Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! I hope you have all had a great week that has led to finally to this Friday. Actually work has been pretty good this week, it was busy but not in the sense that I was dreading having to go into work. Some long days, I actually chose to do a flex day this week where I worked four 10-hour days to take a day off. A friend of ours was up so we decided to do a fun autumn day in town. My famous French beef stew for dinner, then brunch at a local restaurant the next morning, followed by a hiking at Pattison State Park over in Wisconsin for a few hours, and wrapping up the time with some steak off the barbecue and garden-fresh vegetables. For most people this would all sound pretty standard but it made for a great day of not worrying about work or the various stresses in our lives and focus on the positive with people important to me. So this is my recommendation for the next week, take some time to just spend time with people who recharge and inspire you. Too often we find ourselves giving up large amounts of our energy and focus that leaves us drained, the people who take far more than they give. Find those people who you can spend the day talking about anything and everything and focusing on just mutually relaxing. And let one another know how special you think they are and reassure them that they are on the right path. I think we often look for major examples of assurance in our lives, and really it is the small acts of support which is really what we want and need. And of course the key is that you are mutually supporting one another, simply by letting them know what you think of them and spending time with them. And I will mention that a nice nature hike, enjoying the changing leaves, was a pretty great activity.
With that weekly affirmation put out into the universe, let us discuss what has happened at Dunder Mifflin.
So earlier this week, we did have what I believe is one of the greatest pranks this office has ever seen. It was conceived after Michael chose to eat an entire, family-sized chicken pot pie for lunch and then fell promptly asleep at his desk. Jim explained how we could use this opportunity to trick Michael into thinking it was actually 5pm and time to leave for the day (it was actually only 1pm). Erin was carefully to field calls away from Michael, Jim and Pam were updating the times on the clockings and his watch, and Dwight ran out to update the time in his care. We then turned the lights on and began laughing loudly to prompt him awake. This worked so he came out laughing to see what was the commotion, and noticed that it was supposedly the end of the work day and was quick to leave with us. Was this slightly unethical? Maybe, but considering Michael often wastes our time with his antics it was nice for us to do the same. But I do wonder at what point he will notice he is off by four hours.
The real event this week was the Dunder Mifflin Company Picnic, an annual event but on by the company for employees to celebrate. The concept of a company picnic tends to more exist for larger companies, I actually remember going to them as a kid for my dad’s company he worked for. One particular one had tents with music, games, drinks (for the adults), food, and then even amusement rides and other things for the kids. Smaller companies usually do not have these because they’ll likely do many events throughout the year while the company picnic is a pretty large, one-off event. There are going to be plenty of guides online on how to throw one, I am including one courtesy of Indeed to help you walk through what you wish to do. It is great to have numerous events and activities so everyone can find something that they will enjoy. Food and drink is certainly a requirement, that is what makes it a picnic. But a key piece should be allowing people to bring their friends or family. Plenty of people think of their coworkers purely as work associates, so being able to have someone they’re close to makes it a lot more fun.1Another big recommendation I have is that these picnics are meant to celebrate employee’s hard work, and give something back to them. Which is why I am adamant it is important to splurge a bit (obviously within your budget) and make sure they can walk away with food, drinks, and fun. Let us be honest, if you are running one of these large companies you are going to be seeing the reward from record profits more than any of those employees will. So don’t be cheap when it comes to throwing these events for employees who were the source of your rewards.
The Dunder Mifflin picnic had a lot of those same aspects, with key differences between an annual sports tournament and then a performance. For the tournament, each year they have a sport event in which the employees from each branch compete for the trophy. Of course, this also includes corporate and they end to win and Charles Miner is not planning on winning gracefully. Last year was softball which we were doing okay with, until Jim freaked over finding a “dangerous” spider in his glove. I would be freaked out too but not so much that it would throw me off my game. I tend to be pretty competitive with these sorts of things, and that is a danger when it comes to the picnic if doing games like these. You still have to work with them so you want to keep the smack talk limited.
This year’s event was volleyball, which Dwight and Jim became very invested in. Between their tenacity, and Pam revealing she is pretty skilled volleyball player, we were pretty well set to sweep the game. Besides overly competitive people, the other big player you might see is like Phyllis. She was super excited and eager to play, but was very content after the first game and she realized she really was not all that interested in playing more. So she faked an injury so she could be swapped out. We made it all the way to the final game with corporate, only for Pam to trip and hurt herself. She insisted she was fine but David Wallace and Charles asserted that as this was a company event, she should not play until she has seen a doctor. Being our best player, they knew exactly what they were trying to do. Dwight told them to run to the nearest hospital and he would stall them as long as he could. And he did just that, he spent time counting to kicking the volleyball away; it was a masterclass in stall tactics. But in spire of all of that, Jim actually called and told him to swap in the subs. Oddly, Dwight made it sound like he was almost happy about it.
The other big event was a presentation towards the middle of the day in which Michael and Holly had agreed to do a performance. They’d been off working on this all day, and truthfully I was worried about Michael. He’d been nervous about running into her because he still hasn’t given up his feelings. To him, they are truly soup snakes (soul mates). True as ever before, they were able to come up with a great idea and work so well together. They created a skit combining Who Wants To be a Millionaire with Slumdog Millionaire but the questions were thematic around Dunder Mifflin. It was a pretty big hit in many ways, Stanley in particular was laughing it up like it was the greatest thing ever. Everything changed when they decided to do a question about which branch would be closed next. I guess David revealed to Michael last week that Buffalo was going to be closing. This was absolutely on Michael and Holly for thinking this should possibly be a question. But I also question David telling Michael this, if it was not publicly known then he should not be saying a word. It was at this point that the entertainment ended and the mood was pretty dismal and some of us decided to get the heck out of there.
And that, everyone, was this week’s Breakdown! Very short and sweet and certainly what I have the bandwidth for today.
I hope to have a podcast update very soon. Feeling inspired and refreshed from this week we are continuing to work on these, all while preparing to take a two week holiday soon as we return to France. Very much a busy time of the year, which is why it is so nice to find relaxing moments when we can.
Have a great weekend and as always, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
- (2024, November 4). Guide to Planning Successful Company Picnics. Indeed. Retrieved October 9, 2025, from https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/company-picnics ↩︎
