An Ode to Michael Scott

With those words, America was introduced to Michael Gary Scott. For seven seasons, the NBC sitcom The Office followed the trials and tribulations of the regional manager while making Michael both the epitome of business ineptitude and a truly iconic character in the process. From the small Pennsylvania town of Scranton, the exploits of Michael Scott and the equally small Dunder Mifflin Paper Company personified the struggles of every day Americans who likewise work in a white collar office environment. Who hasn’t, after all, labored alongside the bevy of supporting characters on The Office, or suffered under a manager that was unfit for the position?

Michael Scott may have been an extreme exaggeration brought to life in order to make viewers laugh, but he was identifiable nonetheless. The time period in which The Office aired was witness to an upheaval in both the financial and economic fabric of the nation in ways seldom seen in the past. Proper behavior and etiquette within the workplace has been a topic of debate for decades, meanwhile, but The Office brought the subject matter to the forefront in humorous yet recognizable ways. As the economy crashed and millions of Americans lost their jobs and companies struggled to stay afloat in the aftermath, Dunder Mifflin suffered through its own round of layoffs, downsizing, consolidations, stock market plunges and corporate takeovers. It appeared that as the country went, so too did The Office—and at the forefront of it all was Michael Scott.

It would be easy to dismiss Michael as merely an insensitive, uncaring buffoon. In the pilot episode of The Office, for instance, he reduces receptionist Pam Beesly to tears when he jokingly tells her that she was being fired for stealing paper clips and post-it notes. In reality, however, Michael Scott was just as clueless as anyone else in regards to life in the Twenty First Century. Cultural diversity, sexual sensitivity, health care cuts, e-mail surveillance, performance reviews, drug testing, conflict resolution, safety training, business ethics and even casual Fridays were more than “politically correct” buzz words or the latest management trends on The Office but the premise for numerous episodes as well. Just like the average American worker trying to make sense out of an ever changing environment, the same held true for Michael Scott as he inevitably missed the point and put his own misguided spin on the latest directives from corporate.

As much as Michael Scott got wrong, however, he also got a number of things right. In the season two episode “Valentine’s Day,” for instance, Michael and a small handful of other managers are summoned to New York City to make presentations on the financial viability of their offices. Instead of going straight to Power Point or passing out documents filled with charts and bottom lines, he plays a homemade video entitled “The Faces of Scranton” set to U2’s “With or Without You.” As the images of various staff members fill the screen, Michael asks, “What is a business? Is it a collection of numbers and sales reports? Sure. But as you know, it is more than that.”

Corporate may not have been impressed with the presentation, caring only about the charts and bottom lines that were subsequently passed out afterwards, but the sentiment was not lost on the majority of viewers who watched the episode.

Whether by luck, accident or a business savvy that only surfaced during desperate moments, Michael Scott was able to outlast the downsizing, latest technological advances and even the corporate establishment of Dunder Mifflin. Up-and-coming Stamford manager Josh Porter, for instance, jumped ship to a competitor and thus enabled the Scranton branch to remain operational. Supervisor Jan Levinson was fired by CFO David Wallace and her replacement, former temp Ryan Howard, became the victim of a sales inflation scam designed to prove the viability of his Dunder Mifflin Infinity website. Even David Wallace fell by the wayside when the struggling paper company was taken over by printer manufacturer Sabre. Through it all, Michael not only survived but stood by his conviction that it was people that were the heart of any business, not technology or financial degrees.

“A good manager doesn’t fire people,” he remarks during season three of The Office. “He hires and inspires people. And people will never go out of business.”

Michael Scott’s personification of the times went beyond the business world, however. When Dwight Schrute asks Ryan Howard what Michael Scott’s biggest fear is, Ryan replies, “Loneliness.” Although Dwight insists that the answer is wrong—“He’s not afraid of anything,” Dwight corrects, “also, I would have accepted snakes”—the response not only sums up the persona of Michael Scott but quite possibly each and every one of us as well.

In his own quest to find love and affection, the Scranton branch manager of Dunder Mifflin made numerous missteps through the years. Michael’s relationship with his former boss Jan Levinson was one of manipulation and abuse, for instance, as Jan forced her live-in companion to sleep on a bench at the base of their bed and pushed the boundaries of mutual consent. “Jan and I have a safe word in case things go too far,” Michael explained at the time. “Foliage. And if one of us says that word, the other one has to stop. Although last time, she pretended she didn’t hear me.”

Michael Scott’s romance with real estate agent Carol Stills, meanwhile, was the polar opposite. In varying acts of desperation to secure companionship, Michael not only proposed to Carol after a mere nine dates—and in a very public manner, to make matters worse—but he superimposed his face over that of her ex-husband on an old vacation photo and used it on Christmas cards. Suffice it say, the relationship did not last much longer.

When new human resources representative Holly Flax arrives in Scranton at the end of season three, salesman Jim Halpert is quick to offer Michael Scott advice on how to properly interact with her. “You can think that, but you don’t say that out loud,” Jim tells his boss when Michael insists that he is in love with Holly. “You can court her as you get to know her. The office is a great place for that.”

Ironically enough, Michael follows the directive and eventually he and Holly begin dating in a very genuine manner. Unfortunately company policy dictated that the relationship was not conducive to a corporate environment and Holly is soon transferred to a different branch. Astute fans of The Office quickly realized nonetheless that if there ever was a true love for Michael Scott, that person was Holly Flax. At the start of the show’s seventh season, Holly was thus brought back to Scranton and the relationship between the two soul mates was rekindled.

Love won out for Michael Scott in the end, even if it meant the end of Michael Scott on The Office. The two became engaged during the episode “Garage Sale,” and along with that announcement came the proclamation that both Michael and Holly would be moving to Colorado so that the bride-to-be could be closer to her parents.

Can The Office still be The Office without Michael Scott? Although the series is truly an ensemble piece with each cast member providing numerous laugh-out-loud moments, an equal amount of the comedy has also centered on Michael Scott. He has been the maestro of the series, the conductor who set the pace and led the action even when he was not necessarily at the forefront.

That is not to say that The Office cannot continue or survive without him. But even with the rest of the staff still employed at Dunder Mifflin, the series will be a different show without Michael as their manager. It may turn out to be just as good, relevant and funny, but it will never be the same. Michael Scott was one of a kind.

At least, that’s what she said.

Anthony Letizia (March 30, 2011)

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