If you consider the United States Congress part of corporate America (and I do),… I had an internship in a Congressman’s home office for a year. I actually wrote some of his constituent response correspondence, if you can believe that. And no, I was not paid, but he helped me get into Cornell so that was cool. Apparently Andy was there at the same time I was.
Best moment of the ep was when Kelly saw Darrell all dressed up and said, “Oh my god, you look like Barack Obama!”
Anyone else wonder what exactly Creed’s work was that he finised months ago?
Actually I don’t. Government is generally considered to be “public sector” while corporate America is in the “private sector”.
Andy wrecking the golf cart was pretty funny. The other slapstick stuff was a bit bunch though. Andy works best as an uptight Ivy League preppy asshole who occassionally makes unintentionally goofy blunders.
Also Darrels “so were did you go to school Mike?” was pretty funny.
Yeah, that was a joke. Maybe it needed a or something. There are plenty of unpaid internships in corporate America, esp. in the arts, which DM of course is not. My friend who just graduated graphic design school had a few before she graduated. For high school students I think it’s even more likely to be unpaid. What a crap gig that would be though, interning at DM for free.
Andy is a bit much and actually kind of too stupid to be a Cornellian in my rather biased opinion. Why did Jim actually need to bring him and Kevin on this sales mission? Their presence seemed pointless but distracting and potentially sales-ruining for Jim.
I think the point was that high school has a much bigger impact on you than you have on the high school. Pam had a brief (but irrational) thought that her old classroom would still be displaying her old art project rather than making room for successive waves of new students. She quickly realized that was ridiculous and tried to play it off as no big deal. I thought that was a very poignant scene.
This episode was so-so comedically, but I was totally cheering when Pam asked about that internship. To me, though, it seemed like she was both embarassed and intimidated by the fact that she didn’t know any of the “basics”, and she seemed a little deflated regarding the whole thing. It’s hard to tell at this point where they’re going with it, but I think that might have discouraged her a little bit, at least from doing anything on her own.
Now, if Jim gets a promotion in NY, I can see Pam being happy about it and finding her own interests renewed, but if not, I think it’s unlikely she’ll take a big step in that direction again anytime soon.
I think it’s been pretty well established that Pam is not the decisive, confident, adventurous, assertive type. She likes the idea of doing art and graphic design, but she won’t commit to doing anything more than dabbling in it here or there when opportunities literally fall in her lap. Right now she’s a receptionist working for a jerkoff in a shitty little office in PA with dreams of doing something more. If she actually pursues that dream and fails (which is highly likely) then she becomes like the rest of Dunder-Miflin Scranton branch. A bunch of pathetic losers working nothing jobs in a nothing branch of a nothing company in Nowhere, PA because that’s all they can achieve or ever aspired to.
Andy meeting the client and immediately causing a problem and awkward moment by dissing his golf shirt struck me as a very, very real and funny-uncomfortable-cringe inducing moment.
It seemed an exaggerated but not over-the-top, something like I have seen often among “guys” who don’t realize that they are being inappropriate until it is a few seconds too late. It was really well done
I assumed Jim’s “big news” was that he’s planning to propose to Pam.
My prediction: Ryan’s going to get fired, Jim will get promoted to his job (he just landed a new client, after all), and he and Pam will move to New York together. She’ll end up going to design school there.
My own, entirely unfunny, prediction for the series finale: Michael goes somewhere (I have no idea where - waiter at Sandals?), Pam goes somewhere (again, no idea where, but I hope it involves her growing a set and pursuing her dream of art), and Jim becomes Scranton manager. The final scene is Jim realizing that he has become Michael.
Although I can totally see it happening, it makes me weep.
Maybe I am alone in this, since nobody else mentioned it, but I was honestly very moved when Dwight called up Michael. He wanted to rat out on everybody who escaped the office, only to get a negative response (a reponse which confirmed Dwight’s lack of authority). Dwight then proceeds defeatedly with his paper work like a good worker should.
I was kind of confused as to why Dwight apparently thought they all had to stick around and work. Michael never makes them stay in the office and work when he goes out. Didn’t he get in trouble with Jan sometime in S1 or S2 when he went to New York and she found out he let everybody in the office take the day off?
I’ve seen other people with this attitude about the show and I’ve never understood it.
Why would working at a paper company in a small city in PA make you a loser? Obviously, Michael is a moron and it would suck working for him, but a job is a job and the pay seems OK.
Most people don’t make an “impact” and the idea that unless you’re following your dreams (which in the case of Pam seems a bit unrealistic because she is so apathetic about the art thing) you’re a loser is ridiculous.
If you don’t know why that’s loserish, then you need loser lessons my friend.
The employees of the Scranton branch are clearly depicted as being average, mediocre, unambitious, even pathetic. Even by comparison to other Dunder Miflin branches. For example: Jim is a smart guy who as Michael says, “could do anything he wants”, but he would rather be miserable selling paper. Pam actually wants to do something else but lacks the courage to try. Stanley has hated working with Michael for a decade.
That’s what makes them “most people”. It’s not a matter of “making an impact”. It’s a matter of having some direction and control over your own life. Some people actually choose a path in life, or ar least seek out paths they might like to travel. Others just take whatever they can get and then bemoan their fate without taking any steps to change it.
IMHO, you’re a “loser” (not a word I’d use, but a sentiment I can understand) if you’re settling. Michael’s not a loser – not for having his job, anyway – because it’s where he wants to be. Same with Dwight – he may want more authority, but he loves his job as is, as well. Angela, Phyllis, Oscar – not losers.
Jim and Pam and maybe Toby? Losers, so to speak, because they don’t want to be where they are, and, more importantly, they’re not doing much to change that.
Sure, to some people a job is a job. To some other people, though, a job is a place where you’re spending a significant chunk of your time. If you don’t really like any of the 8+ hours you’re spending at work, you’re wasting that time. And if you’re wasting that time but not trying to change your situation, there’s an element of loserdom there.
I’m sorry, but to me, that’s bullshit that was only said by Michael to make himself feel better. And I never got the vibe from Jim that he’s miserbale in his life, just that he hates his job. A lot of people hate their job.
And I ask again, why would working at a paper company in a small city in PA make you a loser?
They’re losers because they’re not living up to their own expectations of themselves. Pam wants to be an artist but lacks the confidence and courage to take the appropriate steps to get there. Jim hates his job and has for the last 4 years, but said in the last episode that he is determined to keep it anyway. His biggest fear is becoming Michael, but he is well on his way.
I don’t think it’s really fair to criticize Pam for the same reasons as Toby and Jim.
Pam is trying to change her situation. She’s taken art classes and exhibited in that local art show, and we saw at the job fair that she’s trying to take it a step further. She’s also taken initiative with stuff like the little graphic at the end of the D-M commercial and the D-M Infinity logo. It might be taking a little while because she’s so timid, and she clearly had a lot of issues she needs to get over, but she is doing the best she can, and in the meantime she has a steady job and a relationship she’s very happy with. I wouldn’t call her a loser at all (although yeah, the term applied when she was with Roy, unhappy, and too spineless to do anything about it).
Jim hates his job and isn’t really trying to do anything about it. He hasn’t even shown any real ambition to get promoted past his current position; the only time he takes leadership roles are when they’re handed to him by default because Michael is out of the office. We know that he has other things he’d rather be doing (his little Sims guy or whatever was a sports writer), but he’s not taking any steps to change his life at all.
or something. There are plenty of unpaid internships in corporate America, esp. in the arts, which DM of course is not. My friend who just graduated graphic design school had a few before she graduated. For high school students I think it’s even more likely to be unpaid. What a crap gig that would be though, interning at DM for free.