Although the The Office is a television sitcom best remembered as a comedy classic, it can also be seen as the right social tonic for the right cultural times. The years that The Office was originally broadcast witnessed an economic upheaval second to only the Great Depression, with an increase in unemployment, consolidation of industries, and outright failure of many companies to stay afloat.
From its very inception, The Office did not shy away from the realities of an unstable economy. The smaller Dunder Mifflin had taken its fair share of “hits” from larger office supply chains like Staples before the series even began, and the company mantra of “the big guys can’t provide the same level of customer service” was no doubt the belief of other small businesses that couldn’t compete against the cheaper and larger mega-stores.
In the pilot episode, meanwhile, corporate manager Jan Levinson informs regional manager Michael Scott that Dunder Mifflin can no longer afford branches in both Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Stamford, Connecticut, making downsizing inevitable. The threat continues to hang over the heads of the employees in Scranton well into the series’ second season until Scott is finally forced to lay off one of his staff members in the episode “Halloween.”
Michael Scott’s first inclination is to choose the least productive employee. In reality, however, he does not know his staff well enough to make such a determination. “It’s not a popularity contest,” he later says, trying to find a different approach to make the decision. “Although it does make sense to fire the least popular because it has the least effect on morale.”
He then chooses an older employee, Creed Bratton, only to be talked out of it. “Fire someone else,” Creed tells him. “Fire Devon. He’s terrible. I am so much better at my job than Devon.” In the end, Michael indeed fires Devon by simply reciting such platitudes as “business downturn and cutbacks.”
Corporate downsizing reared its ugly head once again in season three when management follows through on its threat of shutting down the Scranton branch and consolidating it with Stamford. But while Michael Scott may be a bad boss because of his inability to properly manage, the highly effective Josh Porter turns out to be an even worse manager when he uses the consolidation to leverage a better job at a national rival, leaving the employees under his care twisting in the wind. With no choice but to reverse course, corporate decides to shut down Stamford and consolidate that branch into Scranton instead.
The ironic thing is that despite all this upheaval and Michael Scott’s ineffectiveness, the Scranton branch suddenly becomes successful. While this may merely be an example of dumb luck or a situation of an incompetent boss benefiting from the hard work of his employees, it is also due to Scott being an excellent salesman. In fact, it was his success at sales that led to his promotion as manager.
In season two, Scott lands a major client – Lackawanna County, where Scranton resides – by following a strategy of schmoozing rather than the direct approach of corporate boss Jan Levinson. From changing the location of the business meeting from the Radisson to Chili’s and ordering Awesome Blossoms and Baby-Back Ribs, from telling questionable jokes to buying rounds of drinks, Michael bonds with the county manager first before making his successful sales pitch.
Season five of The Office provides additional examples of Michael Scott being a successful manager despite an inability to do the actual job. In the episode “The Duel,” Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace summons him to corporate. “Utica, Albany, all the other branches are struggling but your branch is reporting strong numbers,” he tells Scott. “What are you doing right?”
Even Michael Scott doesn’t know the answer to the question, offering such insignificant observations as, “Don’t ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone, for any reason, ever,” and, “Could we have it three degrees cooler in here, I always think better when it’s cooler.”
Later in the season he borrows a technique from Willie Wonka by placing gold tickets into cases of Dunder Mifflin paper offering a ten-percent discount on total orders. At first the plan backfires when the Scranton branch’s largest customer, Pennsylvania Blue Cross, discovers all the gold tickets in their most recent shipment but the loss of revenue is offset when Blue Cross decides to make Dunder Mifflin their exclusive supplier because of the sales promotion.
Michael Scott also pursued the personal dream of many Americans when he resigns from Dunder Mifflin and starts up a rival paper supplier. Who hasn’t, after all, believed that they could do a better job than the company they worked for? Even the AMC drama Mad Men played upon that theme when main character Don Draper led a revolt and convinced many of his co-workers to join him in launching a new advertising company.
But there was a different economy in the 1960s than in 2009, and Michael Scott is only able to convince receptionist Pam Beesly to join him at the Michael Scott Paper Company. Scott initially undercuts Dunder Mifflin’s prices and steals a large portion of his former employer’s business but begins losing money in the process. The current economic environment benefits him, however, when David Wallace offers to buy out the company at a relatively cheap price in a scene where Michael Scott proves that he has a measure of business acumen after all.
“Your company is losing clients left and right,” he tells Wallace during the negotiations. “You have a stockholder meeting coming up and you are going to have to explain to them why your most profitable branch is bleeding. So they may be looking for a little change in the CFO. So I don’t think I need to wait out Dunder Mifflin, I think I just have to wait out you.” In the end, Michael Scott is able to strong-arm a much better deal.
From layoffs to office consolidations, poor management decisions, and inefficient higher-ups benefiting from the efforts of their employees, to even starting one’s own company and the difficulties of finding success, The Office never shied away from economic realities. While the television comedy was able to do so in a manner that made viewers laugh, it also offered a meaningful and relevant commentary on its times – both the good as well as bad.
Anthony Letizia