If they didn’t make you sign a non-compete agreement, you most certainly can. Its not very ethical but it sure as hell is legal.
Kelly would do both jobs, temporarily. It’s not like Pam is answering the phone every three seconds…Kelly could surely add those calls (which were probably 30% for her anyhow) Kevin could take over the copier duties since he’s so fond of the copier (I’ve watched the episode now).
When our church secretary retired, she divided up all her jobs among the other five people on the staff until we hired her replacement. One person doesn’t have to take on the whole thing.
And I’m not sure I understand what was meant about the comment about questioning Pam’s contribution to the relationship with Jim. Does that mean what it sounds like, that if she isn’t contributing financially on a level with Jim she isn’t contributing? relationships aren’t based on equal earning capacity, at least not in my world. She loves him, he loves her.
Unless he uses trade secrets, such a companies’ price points… :smack:
Trade secrets law likely applies. Dunder-Mifflin, like any company that lives off of sales relationships, will have extensive guidelines regarding how customer information can be used. These guidelines will trigger trade secrets liability if Michael tries to use information about the company’s customers to poach them.
In addition, as a senior employee, Michael likely owes the company a fiduciary duty.
Once he has left the company, he can try to recompile the data himself and poach customers, but while he’s still being paid and on the premises, he can’t use the company’s customer information in a way that hurts the company.
I agree for the most part. Jim is a sane man in an insane situation-- that office is full of crazy people, Dwight being the craziest, and most humorless. I think resorting to pranks to deal with Dwight’s hostility and invasive obnoxiousness is a pretty innocuous response. Most people would have either killed him or quit by now. The pranks enable Jim to deal with Dwight and therefore keep his job. That Charles doesn’t realize this is just another sign that he doesn’t understand how the Scranton office works, which is going to be his downfall. The only alienating thing about Jim is his underlying sense of smugness, like he’s better than everyone in that office, which is of course a delusion, since he is one of them to the core.
My prediction is that all the insanity of the Scranton branch is going to drive Charles to do something so crazy that Michael is going to look sane by comparison. That, and the sales numbers are going to go down without Michael, so David Wallace will end up begging Michael to come back, with some big perq to lure him in. Then, the sticking issue will be Pam, who will not want to go back to being a secretary. Either she’ll join sales or she won’t return to the office and will get another job.
I think that’s kinda the point - to show that Charles is a terrible judge of character and delegating the right job duties out to the right people. Or, he’s trying to get people out of their comfort zones - which would actually be a pretty good managerial approach to this environment.
Making people do stuff they’re incompetent to do is a “good mangerial approach?” I don’t think so. And there’s nothing wrong with the environment that needs fixing anyway. I think that’s the point that’s escaping him.
I seriously doubt that Stanley’s appointment as “Productivity Czar” has anything to do with racial preferences; if so, he would have appointed Darryl to something as well. Putting Stanley in charge of productivity was just like his putting Kevin on the phones; it was the writers’ way of showing how Charles has no clue about the strengths and weaknesses of people working under him, which will likely be his eventual undoing.
I’ve come across a number of managers who think good management is just telling people what to do and having them do it. Obviously this is insanity, but Charles appears to be that kind of guy.
(1) Charles mentioned in the previous episode that there would maybe (probably?) be cutbacks. I’m thinking he put the most incompetent accountant and the laziest salesman in new positions, positions where he knew they’d flounder, so that he can then use their poor performance to justify firing them.
(2) Maybe Charles is gay? I say that only because of the deadpanned line where he said that he knows the effect he has on women. Then again – and far more likely – he’s just not interested in the twin balls of crazy that are Angela and Kelly.
(3) And finally Dio, you know that Michael’s paper company is about the worst idea ever. I know it, everyone who watches the show knows it, and everyone who has been at Dunder-Mifflin for more than a week or two knows it. Note that this last set does NOT include Charles. In broad strokes, all Charles knows is that the man is incredibly childish, annoying, and incompetent in person, yet somehow manages to pull in kickass sales numbers. Perhaps because of the rapport he has established with some of D-M’s clients? Given that, yeah, I think he was well within his rights to play hardball when it came to that client list, especially when Michael snuck back in to take it! If anyone were in Charles’s shoes, I think they’d have acted about the same.
Making people “in charge” of something they are not currently good at IS often a good approach. If these are people who actually care about doing a good job, they will focus on the task and improve themselves in the process. Especially with being something like a “productivity czar”, a task with little actual authority, it could get a worker to focus on their personal productivity problems while reviewing what other people are doing.
Michael seems to think Charles has a wife. He asked him was her name was. He didn’t answer the question, though.
I don’t think Charles is coming off as either an asshole or doomed to failure (yet). All of his actions have been entirely rational and completely realistic in the sense of real corporate managers. Now, rational behavior might not work out at Scranton, but that’s for the plot to resolve – it won’t be because Charles is incompetent.
As for the clash between Charles and Jim, it’s also an entirely realistic situation in which two people, both behaving normally and competently, just keep missing the beat with each other. Jim’s not a complete doofus, but Charles keeps catching him in situations that to an outsider would seem like complete doofusy behavior.
Note that Jim’s not bitching about Charles being unreasonable, like he did with Ryan, or being sarcastic about his competence, like he does with Michael. He knows perfectly well that Charles is behaving like a normal human being. He’s just not used to having a normal human being as a manager and he keeps tripping himself up.
:rolleyes:
He doesn’t know they’re incompetent at them. The situation on the show aside, taking an average office staff and mixing up responsibilities for a short period of time is absolutely a good managerial approach. It makes everyone more aware of the roles of the rest of the staff, and understand their own role better. Giving people more responsibility is one of the best managerial techniques out there.
And just because sales are up doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with the environment. There could be plenty wrong that needs fixing that would make sales even better. Saying so doesn’t make that fact any different.
For one thing, I agree with you about Kevin on the phones… it will be a dissaster. I was just trying to figure out his reasoning.
I’m not saying a relationship should be based on finances at all, and wish/hope more women hold your opinion on that because I’m sure no Rockefeller. I’m just saying some fans watch as Pam makes attempt after attempt to better her life, even though it may be a strain on the relationship. Not just with money. Jim, (rightfully so), supports her. I PERSONALY think that if Jim ever wanted to do anything, he’s due for some support from her.
This goes back before art school. This goes back to her turning down Jim for Roy, (who’s OBVIOUSLY never going to be to her what Jim was to her), only to dump Roy. Then, When Jim has a new girl and a possible new job, she only THEN decides to get the ovaries to reveal to Jim that she likes him.
I’m sorry, but I kind of agree that with some fans that Jim, (for now), has brought a lot more to the table. I don’t think they should break up. I just would hope someone like Pam would understand that.
MyFootsZZZ, I have no idea what you’re getting at. Where has Jim asked for support from Pam and Pam has refused? You seem to be concocting a problem out of thin air.
There is no problem. Where has Jim asked for support from Pam ever? When that day comes though, I’m saying Pam would hopefully treat Jim with the same respect. He’s bent over backwards for her.
Well, Pam did try and get Jim to apply for that job in Maryland that one time back in season 2…it had better pay and was a step up from his current job. I think there’s evidence there that she would support him in whatever he wanted to do.
Not really the best example IMO.
I’m sure if I thought about it more, I could think of something. I was just responding to the “Jim hate” comment, by bring’n up an example of something I’ve heard amongst other fans. Don’t paint the wrong picture, I think I’m in love with Pam, (and maybe even a little man-crush on Jim). I just know as a person who hasn’t gotten his life quite figured out, that it can be difficult to find a partner with patience. Other than being male, I identify with Pam more, and if a woman was as patient with me the way Jim is with Pam… I would feel like I needed to do everything in my power to reciprocate the best I can. I may not even be able to give as much as I was given. No one’s keeping count, but Pam IS LUCKY.
And I LOVE Pam!
Then why did you mention it?
:dubious: Jim’s life is exactly the same as it has always been, except now he’s engaged to the girl he loved from afar since year dot. I’d say that no one here has been doing any bending.
Now this is where I disagree. I can totally understand Pam turning Jim down at that point in her life. They had a flirtation going on, and she was just beginning to grow out of Roy…but she was engaged, and a wedding planned, and in her world you don’t just walk away from the guy your family loves that you’ve been living with since high school let out. When Jim kissed her, I think that was the first time she really realized that he loved her back. Before, he was just the flirtation that was growing more and more important in her life…the guy she fantasized about when Roy acted like a jerk.
Jim helped her grow and realize that the life she thought she would have with Roy wasn’t going to satisfy her anymore, that she could pursue her dreams and further her education. But for one instant she was afraid to rock the status quo and make a change…always the good girl who doesn’t hurt people’s feelings, and she was committed to Roy. Then, after Jim left, she decided she really needed to change her life…and it’s good that she left to be on her own, not jump from Daddy to Roy to Jim.
Then, once she had been on her own a while, and developed more determination, Jim comes back into her life. And now she has decided she doesn’t want to live a life where she leaves things unsaid out of fear of hurting someone. She just wanted to let him know how she felt…she didn’t seduce him or trick him. And he responded.