The Office - Jackson Lewis

The Next Day at...

The Office

IN THIS ISSUE:

A Description of all relevant characters.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

MARCH 28, 2008

This issue is a bit lengthy as we introduce our cast of characters. However, as all those with HR responsibilities know, background information is critical.

Our Main Characters

NEXT WEEK:

A Summary of the season to date.

Michael Scott: Michael is the kind-hearted Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton. Born and raised in Scranton, he has no prospect of advancing or moving elsewhere. Michael thinks of himself as a friend first, boss second and "probably an entertainer/comedian third". In his constant search for friendship and approval, Michael can be socially awkward. Often entirely inept and insensitive to even basic HR issues, Michael has a knack for coming through when it counts, thus keeping his job safe for now.

Dwight K. Schrute: Dwight is the eccentric Assistant to the Regional Manager (though he considers himself the Assistant Regional Manager). Dwight is passionate about paper, and is one of Scranton's top salesmen. He lives on a beet farm and is a voluntary Sherriff's Deputy on the weekends. Despite his know-it-all mentality, Dwight is actually na?ve and often easily tormented by co-worker Jim Halpert. For some time, Dwight was romantically linked to co-worker Angela Martin. However, that relationship came to an abrupt end when he killed her cat.

Jim Halpert: Jim is a young, intelligent salesman who seems capable of bigger things, and yet stuck in his Dunder Mifflin tracks. Jim has always had feelings for Pam, the office secretary, his perfect match. However, for two seasons Pam was engaged to another man. When Jim laid his feelings on the line, Pam rejected him, prompting his transfer to the Stamford branch. After settling into his new life, the Stamford branch was shut down, and he was forced to move back to Scranton ? where a now single Pam awaited. After some time, the inevitable happened and they began dating BUT WITHOUT RUINING THE SHOW.

Pam Beesly: Pam is the office secretary. Keenly aware of Michael's shortcomings, she often looks after him though he may not know it. For a long time, she was engaged to Roy, a Dunder Mifflin Warehouse worker. All the while though, she felt a deep connection to Jim. When she broke off her engagement with Roy, she was able to explore her own interests, including art and graphic design, before she began dating Jim.

The Supporting Cast

Jan Levinson: Michael's former boss at Corporate. A tryst with Michael turned into a full blown relationship, requiring the two to file a "love contract" with the Company before Jan lost her job due to increasingly erratic behavior. After filing a failed sex harassment suit, Jan moved into Michael's condo, where she spends most days watching TV in her pajamas.

Ryan Howard: Once a wet behind the ears "temp" in Scranton, Ryan completed his MBA and shot through the ranks at Dunder Mifflin to replace Jan as Michael's boss at Corporate. He recently introduced "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" a web-based evolution of the Company that strikes fear into the hearts of old-school salesmen like Michael and Dwight.

Continued on page 2...

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THE NEXT DAY AT... THE OFFICE

The Supporting Cast (continued from page 1)

Andy Bernard: Andy is a salesman. He is the office kiss up ? constantly complimenting Michael or anyone else he perceives to have authority. Andy recently underwent anger management training after an Office outburst. He likes to remind everyone that he went to Cornell, where he sang in the a cappella group, "Here Comes Treble."

Stanley Hudson: Stanley Hudson is another sales representative. As one of the only African Americans in the Office, Stanley is often subjected to inappropriate remarks by Michael. While he clearly does not enjoy his job, Stanley is there for one reason and one reason only: to earn a living.

Phyllis Lapin: Phyllis is the final sales representative in Scranton. She has known Michael since high school. It would be a healthy competition to determine who is less bright ? Michael or Phyllis. She recently married Bob Vance, of Vance Refrigeration.

Angela Martin: Angela is an accountant. To say she is merely uptight would kind. She finds the clothes at Baby Gap are often too flashy to

give as gifts, so she is forced to shop at the American Girl store, where she buys clothes designed for large colonial dolls. She was romantically involved with Dwight (though few in the office knew about it), but that ended when Dwight euthanized her cat Sprinkles by putting it in her freezer.

Oscar Martinez: Oscar is another accountant. After being involuntarily "outed" by Michael, Oscar apparently threatened to sue the Company. The lawsuit never materialized, as the Company gave him some paid vacation and a Company vehicle in exchange for a release.

Kevin Malone: Kevin is also an accountant. He is perhaps best known as the drummer and lead singer of his band "Scrantonicity." They have never actually played in public, narrowly missing their big break when the wedding between Pam and Roy (their first gig) was canceled.

Toby Flenderson: Toby is the Director of HR. His soft spoken (and legally compliant) approach is all but obliterated by Michael who derisively calls

him the "fun-police" and once proclaimed, "Toby Flenderson is everything that is wrong with the paper industry."

Kelly Kapoor: Kelly is a customer service rep. She is quite talkative ? she drives her coworkers crazy covering such topics as dating and celebrity gossip. She used to be romantically involved with Ryan, but that ended when Ryan had the opportunity to move on to bigger and better things (at Dunder Mifflin, of course).

Meredith Palmer: Meredith works in the purchasing department. She seems to have a bit of an alcohol problem, always sneaking in extra drinks at Company functions. Meredith suffered a serious injury when run over in the parking lot by none other than Michael Scott.

Creed Bratton: Creed "works" in quality assurance. While it's not clear exactly what he does, one thing is clear: he will do whatever he must to survive including lying and stealing. A product of the 60s, Creed is the oldest employee at the Office, and is afraid of being "phased out."

Well, there you have it, the ensemble which will spur us all on to new heights of HR compliance. Next week we will send out a brief update covering recent happenings on the show so we will all be ready to join this illustrious crew in full swing for their April 10th premier.

IN THIS ISSUE:

A recap of season four thus far

Trivia

NEXT WEEK:

A review of the April 10th episode

The Next Day at...

The Office

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2

APRIL 7, 2008

Season Four So Far...

Season Four opened with a bang back in September as Michael ran over Meredith in the Company parking lot. The entire crew visited Meredith in the Hospital. Dwight thought it might be appropriate to pull the plug on her (despite only suffering pelvic injuries) because the amount of electricity which could be saved by killing her would power a small fan for two days.

We also learned that Ryan (a temp for several seasons in the Scranton office) has been promoted to Corporate and now is Michael's boss. Michael handled this typically well stating that Ryan is simply a "little fish in a big pond whereas back in Scranton, I am still top dog in a fairly large pond. So who is the real boss ? the dog or a fish?"

The opening episode also saw Pam and Jim confronted with footage of their aban-

doning a Dunder Mifflin and more disconsolate from

charity run and heading off being dumped by Angela.

together in one vehicle You may recall that Dwight

clearly kissing before they killed Angela's cat Sprinkles.

drive away. They instantly Sprinkles was beginning to

admitted to their now con- get old. Rather than let her

summated relationship.

age gracefully, Dwight, while

babysitting for Sprinkles,

Other major developments decided it would be more

in Season Four include humane to place Sprinkles in

Ryan's introduction of the the freezer where she

website Dunder Mifflin Infinclawed apart Angela's frozen

ity. Believing he is a cool as food before dying an oblivi-

his new title, he brought ously horrible death. Need-

Pam into the creation of the less to say, Angela has not

website graphics to possibly forgiven Dwight. Making

ignite a romance with her. matters worse, Angela has

Pam shut Ryan down saying caught the eye of Andy who

"I am dating Jim." This has

has been mak-

been a run-

ing a serious

ning gag as

"play" for her,

Ryan has "hit"

including an

on two other

office serenade

women in the

with two friends

show in prior It seems that Andy has

seasons and on convinced Angela to

joining him over a speaker-

each occasion "Take a Chance" on him phone to sing

was told that

ABBA's "Take A Chance On

they were already dating Me." Remarkably, Angela

Jim. seemed impressed.

Dwight has become more

Continued on Page 2...

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THE NEXT DAY AT THE OFFICE

Season Four So Far... (continued from page 1)

Creed, ever aware of his own age and overly concerned with Ryan's youth as the new Corporate executive, has lobbied for "Red Bull" to be put into the vending machine and has taken to using such terms as "later skater" to appear hip.

One other major theme of the Season has been Jan's departure from Dunder Mifflin and her torrid affair with Michael culminating in a breast augmentation (for Jan ? not Michael) and moving in with him. Michael, ever the chivalristic

boyfriend, has been running up expenses far in excess of his pay grade to maintain appearances. He is on the verge of bankruptcy but cannot admit this to Jan.

As a sign of her instability, Jan pursued a sexual harassment lawsuit against Dunder Mifflin. In part, she alleged Michael Scott was the harasser. At his deposition, and under pressure to "do the right thing" by corporate executives, Michael confessed to sleeping with Jan and passing around a topless photo

of her among co-workers. Of course, the case fell completely apart at that juncture but Michael kept his job due to his unfaltering loyalty to Dunder Mifflin

If you had any difficulty following the above summary, don't worry. This show is not linear in nature and when joining the new shows on Thursday April 10th at 9 pm on NBC, you will find yourself quickly at home after just one episode.

Trivia

This week we bring you the first installment of trivia! While only pride is at stake, we hope you enjoy!

Question: What is the name of the bar that the co-workers often visit?

Answer: Pour Richard's

IN THIS ISSUE:

A recap of "Dinner Party" from Thursday, April 10.

Trivia

NEXT WEEK:

A review of the April 17th episode

The Next Day at...

The Office

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

APRIL 11, 2008

Dinner Party

Well, most of you must have been struck by the irony that virtually all of last night's episode of The Office took place outside the office. Still, a number of legal, human resource and office politics issues emerged.

Let's start with the office politics and Michael's selection process for invitees to his dinner party. Michael has always viewed himself as wanting to be part of the "in-crowd" (his friendship with Dwight notwithstanding) and thus consistently aligns himself with Jim and Pam. While certainly no one (other than Dwight) actually wanted to be invited to Michael and Jan's for dinner, Phyllis, Stanley, Creed and the rest of the excluded Scranton crew perhaps felt left out. On the flip side, Jim and Pam appeared tortured by the invite and would have preferred to be part of the "out-crowd."

On the legal front, since Jim, Pam, Angela and Andy were obviously "compelled" to attend the dinner, it could be viewed as a Dunder Mifflin sponsored event. Fortunately, no one became overly drunk and had an accident on the way home (despite the obvious need to consume mass quantities of wine to endure the ongoing soap opera that is Michael Scott and Jan's relationship).

Also of concern, there were a number of references throughout the show regarding Michael's alleged relationship with Pam. Though Pam adamantly denied this by registering complete disgust at the thought of it (Jan was not offended), Michael's false references to an office romance with Pam are nonetheless in violation of the sexual harassment policy.

For those of you who have been watching over the past year, it might have occurred to you that Michael could have filed a sexual harassment suit against Jan when she was his boss. Of course, the fact that he is still living with her is good and strong evidence that the affair has always been "voluntary and welcome." However, if he were to break it off right now, he might have a fair argument that Jan has a pattern or practice of sexually harassing subordinates. One couldn't help but notice Jan's rather dream-like trance while gyrating to the music recorded by Hunter, her former assistant. A few interrogatories and a quick deposition would likely reveal Jan's history of sexual relations with subordinates at Dunder Mifflin.

Well, that is about it for last night's episode ? admittedly a tough one for those new to the show. Sources tell me that we will be returning back into the Scranton Branch office next week which should provide more fertile ground for identifying issues.

Trivia

If you've read the first few issues of "The Next Day at the Office," this should be an easy one!

Question: What was the name of Andy Bernard's college a cappella group?

Answer: Here Comes Treble

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