“This Is Why You Don’t Date Co-Workers” — that’s what tonight’s episode of The Office should have been called. In an amazing twist of fate, this may be the only episode of The Office in which Michael Scott is (a) the voice of reason and understanding and (b) does virtually NOTHING offensive. Instead, this episode was all about the perils of intra-office dating.
Andy Bernard, the consummate goofball, almost literally has to twist Michael’s arm to get him to take Andy’s office paramour, Erin, to lunch for Secretary’s Day so Andy can show Erin how much he cares for and appreciates her (not sure why he thinks lunch with Michael shows this, but he does). But Erin’s so completely off-the-wall and mundane lunch ramblings left even Michael struggling to make conversation with her. And in doing so, Michael stumbles into telling Erin about Andy’s former engagement to Angela, which apparently Andy had not gotten around to mentioning to Erin. And for Andy, things went downhill from there.
Although Andy singlehandedly arranges what might be the most appreciative Secretary’s Day in the history of Secretary’s Day, complete with strong-arming coworkers into bringing Erin gifts, and an office gathering featuring a cake with Erin’s face on it, all Erin can think about is that Andy hid his relationship with Angela from her. Culminating in Erin throwing a giant chunk of cake into Andy’s face. Lesson number one: Office romances are dangerous, no matter how you slice it.
The rest of the office crew spends the majority of the show making fun of Kevin’s voice when several coworkers overdub episodes of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster with a very good impression of Kevin’s voice. Everyone thinks it’s hilarious, except of course for Kevin. And despite his previous offensive conduct, like talking to Pam’s breasts in the hopes of getting her to lactate, Kevin doesn’t think it’s funny when he’s the butt of the joke. And when New Corporate Guy tries to take charge and suspend half the employees for refusing to stop poking fun at Kevin, the teasing only gets worse. Lesson number two: It’s only funny to you when it’s not about you. But eventually, it WILL be about you. So treat others as you would have them treat you.
And as for the new guy’s efforts at exercising his authority, it leads to lesson number three: Make sure you actually HAVE authority before you try to exercise it. There is nothing worse than empty threats when it comes to losing control of your workforce. If you aren’t sure what you can do, find out before you overstep your boundaries and end up putting yourself in the position of becoming the next Dwight Schrute — all talk and no stroke to back it up.
[hulu:http://www.hulu.com/embed/KNRWuXvlzCulUl4K7Vlm1w]
I missed that episode on television last night, but it sounds like a humdinger. I’ll have to look for it online.
The other lesson learned is that employees should know their legal rights. Jim and Pam did, and used that knowledge to enjoy some time off with pay.
Poor Gabe, the guy gets no respect. He’s a great character though, I love him.