# Jim from the TV show The Office seems, out of context, like a huge workplace bully **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730 "2018-06-09T00:48:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/21 "2018-06-11T09:54:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Jim also messed with Andy Bernard’s head, to the point where Andy had a meltdown that got him enrolled in a weeks-long anger management course. Andy was a grade-A jerk at that time, going to ridiculous lengths trying to butter Michael up and gain power. He admitted as much in a talking-head moment just after the transfers to Scranton. He also was getting on everyone’s nerves with his (admittedly well-done) music. > [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Somebody tell me you didn’t laugh when Jim kept gradually adding coins to Dwight’s phone and then removed them all at once after Dwight had accustomed himself to the heavier weight. That was inspired. Did Jim also move Dwight’s desk a fraction of an inch per day closer to a wall? If not, I may be remembering a real-life incident from years before. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/22 "2018-06-11T14:55:18Z")
I recently watched the series for the first time. My take is: [ul] [li]Jim is often jerkish.[/li][li]So is most everyone else on the show.[/li][li]So are many/most protagonists on sitcoms (and dramas).[/li][li]Part of what made the original The Office such good television (going on a distant memory here) was that jerkish behavior never felt apologized for by the show. The [U.S.] Office asks us to excuse bad behavior because the characters are so cute, which does get old after a while.[/li][li]This show (like many) went on for a few too many years beyond the ability of its writers to give us interesting forward momentum in plot or character. So we get episode after episode where characters walk in place, digging themselves deeper and ever-more predictably into their grooves.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/23 "2018-06-11T15:12:07Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > …Did Jim also move Dwight’s desk a fraction of an inch per day closer to a wall? If not, I may be remembering a real-life incident from years before. Yes, Jim admitted to doing that in his “cage match” meeting with Michael and Dwight. My favorite _Office_ bit - the sales call to Mr. Buttlicker: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHrN5Mf5sgo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHrN5Mf5sgo) ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/24 "2018-06-11T16:28:54Z")
My favorite prank is when Jim Christmas-wrapped Dwight’s desk, chair and every individual item on his desk… with a surprise ending. So ingenious! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNZ_vHqFkdA) ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/25 "2018-06-11T16:37:47Z")
I agree with the OP. Jim reminds me a lot of the guys I went to high school with. “Look at me, being so clever by pulling the same old ‘stapler in a jello mold’ gag and never getting reprimanded for it.” This shtick gets old really fast to me. You ain’t funny, you ain’t cute, and you don’t score charm points for not taking your job or your co-workers seriously. Don’t get me wrong, The Office has me in stitches. But both Pam and Jim would annoy the crap out of me if I worked there. Probably because they try to be funny, while everyone else (including Michael in his dumb narcissistic way) are funny just by being their goofy selves. I don’t know if Dwight is autistic or not, but he’s socially awkward and hyperliteral. It doesn’t speak well of Jim that he uses these weaknesses against Dwight for office laughs, even if Dwight is overcompetitive and obnoxious in his own way. No one in the office sees Dwight as anything except a joke already, so Jim just comes across as a bully. It’s not even obvious to me whether anyone except Pam finds a whole lot of humor of Jim’s pranks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/26 "2018-06-11T16:55:35Z")
Wow, seriously? If anyone was a bully in that office, it was clearly Dwight, who is a textbook example of someone abusing what little, questionable authority they had at every possible opportunity. Whatever Jim ever did to him was well deserved and probably much too light. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/27 "2018-06-11T17:00:36Z")
[quote=“JcWoman, post:24, topic:815730”] My favorite prank is when Jim Christmas-wrapped Dwight’s desk, chair and every individual item on his desk… with a surprise ending. So ingenious! [/QUOTE] Funny, yes, but, to be honest, that sort of thing annoys me for the same reason that sitcom Halloween costumes annoy me. That sort of prank is probably easy, when you have access to a television studio production department but is hard to imagine an individual doing on his own. Meanwhile sitcoms will show someone in a Halloween costume, even one that someone is supposed to have thrown together at the last minute and with no money, but clearly looks like the product of a studio costume and makeup department. (This particularly annoyed me as a child because I couldn’t throw together anything that nice.) ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/28 "2018-06-11T19:46:29Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Wow, seriously? If anyone was a bully in that office, it was clearly Dwight, who is a textbook example of someone abusing what little, questionable authority they had at every possible opportunity. Whatever Jim ever did to him was well deserved and probably much too light. Eh, two wrongs don’t make a right, though. Dwight doesn’t have enough authority or respect to be a real bully, and everyone knows it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/29 "2018-06-11T20:13:02Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Dwight doesn’t have enough authority or respect to be a real bully, and everyone knows it. So what? The fact that Dwight has no real authority does nothing to prevent him from being a jerk who treats everyone in that office, except for Michael, with disrespect and outright contempt, basically with impunity because Michael is too inept and clueless to discipline Dwight, Toby is beaten down and checked out and literally just files away complaints. What else is Jim to do? Everyone else just takes it. Dwight is getting off quite easy with just childish pranks. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/30 "2018-06-11T20:36:23Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Eh, two wrongs don’t make a right, though. Dwight doesn’t have enough authority or respect to be a real bully, and everyone knows it. Some things Dwight has done: 1. Gave Stanley a heart attack by setting a fire 2. Left Phyllis on her own miles away from the office to walk back 3. Merciless mocked Pam for failing art school 4. Bugged his manager (after setting him up to be fired) ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/31 "2018-06-11T20:44:06Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > So what? The fact that Dwight has no real authority does nothing to prevent him from being a jerk who treats everyone in that office, except for Michael, with disrespect and outright contempt, basically with impunity because Michael is too inept and clueless to discipline Dwight, Toby is beaten down and checked out and literally just files away complaints. \*\*What else is Jim to do? \*\*Everyone else just takes it. Dwight is getting off quite easy with just childish pranks. In the real world, such childish pranks would be disruptive to the entire office. What does, for instance, moving someone’s desk into the restroom accomplish? Not only is Dwight still going to be obnoxious Dwight, but now everyone who needs to take a dump has to deal with obnoxious Dwight sitting in there. And if not that, now everyone is held hostage to watching Dwight flip out once again over having his stuff messed with. The first time a stunt like this is pulled, I could see laughing about it. Because not after the 500th time. Then I’m like duuuude, stahp. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/32 "2018-06-11T20:57:41Z")
Again, so what? Fuck Dwight! Bottom line is that Jim never did anything to Dwight totally unprovoked, and never actually hurts him, whereas Dwight is _constantly_ hurting _everyone_ in that office for nothing but his own misguided, self-serving reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/33 "2018-06-11T21:04:47Z")
I never got the impression that we were supposed to think anybody on the show was actually ‘the good guy’, the fact that they’re all jerks in their own way is part of the humor. And pretty realistic for dysfunctional offices, where you start to think that the crazy behaviors you’re used to are the way every office actually works. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/34 "2018-06-11T23:25:25Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Again, so what? I already explained the so what. If you still don’t get it, try that shit out on the job and see where how popular it makes you. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/35 "2018-06-12T00:35:59Z")
Um, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but despite its presentation, _The Office_ is not a documentary, it’s a fictional television show. Lighten up, Francis! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/36 "2018-06-12T00:39:23Z")
Not a bully, but the most odious character in The Office was Todd Packer. A real slimeball. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/37 "2018-06-12T04:27:04Z")
One might want to remember an UK series is six 35 minute episodes. They are _all_ written before production, or even pre-production begins. A US season is twenty two 21 minute episodes. Maybe 6 or 7 scripts are completed when production begins. Writers are still typing away. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/38 "2018-06-12T18:54:26Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > In the real world, such childish pranks would be disruptive to the entire office. What does, for instance, moving someone’s desk into the restroom accomplish? Not only is Dwight still going to be obnoxious Dwight, but now everyone who needs to take a dump has to deal with obnoxious Dwight sitting in there. And if not that, now everyone is held hostage to watching Dwight flip out once again over having his stuff messed with. > > The first time a stunt like this is pulled, I could see laughing about it. Because not after the 500th time. Then I’m like duuuude, stahp. Oh agreed. I enjoy the heck out of the show. I’d not watched it when it was on, but during The Great Recovery Period™ ( Feb. 9th- March 31 +/- ), I watched a lot of television. Figured hey, try The Office. I was frequently in tears laughing. It’s a sit-com. Not The American Office on PBS. Please. In real life? Even in the years when it was first on week to week, the “pranks” would have landed Jim in H.R. boiling water the first time, if not terminated. For cause. I actually think that there’s a level of vulnerability and fear that John Krasinski brings that makes it not just palatable but frequently hilarious. Like a lot of bullies, there’s tremendous fear of being caught out for what he is at play. A fine line, and sometimes it gets screwey. But mostly he does a good job with it. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/39 "2018-06-12T18:58:40Z")
I cant get into it at all. I’m sure it improves but in the beginning they all seem to hold each other in some level of contempt, its too cringe…etc…etc. Park and Rec, they like each other or have respect. And the characters are big enough to be unrealistic but funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730/40 "2018-06-13T01:43:41Z")
Inspired by this thread I’ve been watching out some episodes from Season 3. At one point Dwight resigns, and on his way out he gives the bewildered Jim a big hug. In the next episode, Andy, freshly onboard from the other branch closing, starts annoying Jim right off the bat. Jim mutters to the camera, _“I miss Dwight. Congratulations, universe, you win.”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-from-the-tv-show-the-office-seems-out-of-context-like-a-huge-workplace-bully/815730.md?page=1)