# The Office: "Did I Stutter?" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697 "2008-05-02T01:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/141 "2008-05-07T01:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] Almost forgot to mention just how disappointed I am in Jim. My respect for him has dropped drastically. Eagles fan…ugh… [/QUOTE] He’s also a Sixers fan (according to the interview for the corporate position in the finale of last season). As a result, he can do no wrong in my book. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/142 "2008-05-07T13:05:22Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] I love when you can see Darryl mentally how much “Black” nonsense he can get Michael to believe. “Fluffy-fingers” was pretty good. Actually, I’d like to see an episode that just shows a day in the life of the warehouse crew; I’d like to see what kind of boss Darryl is. [/QUOTE] Darryl’s a lot sharper than Michael, in any case. I’d like to see Darryl run the office; we’ve already seen what Michael can do in the warehouse, and that was just a visit. This episode was awful. It started out promisingly enough, and for about twenty minutes, Stanley was my hero (Do you have any sense?! At all?!). For a brief moment, I thought the writers had finally found a passage through the cartoonish fog that is Michael. But then Stanley caved and essentially made nice and it was business as usual. The Ryan/Toby/Jim bit is almost as bad. The writing is increasingly desperate. Just come up with a conflict, no matter how ridiculously contrived or lame. So what’s next? Creed, Dwight and Pam in a threesome? Meredith and Ryan in a crack house? Jan running the warehouse? This show went to hell when Ryan jumped from temp/intern to Michael’s boss. Since then, the writers have decided they can just do anything, and no one has to remain in character, and Michael can be as ridiculous as they need him to be. Anything goes. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/143 "2008-05-07T13:38:00Z")
I have a question about an episode a few seasons ago. In season two’s “The Fight” Pam and Jim are flirting when Jim picks Pam up and she goes, “OMG put me down, put me down.” Why did she do that? ---
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/144 "2008-05-07T14:05:13Z")
She felt his boner. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/145 "2008-05-07T14:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=wasson] She felt his boner. [/QUOTE] That’s what I thought but wasn’t sure. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/146 "2008-05-07T14:12:25Z")
[QUOTE=RandMcnally] I have a question about an episode a few seasons ago. In season two’s “The Fight” Pam and Jim are flirting when Jim picks Pam up and she goes, “OMG put me down, put me down.” Why did she do that? [/QUOTE] He crossed the line. Verbal flirting is OK, physical contact is too far. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/147 "2008-05-07T14:28:19Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] This episode was awful. It started out promisingly enough, and for about twenty minutes, Stanley was my hero (Do you have any sense?! At all?!). For a brief moment, I thought the writers had finally found a passage through the cartoonish fog that is Michael. But then Stanley caved and essentially made nice and it was business as usual. The Ryan/Toby/Jim bit is almost as bad. The writing is increasingly desperate. Just come up with a conflict, no matter how ridiculously contrived or lame. [/QUOTE] Neither of those conflicts were contrived; they both came from realistic, long-simmering tensions. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/148 "2008-05-07T14:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] He crossed the line. Verbal flirting is OK, physical contact is too far. [/QUOTE] But she was laughing going along with it and then all of a sudden she changed from “Haha” to “OMG!” ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/149 "2008-05-07T16:14:16Z")
[QUOTE=RandMcnally] I have a question about an episode a few seasons ago. In season two’s “The Fight” Pam and Jim are flirting when Jim picks Pam up and she goes, “OMG put me down, put me down.” Why did she do that? [/QUOTE] She did that because she noticed that Meredith saw them looking at them having fun and she realized what it would look like to others. It had nothing to do with boners. That’s in Sexual Harassment when Michael gets one from hugging Phyllis. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/150 "2008-05-07T16:26:23Z")
Yes, the change occured when Pam noticed that Meredith had turned around and was seeing them. The ‘spotlight’ clearly made Pam self-conscious about the physical contact w/Jim, and thus she felt embarrassed and guilty. Totally human of her to freeze Jim out at that point. Back to _Did I Stutter_: I gotta agree with **Baldwin**. I can’t fathom how this episode seemed like it was ‘outrageous’; hell, it was the _least_ outrageous episode this season. It’s very very believable for Stanley both to blow up (he’s been simmering since Day One and has been shown to have a temper) _and_ to ‘cave’ – though frankly I don’t see how it’s ‘caving’ for an employee to acknowledge the fact that one shouldn’t yell vitriol at one’s boss! Stanley has long shown that he wants to stay at DM and is waiting out the years till retirement. Despite his contempt for Michael, Stanely doesn’t want to go anywhere. This was a down-to-earth, character-based episode that could have come straight from Season 2. I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/151 "2008-05-07T19:18:25Z")
[QUOTE=choie] …I can’t fathom how this episode seemed like it was ‘outrageous’… [/QUOTE] Outrageous, no; I never said outrageous. Terrible, yes. The fake firing in front of the entire office was yet another example of the writers willing to have Michael do or say anything – absolutely anything at all. That’s not outrageous, it’s just really, really stupid. The beauty of it was that Stanley blasted him, which should have led to some kind of actual development. Instead, Stanley caved, and it’s business as usual. Stanley should rip into his boss, and he should do it every chance he gets. They all should. The boss is a ridiculously cartoonish ass. This could be a great show, but instead it’s just a sitcom because of the lazy writing. Really, the only episode I’ve liked in a long time was _The Deposition_. Dark, nasty and cringeworthy – back to the original spirit of The Office. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/152 "2008-05-07T19:35:15Z")
No, Stanley was a piece of shit for doing that. In real life he would have been fired. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/153 "2008-05-07T19:37:28Z")
I disagree. I think that this is one of the few recent episodes in which Michael has been completely believable. He didn’t go anywhere near cartoonish, like with the driving into the lake and such. Stanley _did_ rip into his boss. But it was also completely believable that in the end, he would cave in order to keep his job. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/154 "2008-05-07T20:03:11Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I disagree. I think that this is one of the few recent episodes in which Michael has been completely believable. He didn’t go anywhere near cartoonish, like with the driving into the lake and such. Stanley _did_ rip into his boss. But it was also completely believable that in the end, he would cave in order to keep his job. [/QUOTE] I agree completely. It’s believable that a worker might explode like that, especially with a boss like Michael, but every single time I’ve seen something similar happen in the real world, they end up “caving” to keep their jobs. I’d find it far more sitcom-y if Stanley just left because he wanted the last word, or if Michael gave in and let him continue to get away with the attitude. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/155 "2008-05-07T20:42:15Z")
Remember when Michael fake-fired Pam in season 2? The action has precedent and is in character. The context was different, though - Michael was even less justified with that, it was pretty much random. I agree that the show is getting more ridiculous, but the fake firing isn’t the best example of that - it’s somewhat typical Michael behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/156 "2008-05-07T21:05:54Z")
The show went beyond ridiculous ages ago. In real life, Michael would be out on his ass in a flash. Managers can’t fake-fire people in front of the entire office (and pull all the other idiotic crap Michael has pulled) and still keep their jobs, even if they’re the king of sales, which is always the eventual fallback position in these arguments. At best, Michael would be busted down to salesman. He’d never be allowed to manage anyone, ever. I’d love to see Stanley lead the revolt. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/157 "2008-05-08T03:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] Remember when Michael fake-fired Pam in season 2? [/QUOTE] That was actually in the pilot episode. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/158 "2008-05-08T03:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] No, Stanley was a piece of shit for doing that. In real life he would have been fired. [/QUOTE] In real life, Michael would have been fired ages ago for his many, many inappropriate, racist, sexist, and downright stupid actions. I mean, if we’re going to talk about who would have been fired in real life… this is so far from real life, how are we going to hold Stanley to those standards and forget all the provocation that led up to this? Stanley behaved realistically, if jerkishly, in an unrealistic overall scenario. I can see why he’d act as he did. I’m not saying it’s OK, I’m just saying… I understand. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/159 "2008-05-08T03:46:59Z")
I don’t agree that Michael did anything to provoke that. All he wanted was for Stanley to pay attention during a meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697/160 "2008-05-08T04:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I don’t agree that Michael did anything to provoke that. All he wanted was for Stanley to pay attention during a meeting. [/QUOTE] He specifically asked Stanley if he could provide some “urban flavor” to their brainstorming session. Michael is constantly inquiring about what Stanley has learned from growing up in the hood (which he hasn’t, Michael is just ignorant), and Stanley finally got fed up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-did-i-stutter-open-spoilers/447697.md?page=9)