He also has Toby pegged as a “wanted animal rapist” 
Oops. Double post.
That’s what she said!
It’s not really a HR thing, its because Toby is just a boring, buzz-kill type of guy. Way too serious. Holy for instance, also came in from corporate, but she was accepted because she goofed around and laughed with Michael. It’s not just because she’s cute, its the personality. Michael and Holy hit a snag when she got serious and wanted to discipline Meredith. Things got better when she lightened up.
Anyway, don’t want to give it away too much, but here’s a pretty funny Michael hates Toby clip: The Office: I would shoot Toby twice (HD) - YouTube
I think it is at least partly an H.R. thing. Remember, the H.R. guy at corporate in New York was also hated.
Also, part of it is that Toby is IRL one of the writers and having Michael hate him means his character doesn’t spend a lot of time on screen which gives him more time to do things off screen (like writing the show). Also, he’s not really an actor and on episodes that he writes he usually tries to leave himself out.
I really like this clip of Michael hating Toby.
What’s interesting to note is that Michael has been brought up to the New York corporate office to give a deposition in Jan’s lawsuit against the company, and he has just come from an extremely grueling session in which it is basically revealed that his girlfriend on-the-record has said he is a terrible employee and essentially hurt his career. Michael is in a very weird position and essentially has no friends, he’s alienated from Jan and Dunder-Mifflin’s executives are sort of unsure of where his loyalties lie, so Michael is dejectedly eating lunch by himself after the first part of this deposition and Toby decides, in spite of their history, to come over and try to relate a personal story from his past to help Michael out.
That context makes Michael’s reaction all the better and shows just how far the hatred goes…
You’re leaving out the fact that the during the deposition Micheal’s journal was read as evidence. Toby asked for a copy of it to read on his own and before Michael sat down with him, he [Toby] was reading it (it’s sitting next to his right hand). It was kind of a dick move on Toby’s part. I always thought that’s why he pushed his tray off the table.
No, I got the impression that it was just his a priori hatred of Toby. It’s irrational. It’s never based on anything real. Michael is really just a child emotionally.
Yup.
The writers often try to show that despite his flaws he’s worth it because he cares about his employees and was a good salesman back in the day, but he’s a bumbling, emotionally crippled idiot.