earlier he
just told Jan the VP, vp, thathey, you know, I'll keep this a
(19:49):
secret.
And what do you know?
He's got all hands meetingletting them know that there's
going to be, you know,downsizing, I think is what the
term they kept using.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Downsizing and the thing is like it's funny because
at some point, like before,before that meeting people are
already like understanding andwhispering that downsizing could
be a thing Like it's in the air.
You know, like we're kind ofthrown into this like situation,
like as in fresh eyes of likepeople are already worried about
it and they're talking quietly,like even Oscar is like I don't
(20:23):
know, you better update yourresume.
And then Michael just like justthrows gas on the fire.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Exactly, oh, the meat .
First, we're going to have alot of fun talking about Michael
and his meetings episode,because there's there's some
really good things If you, ifyou haven't watched, or haven't
watched in a while, thathappened in his meetings, but
anyways, he goes on to have ameeting and announces that yeah,
(20:52):
but then Pam who was in themeeting says because he's
sitting there guaranteeing thatit's not going to happen to him.
Well, I was in the meeting andshe said we're definitely on the
chopping block, I guess.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And once again, terminal offense, sharing that
confidential information.
Yeah, that's very high on thelist of things that Michael
could be termed for just inepisode one.
And then we see the pranks, andyeah, the pranks.
Which prank was first?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
let's see, so it was.
There was a sales pitch thatjim was trying to make and then,
while he's doing it, dwightkeeps like, just like disrupting
him, and I think it was likewith the pencil sharpener.
So then jim lines his desk upwith sharpened pencils to like
display a border, like abarricade, like to which you
(21:49):
know.
Dwight is just like thenpounding the pencils through the
thing, just being obnoxious andI do want to say he could get
hurt oh yeah, that's rightbecause he could.
He could get hurt, like yeah,that was what it was.
We've all worked with a Dwight.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
We can only hope.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I have to say like I am a big Jim fan, but I am going
to say that Jim is a workplacebully.
I'm going to say it justconstantly, all of his pranks,
and not to say, like Dwightdoesn't deserve it and he kind
of gives it back to him everyonce in a while, like Dwight
doesn't deserve it and he kindof gives it back to him every
once in a while.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
But I'm like I feel like Jim should have had a
conversation by now witheverything, Not only I think Jim
is the very first quiet quitterdoing the bare minimum.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And he even talks about hey, maybe not in this
episode episode.
It's one of the features of theOffice.
If you're listening to this,I'm assuming you're listening to
the Office but they have thesewhere they talk directly to the
camera, maybe answering some ofthe people's questions and
things like that future episodes.
I'm just doing the bare minimumto get by, or whatever.
He says something along thoselines later down, but I think
(23:10):
he's the original quite quitter,but he's also.
He is a bully.
A bully because some of it'sfunny, but it it could be funny.
It doesn't take the fact that,but dwight is such the only
target, the only person hereally targets is, well, jim and
Michael Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Or Dwight I should say, and Michael Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
He really targets.
He leaves everybody else alonefor the most part, as far as I
remember.
But yeah, I agree, he is aworkplace bully.
Yeah, and yeah.
So we get introduced to, Ithink in that same scene with
the pencil barricade.
We get introduced to jello jimputting objects in jello for,
(23:56):
and that'll come up again, whichI think is hilarious.
Okay, I've told any number oftimes we would prank the hell
out of patrick now you're makingme think I'm a workplace bully
but we worked together and likewe destroyed his desk.
We would when he'd go onvacation you know he hated
returning after like the secondor third time returning from
vacation or or something likethat, to see what the hell
(24:19):
they'd done to to my, my desknow.
But we, we screwed up with withhis stuff so much, and one time
to find his keyboard.
I hid the keyboard in them andit was a treasure hunt.
It wasn't his keyboard.
He comes back from vacation andyou'd find a clue here and then
you'd have to go over here tofind the next clue.
I did this whole elaboratetreasure.
(24:40):
Now I'm feeling sort of badbecause being a workplace bully,
but we did, that was all me.
I was the maybe not mastermind,but yeah, I was the master, I
initiated most of that and theneverybody else joined in.
But yeah, now I'm sorry, sorry,patrick.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think it was like I see, pranks are fun between
people who like each other,right?
I think it's like this Jim andDwight-ness, where Jim just does
it to get a rise out of Dwight.
I think that makes it abullying situation.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Especially when Dwight is so easy to push a
button.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Anything will push his buttons, dwight's buttons,
and that makes you a target forbullies.
So yeah, so yeah.
That's a good thing, but Iguess the biggest prank of the
episode is the jello?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Oh no, which big prank?
Because there's a couple pranks.
The big one when Mike andBrianrian bring pam into yes,
yeah, so so, yeah, they bringpam into the office and michael,
with ryan present, just toprove how like fun and pranky
(26:02):
they are, quote, quote, unquotepranks pam by telling her that
she is fired for stealingpost-its, and and she just
starts crying because she takesit so seriously, because she was
just terminated and and yeahand he goes on to say and
(26:26):
because this was grossmisconduct, you will not be
eligible for any severances.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I mean he's, he's laying it on really thick and
ryan the whole time.
New guy day one is just sort ofoh, you got this, what the fuck
am I getting into?
Right look and he's likelooking away and you know he's
like you just put me in the mostuncomfortable situation you
possibly could have put me into.
(26:52):
So yeah, that was.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's also like just bad timing for that.
Well, that's a bad prank.
To begin with, you shouldn'tfake fire someone which, funny
enough, happens another coupletimes, I think, in the series
but you shouldn't be fake firinganyone.
And second of all, youshouldn't be fake firing someone
when you're talking aboutlayoffs.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Exactly exactly.
And you know, in the real worldI've said before I was laid off
twice within six months of eachother, in 2011.
I've been on the layoff side ofthings, both as the person
being laid off and I've been theHR person discussing okay,
let's make our list and decidehow we're going to do this and
(27:37):
who's going to be on the list,and things like that.
Layoffs are not fun at allthey're stressful.
The second time I got laid off Iknew that I was getting laid
off because I didn't get invitedto that layoff meeting oh no oh
yeah, I, I we had weeklymeetings.
(27:58):
I was working that hospital.
It lost its license, so ourpatient count is going down
every day and we we were allowedto keep the patients we had,
but as people were beingdischarged we couldn't take new
patients in and a lot of the thepatients were wards of the
state and these agencies werepulling their people out.
(28:19):
So you know, there's a in amedical field you have to have
so many people working perpatient, you would say, and our
numbers are going down.
So we're laying people off andI'm in those meetings every week
.
And then I didn't get theinvitation to the next meeting.
I just went to the director andsaid I'm on the list, aren't I?
And she's like oh, she took it.
(28:40):
I was like you know.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
The writing is kind of on the wall.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, at some point I was going to be on that list,
so I've been there both sides ofthe story.
But yeah, layoffs are not fun,they're not something to joke
around about, and things likethat.
So yeah, so that's TerminableOffense.
And why the hell would Ryancome back for day two after
(29:05):
seeing the shit show he'swalking into with this, with
this job?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I would have called my temp agency and been like get
me out of here.
I don't care about the bonus.
Like get me out of here yeah,exactly, and how did the?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
how did the episode end?
What did?
What did we have going on?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I can't remember well , well, pam, like calls him an
asshole and like walks out ofthe room because like and then
the office place budding romanceI guess that is true.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yes, we learned that jim, even though pam's engaged
for three years to anotherco-worker, that jim and pam have
a thing going on already theydo.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
they're like work besties, but they also are like
each other's work husband andwork wives but they actually
like, actually they're crushing,they're crushing.
So I'm I'm so glad you broughtthat up, because when I was in
grad school I actually there wasa professor there who her like
(30:10):
area of expertise was workplaceromance, like, and she did a lot
of research around that and Ithought it was like super
interesting, so okay, so reallyfunny story.
I think she started off, likein her career, as doing research
with, like, like, air trafficcontrollers and their workplace
dynamics and their workplacesatisfaction and morale.
(30:32):
air traffic controllers have thelowest morale, so fun fact
about that I heard it's thehighest stress job it is, it's
the highest stress job and likemorale is really low and it's
just like really stressful, sohated that.
And then she fell into likethis whole workplace romance
thing and but yeah, she's likethe leading expert in studying
(30:53):
that and apparently like I thinkit's really interesting that
the office kind of touches on it, because we've all been in
situations where we know thepeople, the couple that's
getting too flirty or this orthat.
I've been in situations whereone like two people were working
in the same company togetherand the woman found out that he
(31:14):
was also dating somebody else inthe company and it was like a
little bit of an altercation.
But yeah, like this is it'ssuch a recognizable, relatable
thing that I love that theyinterweaved it in the office.
Plus, you have to have that fora hit TV show.
There needs to be a Sam andDiane.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Sam and Diane.
Well, it's so crazy that whilethey're crushing on each other,
you know she's engaged tosomeone who works down in the
warehouse.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
And so that's it.
But you get to meet that andthen so, oops, you get to meet
Roy and he doesn't want to goout to drinks with them, and
things like that, and I don'tknow so.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Roy is an idiot.
I hate Roy.
Well no, I love the actor.
The actor is pretty funny, butRoy himself, he's a schlub.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, he keeps it interesting there.
But all of them, you know Ilove the dynamic of all these
people and how crazy anddifferent and everything they
are.
I I think it's such a well castshow.
And okay, phyllis, you know she, she was hired to not to be on
(32:25):
screen talent, she was a castingperson on the show.
And then Toby and Ryan and ohgosh, kelly, the writers of the
show they end up from listeningto Office Ladies.
They were moved to the back,the annex, very quickly because
they're still having to write.
(32:46):
They're sitting there in theannex areas, actually they're,
they're still having to write.
They're sitting there in theannex areas actually, where they
wrote, apparently, and they'rewriting while they're filming in
the other side and they didn'tneed the.
You know they didn't need to bein there, they couldn't be in
every shot and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
So it's so it's crazy .
I thought it was reallyinteresting too that, like I
think it was the director whoinsisted that the three of them
be part of the show so that theyunderstood the flow of the show
and they understood thecharacters and the dial, and it
would give them better abilityto write better for the show if
(33:19):
they were in the show, and whichI loved.
And Toby, oh god, who plays him?
Paul Lieber plays him.
Paul Lieberstein yes, so PaulLieberstein actually hated to be
on camera, so any episode thathe produces he's not on camera,
he like purposefully doesn'twrite himself in because he
hates being on camera.
But what I was going to say wasso I, my team, is doing
(33:42):
something very interesting thisyear under the same, I think,
under the same guise is likeeveryone on the team has to be
working together, and I like theidea of like the writers had to
be on the cast too, so theyunderstood.
So my, our talent managementteam, we are starting to kind of
(34:02):
trade projects now.
So I think it's interesting,because my boss from a previous
company was like we used to dothis thing where someone would
take something on for threeyears and then pass it on to
someone else on the team and oneof those.
There's a couple of projectsnow that I'm being given that
(34:23):
someone else on the team hadbefore, and I think it's really
interesting.
First of all, my little ADHDbrain is like yes, variety,
let's do this.
So I'm like stoked, you know.
But it's also very interestingwhere listen, I may have done it
in a past, I haven't done ithere, but now I'd like to take
(34:44):
this and iterate on it, and thenit just everything that we do
as a team, like we're cross,like cross-pollinating for real,
and I feel like there'ssomething so good about, like so
healthy about that.
And I think, even as we'retalking about a show like the
Office, I think that's one ofthe things that made that show
so popular.
It's because they were like thedirector demanded that of them,
(35:07):
like you need to do thesethings so you understand it, so
that that will make you better,and we're like real world
application.
We're doing it on my team rightnow, which I think is something
to throw out there.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Well, that's one thing I was hoping.
I didn't think we got too muchof it in episode one, but that's
one thing I was hoping to getout of this.
The series we're doing is onthe offices.
There are some real hrtakeaways.
Maybe not this episode.
We can.
You know I'm teasing about allthe terminable offenses yes, the
whole the whole show, but thereare some actual good hr
(35:40):
takeaways that I, as we gothrough some future episodes, is
I've I've thought about it inthe past.
I don't know what episode theyare by season and episode number
, but there are some really goodHR takeaways in the show and I
might get a learning opportunityout of this.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Yeah, you know, as I was like thinking today, I was
like going through like thesearchetypes of, like these people
that work in the office and oh,I've worked with someone like
that, or I've worked withsomeone like that, or I've
worked with someone like that Iwas especially thinking about
Michael and how he's just likethe person that was just
promoted because they were goodat their job.
But, spoiler alert, ryanbecomes the opposite of that and
(36:21):
they demonstrate in the officethe dangers and the opposite of
that, because Ryan gets promotedas Michael's boss in later
seasons and he's only promotedbecause he got his MBA but he
has no work experience, he'snever made a sale and like,
literally, we see that shit showfall apart.
(36:43):
So it's funny because, as I'mlike sitting here, I'm like, oh,
like I never even clocked thateither and that they were very
like smart in the way that theywrote this show because it was
very real.
Like some of these, this stuffis very real, like we combat it
every day.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Absolutely, and I just really.
I think you know, in HR, Ithink it does have a special
resonance with us, but no matterwhat you've done, you do in an
office environment, whetheryou're a warehouse person, the
receptionist, accounting there'ssomeone.
You've worked with these peopleand I can pretty much say I've
(37:26):
worked with a Stanley, I'veworked with a Phyllis, I've
worked with every single one ofthese type of people to some
degree or another.
And if you've been in theworkplace more than a couple of
years, you probably have too,and that's what makes it so
relatable and so you knowfollowable, and then, of course,
you know the storylines developand it keeps you entrapped too.
(37:47):
But yeah, you've worked withthese people, you've been in
these situations and and thingslike that.
Oh, one other thing I wanted tobring up about season one of
the office kevin's voice.
Kevin uses his real voice inseason one and I think there was
like a nine month break betweenseason one and season two and
(38:08):
then he starts using the thestranger, weirder voice is
something I've picked upmultiple times before.
So yeah, he started.
I think it's season two he'llstart using the weird voice
that's funny.
I've never noticed that and I'vewatched the show so many times
oh, watch, watch episode oneagain and then go back and watch
(38:31):
something from the laterseasons and when he, when he
does, yeah, they change his, hisvoice in there.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
So that's so good.
Well, I will just say that youknow, as the the one thing I do
like how the show just kind ofends, is that michael.
Michael is feeling bad.
He's just ruined the morale ofthe entire office with his
stupidity and his big mouth.
But Jim does end up putting hismug in the Jello and I always
(39:01):
consider so here's kind of whatwe're talking about.
Is Jim being the bully?
I think he's a bully towardDwight, but I think when he
pranks Michael it's out of like,love, like because Michael, I
think Michael can communicate atthat level and if you prank
Michael to a certain extent,like he like he either doesn't
(39:24):
get it so it goes over his head,or if he does get it, like I
don't know, it's kind of likehe's there for the jokes, he's
there for the good time.
So that's why I'm like when Jimdoes it, it's almost like he's
doing it out of an empatheticway, like putting his jello in
there and like it'll probablyput a smile on his face the next
day.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, I'm thinking he's doing it because he doesn't
want Michael to feel left outtoo.
I think he's got a soft spotfor Michael, because if
Michael's feelings get hurt veryeasily and we're going to see
many accounts of that but beforewe get to that final mug in the
jello there's a scene whereMichael's talking directly to
(40:05):
the camera and he says I'm theirfriend first.
He says I'm their manager.
Second, he says I'm theirsecond, their manager second.
And then I'm an entertainerthird.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yes, and we've all been with maybe a manager.
Either we've had a manager oran HR.
We've had to deal with managerswho want to be people's friends
first yes, and that is sort ofthe crux, beyond promoting
somebody because they're good attheir task or their job to a
manager, that's sort of the cruxof the whole show.
(40:37):
He cannot be an effectivemanager because he wants to be
their friend, he wants to playwith them and yeah, how does
yeah?
Exactly.
He wants to be their friendfirst and that's we've.
You've either been there oryou've been hr.
(40:57):
You've dealt with somebody who.
That's what their, their goalis and yeah, that sort of
describes michael scott thatyou're going to, we're going to
be covering the whole, the wholeway through.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
so yeah, and we learned we do learn later that
his old manager, Ed Truck, hedidn't like his old manager at
all because his old manager wasa leader who-.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Was a manager.
He was a manager.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
He had accountability .
He was there to clock in, leadhis team, lead them well and
clock out.
And Michael Did not like it.
And it's just funny because,you're right, he just wants to
be their friend and he has noboundaries, so yeah, Yep, no
boundaries.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yes, that's another reoccurring thing no boundaries
at all period, end of story.
I think that goes through thewhole show.
A lot of the characters, noboundaries.
But yeah, I think this was areally good first episode of our
first take at the Officerewatch, and so I'm assuming
(41:59):
we're doing episode two nextweek.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yes, next month, I should say Next month.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
It'll be the third episode of every month will be
one of these rewatches, soepisode two.
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Episode two is diversity day, so that's
diversity, okay.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Is that the sexual harassment one, or is that
diverse?
I don't remember diversity day.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
I know I'm pretty sure the second one is diversity
day and they have to like wearthe cards on the head yes yeah
and now, okay, disclaimer herethey do a lot of things that you
know.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
The show aired 20 years ago yes, thank you things
that they would not do on tvtoday unless it was like on, you
know, hbo, like behind apaywall.
You're not going to do this onon-the-air TV anymore and we're
going to cover some of thesethings that are maybe not
politically correct or have agedvery poorly over years as
(43:07):
sensitivities has changed, butwe're going to cover it and just
know we're covering the showand not making any social
context of it.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
And thanks for pointing that out, Because there
are, like Diversity Day is.
It is very cringy becauseyou're right, if that was filmed
today, it would have beenfilmed very differently.
At the same time, likeremembering, we're watching this
through the lens of 2005,.
So things have changed, but itis, at the same time, just a
classic episode.
So I don't it is.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
It is a classic episode so, yeah, I hope you've
enjoyed it.
Give us your feedback on thisepisode and if there's any input
, uh, you know already thatwe're going to be covering
episode two in a month from now,so get in contact us on all
sorts of ways.
Are in our the, the show notes,the, the links to get in touch
with us on instagram, email us,text us all those fun things.
(44:00):
I think this is going to be agreat way to be interactive with
y'all a little bit more, and ifyou're on patreon and support
us on patreon, you can put achat.
I've been trying to look atthat every week, at least once a
week, to see if there's anybodyelse putting some information
out there.
So, uh, yeah, please, please,check it out.
But this is, this has been alot of fun.
This is.
I hope this will just continueto blow up as well as I.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
There's gonna be some great hr implications here,
yeah yes and like, if you haveanything else, you want us, you
want us to like look at, justsend us a, send us a request.
I do, I'm I'm chomping at thebutt to do office space at some
point, because that is a greatmovie one, one scene we did not
bring up, and I think it'sreally important michael's doing
(44:47):
this.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
He brings up the six million dollar man oh my god and
then he goes that sounds like agood salary for me.
And and Pam goes yeah, we could.
She says something I forgetexactly.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
We could all use a raise.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
You could all use a raise.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah, so innocuous.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
If you have a problem with your compensation, you can
take it up with HR.
And that hearing that againtoday was sort of a trigger for
me, because that's what badmanagers do.
That's not an HR thing.
Hr does not determine salaries,it does not we might set the
range or provide the range whatit is, and if they go outside,
(45:29):
sometimes that happens, but weprovide the range.
But the individual managers arethe ones saying sorry.
And to hear a manager say, ifyou have a problem with your
compensation, talk to hr versus.
Oh well, you know, once againwe're.
We're putting real world,trying to put real world common
sense into michael scott, but oh, you want to.
Would you like to have afurther discussion?
(45:50):
What can we talk about aboutthis?
Speaker 2 (45:52):
yeah, put time on my calendar if you like to have a
further discussion.
What can we talk about?
About this?
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, put time on my calendar if you want to talk
about it.
Yeah, put time on.
Don't send a fax, don't send afax.
Oh, and that's another thing,Because it's 20 years ago.
There's so many datedreferences.
We're going to have Faxes beingone of them for these dated
references.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It's going gonna be interesting, yeah, very
interesting.
Like and here's the funny thing, though and I don't know if you
ever like thought about this,but I think this is true of this
show and then of like, alsolike seinfeld comes to mind like
there are certain plot pointsthat will not, could not be able
to happen in today's day andage, and like, I think of, like
if they would ever do aworkplace comedy and a corporate
(46:36):
thing like it's like some ofthis might not resonate with
some younger viewers becausethey started working and yeah,
and like.
That's the thing that likeblows my mind and I was thinking
about that today like ifsomeone was on the band I know,
I know friends is very big rightnow with Gen Z, which, by the
way, I hated friends, I'm gonnasay it.
(46:57):
I thought it was a stupid show,but whatever one of my
favorites.
I watched it wasn't one of myfavorites, it was a little
boring, but whatever but yeah,if you've never worked in an
office, some of this may not berelatable, but I think a lot of
the other stuff is like theannoying co-worker, the inept
manager, like that stuff.
But those interactions that youhave in the office and like
(47:18):
office olympics, for example,like that stuff could never
happen if you were like to makethis in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
So it's just something, something to think
about yep, yep, I think we'llend it there yeah and, uh,
remember to send us yourfeedback for episode season one,
episode two, and we'll havesome gems in there and every
once in a while, like I said, wemight throw in a different type
of thing.
We'll let you know in advance,I think that the week before
(47:47):
we'll, if we're, we'll announce,I think, the the episode, the
regular episode, before we'llsay, hey, next week's episode
we're covering whatever it is,because we may skip some
episodes because not all of themare going to be, you know, hr
relatable in a way that we cantalk about, or we might, I don't
know we may skip some episodes,not saying we will, but we may
(48:08):
Because there's what?
10 seasons or 15?
, I forget how many seasons.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Yeah, we're doing one a month and there's 10 seasons
or 15, I forget how many seasons.
Yeah, we're doing, we're doingonce, one a month and there's 10
seasons.
So we're gonna we're gonna haveto be a little.
We're gonna have to pick andchoose yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
I'll be retired before we hit them all at one a
month, uh so, but hey, maybethis takes off and this becomes
the primary show, I know right.
Well, thank you for listening.
As always, we're here to helpyou survive HR.
One what-the-fuck moment at atime, yeah,
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