Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! Well I do not know about you but this is the week that does not seem to end with people and their never-ending problems, not to mention endless issues on my end simply trying to resolve some of them. And just in general I have found myself not necessarily “on edge” but almost angsty. Just an odd feeling, sort of like when you were in school and it was the last day before summer vacation and you had this tingle in your bones and you were bored yet vibing. Might have to do with knowing that we are officially into August so summer is over halfway over. Might be because Excalibur Con is coming up in two weeks (get your tickets here) and that will be a fun yet busy weekend. Or maybe it was because we started off the week Monday night having a good time with friends with drinks, food, and a boat ride and that just set the tone for the rest of the week. Am I the only one with some odd feelings this week or is that all around?
Certainly still carrying on into today so I better get into today’s Breakdown while I still am in the headspace to not deviate into a tandem!
The morning started off with Michael in the conference room planning out his impending 15 year anniversary party with the Party Planning Committee (PPC). With Angela and Phyllis out it has now been reassembled as Dwight, Jim, and Pam to work with Michael. Despite my campaigning, they have still not chosen to let me into the PPC despite the fact that I could do it so much better than anyone else. Michael’s focus (at Jim’s behest) is try to make this a formal affair, classy being the word of the day. Despite Dwight offering some solid ideas like a string quartet or an ice sculpture of Michael covered in chocolate strawberries, Jim keeps messing with him and drawing his ire. Although, considering Dwight also suggested to lead with a 15 minute round of applause, followed by a 15 minute moment of silence, I would have been annoyed with Dwight myself. Jim’s main focal point today is that after Dwight released a memo last week as a reminder of the company dress code, Jim chose to dress up in a full tuxedo. I know that Jim tends to make fun of Dwight for all sorts of reasons, but I am going to say this is a little ridiculous because if you are not properly abiding by the dress code then yes, you should be called out for it. My personal hot take on dress codes is that companies should do gender neutral rules when possible. I feel they tend to put more power in the employee hands and they get rid of ridiculous gendered based rules towards hair and jewelry. My own company, is a surprise twist, switched to such a policy several years ago and I was very impressed that a healthcare organization would do such a change. It seems small but I feel like it is a major step forward in regards to trying to treat the genders equally, but is much more supportive towards trans and non-binary individual who do not fall into the puritanical norms that people try to associate to a binary system. While I might support someone trying to protest an unfair dress code, Jim is just trying to be funny when Dwight was trying simply remind people of company policy. Along with Jim’s examples of classiness he did cite the French language (I will admit I do find it classy) as well as Mr. Peanut. Dwight, interestingly, is adamant he is nothing more than a normal peanut and it is his attire makes him look classy, which is precisely why Jim says he is classy. Where do we stand, is Mr. Peanut classy or not? My opinion is yes, he is classy.
While taking a break from that (and actually working) we had a random visitor, someone named Charles Miner. Michael rushed out to introduce him as our new Vice President of the Northeast Region. An absolutely surprise, especially because Michael knew he was coming and didn’t bother to let any of us know. Jim is particularly embarrassed because he is now in a tux when he is set to meet the new boss. We also know for a fact that Michael knew he was coming by introducing a breakfast spread in his honor. He cut bagels into the shape of a ‘C’ (for Charles) along with some cream cheese and lox. Yes they were tasty and it really does feel pretty lackluster compared to some of other fantastical spreads Michael has put together before. Could have done a larger variety of bagels and fillings, and perhaps could have skipped the cutting of the bagels.
It is during this time that Jim gets in there to try to introduce himself to Charles and I have to tell you that he is not doing a great job. As soon as Charles asks about the outfit, Jim sort of panicked and revealed it was a prank against Dwight. This keeps happening the rest of the day because Charles always walks past Jim when he is hanging at reception or not working. He even tries to reset and talks about his capacity as the number 2 in the office. Charles claims to not about this position and Jim very poorly explains how it used to be a fake position and altogether sort of spirals. This entire situation really does bring about two strong opinions. First, Jim really dropped the ball here because his role as Number 2 actually is a real position, set with duties and a pay increase, and has been documented in memos. Second, I feel this instance really reveals the type of leader that Charles is. It is not uncommon for new leaders to come in and try to shake things up and so they try to judge everything in an effort to figure out what can be done. With his level of scrutiny here, I think it shows that he is one of those leaders. And most people can fall into one of two types of decision makers, they make quick decisions with their gut or they gather lots of information to make a calculate decision. If he was the latter, I feel he would have read up on all of the employees here and would therefore know that Jim, although a goof, is one of the best salesmen in the company and truly is the Number 2. Because he didn’t research the branch in advance, I am inclined to believe he is the type who goes off his gut instinct believing he is always right and that is why he has latched onto Jim as a means of potential waste. That being said, I will admit that Jim is getting some just desserts for making fun of Dwight uniform memo.
Jim is not the only one having a hard time with Charles because after what started as a harmonious relationship quickly soured when Charles started to flex is authority at the branch. It seems Michael was expected to reveal certain pieces of bad news after a meeting at corporate last week, including: overtime requests go through corporate, no longer matching 401k contributions, and putting an end to certain discretionary spending like parties. Michael was clearly trying to hide this information from the office to not sour their moods, but these are some pretty major changes that I find hard that Michael expected to keep secret. That being said, I feel this news should have come from senior leadership rather than making Regional Manager’s tell their branches for them. But this prompts Michael to start spiraling, even attempting to find assurance from David Wallace in corporate that he isn’t be replaced or losing authority. As he puts it, “I feel I thrive with a lack of accountability.” A very bold claim, and I feel he should get some mad props for being so honest and bold. He attempts to even connect with Charles, but it is pretty clear that Charles is very much a business first type who does not want to bring any of their personal life into the workplace, which I feel only triggers Michael more. For the record, there isn’t really anything wrong with wanting to keep your personal life out of the workplace. There is plenty I don’t bring in and I don’t often implement such discussions, but I have coworkers who could be seen as Michael Scott-level of wanting to share their personal lives at work. But I will say that if you have a colleague who really wants to keep those worlds separate, that should be respected because some people are perfectly content at just being colleagues.
To clear his mind from the stress of this, Michael calls upon the PPC to reconvene in the conference room. It is pretty clear that Jim and Pam are enjoying this time because they are pitching some obviously joke ideas. Pam suggested a stripper inside a cake, carrying a cake with a smaller woman inside while Jim thought up a two-way petting zoo where the animals pet you back. Charles finds out what “PPC” stands for and being the no nonsense guy he is, he comes in to call an end to this meeting so the others can do real work. This was the tipping point for Michael in being told the event to celebrate all his years at the company and he lost it. He started making fun of Charles and then snapped and starting yelling that he will not get away with this, and he left to head to the corporate office. For the record, no one else (aside from Jim) really had a problem with Charles, and even all of the female workers seemed to be infatuated with him.
Not too long after this happened that Charles also left, as like he said he was only in town to get a feel of the office. It is an interesting topic on whether Michael was justified in his reactions to Charles. While he wasn’t here long, I do feel his management style was pretty evident and it is not the preferred method for everyone.
What happened with Michael you might ask? Evidently he began roaming the offices until he finally tracked David Wallace down coming out of the bathroom and demanded him to talk with him after dodging most of his calls. Michael was upset and more than anything he felt that he didn’t deserve this sort of treatment. Yes it is true that Michael makes plenty of mistakes and can be a bit of an idiot. It doesn’t change the fact that Scranton is the highest performing branch, which is why David actually had a sit down with him to figure out why, not to mention having him go on a lecture circuit. He even assigned Michael tasks like spying on another paper company for which he was commended. And technically David loved the idea of the golden ticket and if he had simply accepted responsibility for it, maybe he would have been promoted. It seems like David likes the work that Michael does (when he succeeds) but still wants more of an executive type at corporate, someone who fits the usual mold. David ultimately promises him that he will make sure his anniversary party occurs and he will personally attend, but doesn’t really address the other concerns. In response to this, Michael says “I quit. You have no idea how high I can fly.” And with that, he walks out.
Is Michael really going to leave Dunder Mifflin? What will he do and what will come of the office?
We will have to wait until next week to see what comes from this sudden development.
Until then I hope you all have a great weekend, and continue to take care if you are in the areas affected by the air quality warnings from the smoke up north. And anyone who can be available August 16 -17 should head on down to Excalibur Con 2025. Should I dress up? Still debating and if I do I just might dip into my costumes from the Renaissance Festival rather than a character. But for an event named for a sword wielded by King Arthur, I’d say it’s perfect, so I hope to see you there and be sure to invite your friends!
As always, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
