Category: The Office

Posted in The Office

The Office: Season 3, Episode 7 “Branch Closing”

Posted on by Nathan Westerberg

Good morning everyone and welcome back here to the Breakroom! I hope you had a great holiday weekend, whatever your plans may have been. What I think is interesting was how one of my coworkers pointed out despite being a short work week, it seemed to be abnormally long and I absolutely concur. It’s almost like it’s been perpetually Thursday, always working towards getting back to the weekend. If I had to guess, I am wondering if we are all just getting restless because of how close we are to the summer. With it being so nice outside, we just want to be able get out and enjoy the weather. Additionally, many people in my life have been going through a sense of personal change. There is almost something in the air about wanting to shake things up and just do something different, like a caterpillar yearning for metamorphosis. I think it is important to trust our gut instincts so I think 2024 might be about new opportunities, so that is some key advice I want to give right out of the gate. Do something different! I’m not saying it has to be radical like throw everything you own into a truck and move across the country, but just something to shake up the every day. Take time to focus on a personal hobby, look into a promotion at work or even a new job, maybe learn a new marketable skill or even go back to school, or even go out and get a new piercing or tattoo. There is nothing wrong with being content with live and enjoying the fact that your days are reliably the same. But this doesn’t mean you can’t mix it up occasionally to keep things interesting. With you now (hopefully) inspired, why don’t I give you the details on what happened at the office.

The morning started off pretty standard in that we got one of our classic Jim Pranks! Even having transferred to a different branch in another state, this will just not stop Jim from finding ways to prank Dwight. He let slip to me that prior to leaving, he took a box of Dwight’s personal stationary and has been faxing over messages from himself in the future. Now, I am not always a fan of the Jim Schtick, but I will give him credit for this one because it’s a pretty good prank. This particular message consisted of warning Dwight that someone was going to poison the morning’s coffee; thankfully he was there to save Stanley’s life from the poisoned coffee.

That was truly the big highlight of the morning because shortly after the morning started, Jan had arrived for an impromptu meeting. Even with her having been keeping a close on him lately, I still thought this was a little odd especially since she first swung by to talk to Toby before going in to talk to him. It was soon after she had gone into his office that we started to hear Michael making sounds. It sounded like moaning and even wailing and definitely piqued our attention as we wondered what Jan could possibly have been talking to Michael about. Then Jan simply walked out without giving us all so much as a glance, which made it even more confusing as to what happened. Thankfully, Michael is not exactly known for keeping a secret especially when it is a stress-inducing one. Turns out, Jan was here to let Michael know that the board voted to close the Scranton Branch and have it be absorbed by Stamford. This means some of us will be offered transfers to Stamford, and the others will receive severance packages. This resulted in an entire array of emotions going through the office. Some people were pretty upset like Michael, like Kelly was crying and Dwight was ready to fight it. Ryan was annoyed at first since his business cards had just come in, but he decided it was ultimately for the best since he could walk away with a great reference and didn’t seem too upset about leaving Kelly behind. Meredith ended up asking us all if she had made a pact with us about having sex together on our last day in the office, though I never did catch who she made this deal with. Creed went to work on selling various office equipment for a profit; he may have cut me in exchange for not saying anything to corporate about this. Pam looked at it as an opportunity to get away from Dunder Mifflin to pursue new opportunities. And Stanley was happier than I have ever seen him, he was ready to take the severance, retire early, and travel with his wife. I feel we really did run the gamut of potential emotions that are experience when a company is told they are being closed. Well, Michael and Dwight were not prepared to let this happen without trying all that they could to change the mind of David Wallace, our CEO. They left the office simply saying they were off to save our branch.

With this all out, I did reach out to Jim off at Stamford to see if he had any additional information and boy did he spill the tea on what was going on. Somehow, the news was already leaked there so some of the people were celebrating the fact that it wasn’t them whose branch was closed down. Not going to lie, I’m sort of confused how they all found out when Jan had only just told Michael about this decision. I would’ve thought that their manager, Josh, would have been ecstatic since the impression is this entire merger was predicated on him leading the charge but Jim said he was treating the day as business as usual. Turns out, Josh was trying to keep people from being overly excited because he knew that it was not going to last. With this decision to move him to be in charge of Dunder Mifflin Northeast, he leveraged this into a senior leadership position with our competitor Staples. Needless to say, Jan was livid and frantically tried to restructure the plan and it was then that Jim lost all admiration for him. This sort of thing does happen where someone will try to leverage one job for another one, but it can be a pretty low brown move especially when the company is depending on you to stick around.

Michael was ignoring all of his calls and messages but Dwight was keeping me up to date via text messages, I wanted to make sure no one was going off the deep end or committing any crimes. Their strategy ended up being staking out David Wallace’s house and were going to ambush him when he came home. Michael initially wanted to simply trust his gut and his heart to fill his plea, but Dwight was adamant that you shouldn’t trust your heart to offer those arguments and that he should work out a plan of attack. This is actually great advice for those times you are planning on going into any sort of meeting or interview in which you are tasked with making some sort of argument for your side. Absolutely take the time to try to prepare your talking points so that you can come off as prepared and knowledgeable of the topic. In fact, with Dwight making counterpoints to Michael’s reasoning he is then forced to prepare a defense rather than be left speechless. Your plan of attack should absolutely be able to be held up against severe scrutiny, and practicing these arguments can help you be more prepared and even keep you feeling confident. Think of it as a game of chess, you can’t just be thinking about your next move but rather you should be thinking three turns ahead. While Dwight maintained a few updates, eventually it went to radio silence. I think Dwight was just excited to have a one-on-one adventure with Michael.

The atmosphere at the office had become so stagnant with the news the branch was closing, that we barely registered when Jan had shown up to the office once more. Clearly exasperated with her day, she let it slip that Scranton was not going to be closed and we would instead be absorbing Stamford and some of their employees. Just as the emotions were mixed when we were told the branch was closing, the emotions were just as mixed being told that we were sticking around. We couldn’t get ahold of Michael but I left a message for Dwight so I suppose they’ll hopefully get the news. I still had my job so I suppose it could’ve been a lot worse!

And that, everyone, was the epic climax to the question that has been on all our minds for a couple years, who was going to be downsized? Scranton has lived to fight another day, and we will actually be getting bigger as we bring in more employees and our territory expands. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and I hope you all are too!

What can we walk away with? First, it is okay to try shake up our mundane days and mix things up a bit. Sometimes we only need a small change to allow us to see our lives differently, and others it might make us realize we are ready for something even bigger. Second, always be prepared for those meetings especially when you know you need to make some sort of argument in favor of something. You can have notes, practice conversation, a pro and con list, anything to ensure you are ready for any sort of tactic they use. When it comes to business, this is not tic-tac-toe, it’s chess and you need to be thinking several moves ahead. With that being said, I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy their weekend and can hopefully enjoy that amazing sun as we move into June and get that much closer to the official start of summer. And as always, I’ll be sure to see you around the Breakroom!

Posted in The Office

The Office: Season 3, Episode 6 “Diwali”

Posted on by Nathan Westerberg

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom. I hope everyone has had a great week, perhaps the biggest disappointment this week is we got very spoiled with a sunny and warm Sunday and we have since had a cool, rainy week since then. I’m very much ready to head into that warmer weather to try to get back into walking more and just be a bit more active. That being said, I did try a couple new recipes this week so I can officially include them in my rotation, especially when I’m looking to impress. I first did some homemade potstickers (filling and wrap all from scratch) which turned out pretty amazing. Perhaps I could’ve rolled the dough out thinner, but were still tasty. Then I made my own gnocchi and those also turned out pretty amazing. Perhaps a little big and not nearly as pretty since I was using a fork to shape them, but were very tasty. So I am recommending everyone mix things up every once in awhile with a new recipe. Gnocchi was actually shockingly easy (just mashed potatoes, flour, and eggs) and can really be customized with the sauces that you use with them. Now that I’m officially hungry, why don’t I tell you what has been happening around the office so I can then grab a snack!

So nothing too crazy actually happened at the office, instead it all happened elsewhere. Intrigue! So Kelly Kapoor, our Customer Services Representative, has invited the entire office to come to the local Diwali celebration being put on at the high school. This brings up a very good question, what is Diwali? Now, Kelly seemed it a bit unclear on the precise details for the holiday aside from “it’s awesome.” And if you were to ask Michael, he would sum it up as “essentially, a Hindu Halloween.”

Diwali is known as the “festival of lights” and is actually one of the most important holidays celebrated in India, though it is celebrated around the world and is recognized by several different faiths beyond just Hinduism. In the Hindu faith, the focus of Diwali can be found in the epic, the Ramayana. During the exile of Prince Rama and his wife Sita, Sita is captured by the demon king, Ravana. Rama is ultimately able to defeat him and rescue is wife, with Diwali marking the return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom from their exile. There are other origin stories, depending on the respective faith, but the primary theme of Diwali focuses on light overcoming darkness, good defeating evil. This typically falls between October and November (hence why Michael associated it with Halloween) and for 2024 it will be celebrated on November 11.

Not only is it so great that Kelly invited the entire office, but it is so refreshing that Michael got really into doing everything possible to ensure we were thoroughly excited about going. While not every company necessarily needs to go to the extent that Michael did, it is important for companies to celebrate the diversity of their employees. The United States, it can be very easy for employees to be seen as simply another cog in the machine, and therefore they blend in with everyone else. Sure, often times many of the employees fit a very specific mold (heterosexual, cisgender, white) so those who do not fit the mold tend to get forgotten. Such as come the holiday season, there are a number of holidays besides just Christmas that happen and it is okay to take that time to acknowledge that not everyone celebrates the same holidays. These can extend to other celebratory events like Pride Month or Juneteenth; it is a blessing that people have different backgrounds and truly should be celebrated. Before this, while I had heard of Diwali I certainly did not know the story behind it. I also didn’t realize that there are several faiths that celebrate it (such as Buddhists or Sikhs) who have their own variation upon the origin story. While being careful not to treat our colleagues like token hires, it is okay to show some interest when they want to share their culture. The keyword is let them share their culture, we white people do have a habit of trying to help teach other white people about other cultures. Case in point, Michael wanted to teach us all about Indian culture by providing various pictures of Hindu gods, showing us slides of famous Indian people (both fictional and non-fictional), and then proceeded to provide us copies of the Kama Sutra. If you would like to create a presentation like this, it is wiser to have it crafted and presented by an actual representative of the culture so you do not end up trying to mansplain someone else’s culture.

Once we actually got to the school, we were able to see Diwali in full swing. There were decorations and music playing to set the mood, and plenty of lights which were in theme with the holiday. Nearly everyone was dressed in traditional attire, so that would be men in kurta’s and women in saris. There was also an impressive spread of food, all authentic Indian food, of course. I’m personally a big fan of Indian cuisine but it seems Michael was incredibly disappointed. He was eating a samosa but only because he thought they said it was a smore, so then he was confused why they couldn’t have just done served smores. I will point out how he was first very excited to celebrate Diwali to experience their culture but evidently this doesn’t extend to food. That being said, Angela was also very hesitant about it since she didn’t seem to believe them when they said it was all vegetarian. Checking online there are many different sources but there is a range varying from 20 to 40% of how much of India identifies as vegetarian. Regardless, this is a pretty impressive percentage of the population.

Food aside, it was pretty fun getting to hear about some of the interactions going on at the event. With Kelly and Ryan having been dating for awhile, her family made a point to stop and talk to him. Kelly’s sisters were teasing him because he looks like Zach Braff, while her parents were pretty obviously trying to figure out his intentions with their daughter. And then Michael made his way over to talk to them, and it seemed to get pretty serious and I think they truly inspired Michael. So much so, that shortly after that he found his way on stage and professed his love for Carol (whom accompanied him as his date, and was wearing a cheerleader outfit, for some reason) and ultimately proposed to her. This didn’t really end well, however, because she quickly pulled him away and they stepped out of the room and didn’t return. Not to be unromantic but I am a firm opponent of public proposals for exactly these sorts of situations. What if they are not there yet? Additionally, many of us just do not want to be included with your special moment, so please just keep these situations for just the two of you. The rest of the evening sort of wrapped up from there but as far as my first Diwali celebration could go, I was quite impressed.

And that was today’s breakdown! So what could we walk with remembering today? Celebrate diversity in the workplace, we are all different and it is okay and beneficial to take the time to recognize that. Second, do not propose to people in public locations especially when you have only been on less than a dozen dates. It really is not that romantic, and I find it like you are trying to make the whole situation about yourself when there are plenty of people around you who really do not care. Be diverse and do not be obnoxious, these are truly words to live by.

I’m hoping for some warm weather this weekend, and in the mean time why doesn’t everyone please include a comment below on your own suggestions for how can an office or company celebrate their diversity without coming off as white people trying to mansplain diversity or “brag” about having people of color. Until next time, I’ll be sure to see you around the Breakroom!

  1. Kaur, H. (2023, November 11). What to know about Diwali, the Festival of Lights. CNN Travel. Retrieved May 16, 2024, from https://www.cnn.com/travel/diwali-festival-of-lights-explained-cec/index.html32 ↩︎
Posted in The Office

The Office: Season 3, Episode 5 “Initiation”

Posted on by Nathan Westerberg

Good morning everyone, it’s great to see you all at the Breakroom! This time around it has certainly been one of those sorts of weeks with a lot of ups and downs. It was husband’s birthday so I crafted two separate cakes for him, plus I treated us to getting our ears pierced so that was some of the highs. At the same time, we have been dealing with the fact that our neighbors now seem to have two pickup trucks taking up the street parking so that has been fun. In terms of work, I think I do need to stress to everyone when it comes to timecards and taxes, these are your responsibility. If there is a mistake on your timecard, your tax elections have not been producing taxes, or you forgot to update your direct deposit these are all your fault so you do need to accept the fact that you will need to wait until the next paycheck to see a correction. It feels like we often coddle employees too much in the HR world and employees need to accept their share of the responsibility. Just my weekly rant, for my prompt of the day why don’t you please comment below (you will need to open up the individual post rather than viewing from the Home Page) and share your vent of the week. While I do not believe in people being negative and tearing people down, I do think that it is healthy to get certain struggles off our chests sometime, so let this be your chance! While you think of your biggest headache of the week, lets get down to today’s Breakdown.

Well the day started off with Jan having a meeting with Michael first thing in morning. I understand that she is his boss, but it does seem like she has been coming around a lot more often for. I’m wondering if this has to do with the possible downsizing that we’ve been worrying about (which most people seem to have forgotten about). You know it’s serious because afterwards she actually tasked Pam with keeping a daily log of all of Michael’s actions. I know she has had frustrations with him before, but this really is taking it a to a whole other level to task her with logging everything he does each hour. I also do not understand how she can rationale having an employee do this on their leader, so this is very much a new extreme. Michael does start his morning off strong by having a big sales call for a potential new customer. That being said, he did spend the majority of the call doing his Cosby impression so maybe he was partially productive.

While that is going on at the office, Ryan and Dwight actually went out on a joint sales call. While Dwight might be the Assist (to the) Regional Manager and the best salesman in Dunder Mifflin, he is still a very odd individual and not someone Ryan would normally want to go with. Ryan explained that since he is no longer just a temp, he really needs to decide if he is going commit to the company or he might as well leave. He is choosing to commit to his job as a salesman, and he figures the best way to learn is from the top salesman. Speaking to them afterwards, it truly went exactly as I had expected. Rather than going straight to the call, Dwight brought Ryan over to Schrute Farms where he decided to give him a formal sales initiation. Ryan called it hazing, but perhaps a little of Column A, a little of Column B. While his methods might be odd, he makes some pretty great points. Instead of a lot of research and deep dives, lets instead look at some advice from Dwight Schrute.

You know what your problem is? You know why you haven’t made any sales? Cause you think you know everything. You have to trust that maybe there are other people that can teach you things. Are you ready to learn? Are you ready for the final test?

All too often, we find ourselves believing that we are fully equipped and informed to do something. Sure, there are those times that we really are and we do not need assistance with the topic at hand. But we must learn to recognize when we are struggling an admit that we need help. Sometimes it isn’t even about not knowing something, but rather that someone can still pass along their own information on the subject. Ryan is going to business school and he has read the general theories about business and sales, but he doesn’t have the practical experience behind it. While Dwight didn’t go to school, he has been in the industry and longtime and through trial and error and has perfected his sales technique. In this instance, Ryan should recognize that he came to Dwight for a reason and attempt to learn from his unusual strategies.

Establish time frames. Keep the phrase “real dollars” in their head. And always keep the power in the conversation. That’s why you’re losing them on the cold calls. Cause you say the word please too much.  Michael always said, K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid. Great advice, hurts my feelings every time.

Here we have Dwight giving specific information regarding sales. While every sale is different, there are certain strategies which are pretty universal. Customers do not like to deal with estimations, they want to have a clear idea of the timing for their purchases, as well as actual dollar amounts. These help act as promises and guarantees, which will more likely result in a sale because it offers a reason for a customer to trust the produce. Dwight then explains one of Ryan’s weaknesses and that is he not confident in himself and most likely comes off more pleading than eager. There is truth to the fact that we are quicker to trust someone who is confident in themselves because it implies they have confidence in the product. If the salesman is nervous and weak, is it because they do not trust their product? Finally, at the end of the day you always remember KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). If a product is good enough, then the sales pitch really doesn’t need to be that complicated. At the end of the day we care about price, quality, a bit of variety, and ultimately we want to know why this one is better than all others. He is the top salesman in the company, he knows how to sell.

Not everything’s a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.

In the end, they make it to the sale and in spite of all the prep Ryan isn’t able to make the sale. Not just that, they told him to his face they didn’t care for him and Dwight gives us some important advice. When we fail, we are compelled to dissect the situation and find out where we went wrong. It is true, that sometimes it is our fault and it can be helpful to figure out how we can do better. But sometimes, we really just fail and there wasn’t anything we could do differently. Perhaps you interviewed for a job and you thought you did so well, and then you don’t get the job offer. Maybe you really did interview well; unfortunately, someone else just happened to have interviewed better with more experience. In these instances, it is so crucial to not let that failure bring us down to the point that we give up. We just have to try that much harder until we succeed.

If you thought a joint sales call with Ryan an Dwight was exciting, you have obviously never experienced the Scranton Business Park on Pretzel Day. That is right, today is the annual day where they bring in a warm pretzel bar where everyone is entitled to one free pretzel with the fixings (they offer both sweet and savory). While everyone gets a tad bit excited, this is the day that Stanley truly comes alive because he straight up looks forward to this day all yearlong. Interestingly enough, Michael also seems to take pretzels as seriously as Stanley does so they are buddies in this. Pam does her best to try to get him to be more productive than just waiting in line for a snack. While that didn’t do the trick, his sugar rush from his sweet pretzel with the works certainly did. He was prepared to revamp the office, closed that big sale from earlier, and ultimately passed out at his desk. But he did close that big sale, and I feel that does help show that while Michael is not without his faults, he does have his strong points.

And that is what happened at the office, perhaps not crazy exciting but I feel like we still got to learn a few things. I hope you all remember those words of wisdom from Dwight and will use them in living your life. Whether it is remembering to not be afraid to accept help, or that sometimes you can do nothing wrong and still fail, life can be tricky and some of us have to work hard to succeed. That being said, it is also important to take time to yourself and I hope you all find some rest and relaxation this weekend. And do not forget that it does happen to be Mother’s Day on Sunday, so I will be planning out a brunch that we’ll be hosting for my mom and family.

With that, I’ll be sure to see you all around the Breakroom!

Posted in The Office

The Office: Season 3, Episode 4 “Grief Counseling”

Posted on by Nathan Westerberg

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! If you are like me then this has hopefully been a pretty decent week thus far. Nothing too eventful or stressful, plenty of rain to help nourish the grass, and perhaps had some close encounters with friends in a rousing game of Dungeons and Dragons. This is why our topic for today is so interesting for such a mellow week; we will be discussing the topic of grief counseling! Why did that come up when we talk about happenings at the office? Well, I am glad you asked because you wouldn’t believe what Michael has been up to!

On the date in question, things started off with the norm. With Jim no longer here to entertain us with his “hilarious” pranks towards Dwight, Michael has taken it upon himself to entertain us with his jokes. He built a small wall of boxes of paper to do the ol’ “walking down the stairs” gag and commenced to head on down to the “warehouse” to bring back various items. Dwight seemed to be the only one who really found it entertaining, but I suspect that after his attempted coup last week he is going all out to show his support. But then it was Pam who ultimately turned this gag around on Michael by requesting a fresh cup of coffee from the warehouse. And Michael truly did crawl on his stomach to get a cup of coffee from the kitchen to maintain this joke. It was when Pam kindly requested milk and sugar to go along with it, that I believe Michael decided his jokes need less workout.

I thought this was going to be the highlight of the day, but I was not prepared for what happened next. Evidently, Jan had given Michael a call to let him know that his former boss, Ed Truck, had just died and she wanted him to know. He came out and let us all know and that really should’ve been the end of it. Then Kelly came running up to give him a hug and extend her condolences towards the loss. I could just see the realization dawn on his face because he loves it when people pay attention to him and make a deal about what is going on with him. It was then that he started to go around and talk about the loss, hoping to get more hugs and condolences. This might have been his payback to Pam because naturally, he zeroed in on her first. That really should have been the sign that today was not going to be as straightforward.

Just to put everything in perspective, Jim did give me the lowdown of what they did at Stamford for the day. The biggest event was that Jim was assigned Karen’s project supervisor for the day. It seems she was tasked to complete a pricing list for a client and Josh decided to scold her in front of the rest of the department and then assigned Jim to her. Now I certainly do not want to point fingers, but this move did sound a bit sexist in my opinion. She simply hadn’t had the chance to complete this task so a man needs to be brought in to watch that she gets it done? I don’t think so; she wasn’t able to get it done yet but she will work on that next, it truly is as simple as that. I know Josh seems like this amazing manager but he does sound like the micromanaging type and likes to exert his his authority. Don’t be like this, a leader should be able to inspire their staff, not see them as their automatons there to do as they are told. Thankfully, it sounds like Jim also thought the request was a bit odd and in no way was out to make Karen feel worse than she already did. Actually, they ended up spending most of the day tracking down her favorite chip, Herr’s Salt and Vinegar. I guess they did get the pricing list completed eventually, but not before spending hours looking for this chip all over the city and even into Canada. Jim and Karen sound like they are really getting along these days, which is good since he had left behind his close friends behind when he moved.

Now keeping in mind that this was the biggest issue Stamford had to face, lets regroup with Scranton’s day. Always one ready to throw a wrench into anyone’s day, Creed decided to come talk to Michael about the loss of Ed Truck. Turns out, Creed is far more knowledgeable over the exact details over his cause of death than anyone else. We went towards naturally causes but in reality he was “drunk as a skunk” and drove his car under an eighteen wheeler resulting in him being decapitated. Creed seemed to think that humans can survive for several hours after losing their head, but that is not true. He was thinking of a chicken so please pass along that little tidbit. This was certainly the moment that Michael began to spiral, as these sorts of things often do with people. These moments tend to remind people that not everyone gets to die of old age and it can often be quite sudden with no rhyme or reason. We really start to see Michael latch on to this entire incident, even though he actually was not truly a big fan of Ed when he worked for him. But he now wants to try to honor him with ideas like a company holiday or even a statue of Ed. The statue ultimately became a robot at three-quarters his size with a six foot extension cord. Should a robot ever become sentient, we would want the ability to overpower them. But Michael starts going around the office trying to to get everyone as riled up as he is, including trying to implement the five stages of grief.

Many of us are familiar with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These have held true for many years, but there have been changes and there is actually a seven stage model often used now. These seven stages are: shock and denial, pain and guilt, anger and bargaining, depression, the upward turn, reconstruction and working through, and finally acceptance and hope. These changes are more meant to reflect that while we might all process grief and loss very similarly, there are certainly times where they might vary. Additionally, each individual is different and we might approach a loss differently than someone else so these stages are designed to help walk us through the loss. The goal of these models is also meant to help explain what we are feeling in order to better process our emotions and to ultimately deal with the loss than burying those emotions down. Some companies do offer benefits for employees which can include grief support so it is highly recommend you review what your company can offer. Otherwise, you should find someone to speak to and work with these feelings. Besides such counseling services you might go to your personal therapist, friends or family, or even a spiritual leader. Loss and grief can last with us for many years and no one should feel ashamed for needing outside help in learning to deal with these emotions. For a better breakdown of the seven stages of grief, I highly recommend reading the article with Healthline that I did in how they break down these stages1. While I do believe it is important for us to be reminded that we do need to process grief, in no way should you try to force your own emotions onto another. We process loss differently, and sometimes one person might simply be more emotionally invested than someone else. Michael should’ve actually had a professional come in to speak to everyone, but he the type of leader who believes that he truly can meet any need his staff might require. While there are some leaders who do have the skills to accommodate many roles, they would typically go through specialized training and certification to be able to do so. If you are not qualified to do so, you might want to leave formal grief counseling to an expert.

Michael’s big idea, is to actually take turns discussing instance of personal loss. The game works by tossing a ball between one another and when you have the ball, it is your turn to share your story and you felt during that instance. I have certainly seen this done before, but it is usually for instances like brainstorming sessions. Now, this entire process resulted in some pretty odd stories. First of all, it seems that Dwight originally had a twin he was to be born with. The other twin was actually resorbed by him in the whom, so he now has the strength of a grown man and a small baby. Pam then shared this tragic story about her aunt, who was a talent female boxer. She ended up being injured in a fight and was paralyzed from it, and ultimately she asked her manager to remove her breathing tube so she could die. It was then Ryan who talked about the time he and his family were on safari in Africa when his cousin, Mufasa, was trampled by a herd of wildebeest. He didn’t go into too much detail because he said it would take about an hour and a half to do it justice. Finally, Kevin talked about the time they were hosting a party over the weekend when his uncle Bernie died, and he was forced to pretend like he was still alive. It was about here that Michael realized people were simply using movie plots as their stories. This is also when we start to piece out that the reason he is so upset is because he is seeing himself as Ed Truck. That one day he will die and that no one will miss him or mourn his death. Toby does try to step in to calm him down, and he tries to rationalize how death is a part of life because he had just seen a bird that morning which ran into a window and died. In an effort to make a difference, Michael speeds out to find and attempt to help him.

In the end, Michael is unable to save the bird but does decide he is going to host a funeral for that bird at 4pm. It is quite moving with he explains that this bird died alone and it is important to take the time to honor him. Most of us were sort of on the fence about it but Pam had come around to a lot of us to encourage that we come out and take some time for it. The service was quite sweet because Pam took some time to talk about the bird, although it was apparent she was trying to remind Michael that he is not alone in this world. The service was formally closed out with Dwight’s recording playing, a bit of singing from Pam, and sending the bird out in flames.

I know we like to think of Michael as one who is quick to get emotional or overreact but he did tap into something that many of us think about at one time or another. It is human nature to fear that one day we will die and no one will remember us. We all want to leave our mark in this world and I feel many of us are always trying to find a means to ensure that we are remembered. This might be starting a company, having children, authoring a paper or book, anything which ensures that if we were to die then our name might live on just a little bit longer. It is humbling to think about the fact that one day we will die and eventually no one will remember us or know our name.

Certainly a bit of a downer to leave on but that was what all happened at the office! We began with a stair gag and ended with a funeral for a bird; like Pam pointed out, you never really know what the day will bring here at the office. For those of you who have had suffered grief and loss, do you have any words of wisdom for those dealing with that? Advise on what can actually be done to help process those emotions and ultimately reach a state of acceptance? Here is to having a slightly more positive topic next week but life isn’t always about jokes or silly antics. There are times we do have to deal with the cold reality that we cannot always control everything. One thing we can control, is taking the time to talk to one another around the Breakroom and take a small reprieve from the everyday. Until next time, watch out for me around the Breakroom.

  1. Holland, K. (2023, May 17). The Stages of Grief and What to Expect. Healthline. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-of-grief ↩︎
Posted in The Office

The Office: Season 3, Episode 1 “Gay Witch Hunt”

Posted on by Nathan Westerberg

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the breakroom! We have had a very big day and I have a lot to catch you up on. So why don’t we do a “this could’ve been an email” and skip the pleasantries so we can get to the highlights of the day!

Starting with the biggest change that happened while you were away, we have actually had a couple changes in employees. Jim accepted a promotion at our Stamford branch in Connecticut, so he has officially left Scranton. While I get that he got a better position, it still seemed pretty out-of-the-blue in that it came out almost right after Casino night. Still not sure what happened that night but he seemed pretty odd ever since that night. But with that position open, Michael formally hired Ryan into Jim’s position. He is officially a fulltime employee, no longer just the temp. Now that he sits at the desk clump with Dwight, I believe he is quickly realizing that it was not everything he may have dreamed about. For starters, I saw Dwight was clipping his nails at his desk and I don’t know how Ryan kept his cool. People, do not cut your nails at work because that is just disgusting to stumble across a random nail at work. If you do insist on doing so, do it in private where no one will have any idea that you clipped them at work. But aside from a nail emergency, just wait until you get home.

I’m one of the few people who has kept in contact with Jim (even Pam hasn’t talked to him lately) and it sounds like he enjoying himself. He’s closer to New York City so there is a lot most going on, but he is still trying to figure himself out with his colleagues. I guess he got a nickname on his first day, Big Tuna; he ate a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, so it’s not necessarily the most creative name. But otherwise he is still getting used to the changes but is optimistic about it.

Perhaps the only thing crazier than Jim actually choosing to leave our branch, is the gossip surrounding Pam and Roy. Only days before the wedding, she got cold feet and called off their wedding! No one seems to know what happened, because this also seems to have come out of left field. They were together since high school and Pam finally got Roy to commit to a date so it is pretty wild this happened the way it did. One rumor was that Pam supposedly had feelings for someone else, but I haven’t been able to confirm anything. She seems to be doing okay, considering the circumstances. She got her own apartment, is currently taking art classes to work on her craft, and because they had to pay for the wedding food she has lunch for the next five weeks already planned. Roy is taking it a bit harder, he actually went on a bit of a bender and was arrested following the break up. He taking care of himself more but he is determined to try to win Pam back. Personally, I always thought they got caught up in that “high school sweethearts” scenario and that it is healthier to get out there to meet other people. It really would help put things into perspective and allow them to decide what they want for the future.

Now that you’re all caught up with what happened while you were out, time to tell you what actually happened today. Well, it started off with Michael getting a scolding by Toby (personally he could’ve been more serious) because he had called Oscar “faggy.” Evidently, the scenario was he called Oscar this because he said he liked Shakespeare In Love more than Die Hard. For those who do not understand, you should never be referring to anyone as “faggy” and this also falls under the umbrella of words like “fag”, “faggot”, “homo”, or the derogatory variation of “gay.” All of these words, and more, fall into the realm of homophobic language and is considered very serious and can be considered hate speech. As a gay man, I can tell you that these terms are nothing new because I believe I first was called these when I was 11 or 12. I was tempted to find some sort of article or piece of information but no, I do not feel that preventing bigotry from entering the workplace really needs any sort of explanation. There really is no reason to bring words which are derogatory terms for people in general but than includes races, sexual orientations, and identities. My mom taught me as child to remember Thumper from Bambi in that he was taught “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” If a child can learn to respect people, an adult can learn to do so, too. So if you feel the need to say “faggy,” perhaps you should just shut it.

Now all Toby needed to do was reprimand Michael about using language like this, but he also felt the need to let him know that the reason Oscar is so offended is because he truly is gay. Eventually Michael figures out that Toby isn’t making a joke, and his mind is completely blown. Evidently, he thinks it is okay to call people “faggy” as long as they are not gay. Looping back above, you are still making a comment that homosexuality is something that can be insulted and made fun of. Just. Shut. It. Michael perhaps should have invited Oscar into his office and had a private conversation to apologize. Instead, he decided to have this conversation right near the accounting desk so Angela and Kevin were able to hear the entire thing and they very quickly figured out what was going on. And with that, Oscar is formally outted to the office.

This gets back to Jan at corporate and she even drove all the way down to explain the severity of this with Michael. It went about as well as expected. As I mentioned, I am a gay man so I feel lucky in that I can offer an “expert opinion” on these facts. For those who are unfamiliar, “coming out” refers to the act of an individual formally disclosing their sexual orientation as something other than heterosexuality. To be “outted” instead refers to when someone else choose to disclose this information publicly. In this scenario, Michael let it be known to others in the office that Oscar was gay, before he could tell them himself. That being said, Toby was the one who told Michael. I still do not know why Toby thought he could trust Michael, and I really do believe it was truly necessary. I firmly believe and wish that every person can find the strength to come out. But it really is an important moment for them and being forced out never really works out well. While some of us are lucky to find support, there are plenty of people who might be kicked out by their parents, have to endure further bullying at their school, or even be sent to a conversion camp, or similar. Our preferences are nothing to be ashamed about, and cannot be changed simply because you tell us to “pray the gay away.” Too many members of the GLBTAQI2S+ community suffer depression because of this lack of support and it is a travesty that in 2024 these things still happen. And this isn’t just kids in school, but adults also feel the need to treat their colleagues terribly just because they do not “believe” in homosexuality. For the record, these people can be called bigots. No need to play around with words because if someone is treating other people terribly just because they might be gay, transgendered, or even have a different race than their own, please call them out. And they should be reported as a homophobe, racist, bigot, etcetera. To often, people get away with their actions but we need to find our voices and reach out to the appropriate parties at our place of business to ensure these people are reported.

So Jan has tasked Michael with making this situation right, and I have to call out Jan because I do not know why she thought he could fix this. Michael takes us through the history of the word “gay” because it used to mean happy, and then it meant lame, and now it means homosexuality. Well, Oscar is livid having to be forced to come out at work and then put up with Michael’s stupidity as well as Angela’s homophobic comments. He is completely ready to quit because he doesn’t want to stay at a company that treats their employees like this. Michael’s solution is to embrace him, and force a kiss upon him. For the record, all we’ve ever wanted was simple equality and to be treated like everyone else.

The day sort of concludes from that; Oscar is officially out for the next three months for paid vacation. All he had to do was agree not to sue Dunder Mifflin and he gets a company car as well as this paid vacation (he’s going to Europe). Word got back to Jim in Stamford and he arranged for a delivery for Dwight of “Gaydar” be made. It was actually a metal detector, although I’m not sure if he ever figured this out. For the record, “gaydar” refers to that six sense of being able to tell if someone is gay or straight. On a bit of happier news, Phyllis announced she is engaged to Bob Vance. Congratulations Phyllis!

So that was what happened today! A lot of big changes, all leading up to some craziness in the office which concluded with Oscar being forced out of the closet. So what have we learned today? I think it can be summed up as: don’t be a bigot, bigots suck. As for those people who “just don’t get it” I want to reiterate that being gay (or any part of the community) really has no bearing on your life. We do not take away from your life or make your marriage any less special. If you don’t like it, just shut it.

For those out there currently questioning your sexuality, there are many resources out there and I hope you are able to find support. But please know that you are not alone; even if you do not have the support at home, you have support in this world. More than anything I feel the need to bring up that if any of you feel depressed and even suicidal because of your feelings, please consider reaching out to The Trevor Project at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/. You can message them, text them, or even give them a call 24/7. I first put their number in my phone when I was 15, and while it never came to the point that I needed to call them, I had it just in case. Being part of the GLBTAQI2S+ community is never a bad thing, and is never a reason to face discrimination in any parts of your life. Stand up for yourself and please find support; as someone who has routinely been the “token gay” wherever I went, you are absolutely worth it.

I would love to hear from any of my fellow members of the community, so please reach out in the comments! Even better, if you have any resources for readers who are struggling with discrimination or simply figuring themselves out, please share. I often see online where people ask why our community is always so quick to voice our support for any actor, athlete, or cultural icon becomes associated with the LBGT+. Simply put, we support each other so innately because we know what it is like for no one else to. We lift each other up because we know what it is like to feel weighed down and alone. If I can offer any other advice to anyone who is trying to figure out what they can do for a friend or colleague who just came out, do not ever let them feel less than a person.

I hope you all have a great Friday, please feel free to say hi to me around the breakroom, and lets try to get out there and make the world just a little bit better.