re: Looking back Jim Halpert was a bit of a dick

Phyllis seems like that nice lady in the office in school. She has that look too. Like a school office secretary. The one you hoped you got to talk to when you went to the office.

Pam is an awful human and Jim is a shitty employee and friend and person who tries constantly to frick an engaged woman.

The show is real though. It’s one of the best aspect of The Office. They made the characters real. And often without any redemption.

Pam - The small town wishywashy attractive chick that works a dead end job and jumps from guy to guy without commitment:

Jim - The lazy office worker who has potential but would rather float through life without effort and sabotage the rest of the office with his lazy attitude.

Dwight - the peculiar ace salesman with bizarre habits no one likes because he’s eccentric and doesn’t care what others think.

Michael - the top salesman promoted to management where he can’t handle the job

Jan - the feminist corporate monster executive without a soul who realizes too late in life she sacrificed her life for her career that’s not fulfilling

Ryan - the college grad douche who inevitably gets promoted until he’s in over his head without any real world experience

The warehouse guys - normal people just trying to live their lives

The accountants - stuck holier than Thou types that talk down to everyone constantly

Kevin - the try hard pitiful schlub that just can’t catch a break in life

Etc…

The characters are all exaggeration done extremely well. I love the show more on rewatch because of how well they portrayed the characters.

I probably identify with Dwight more than anyone else on the show early on. It’s a shame the writers went way too overboard with his character

Jim also wouldn't call Andy - Drew. Messed up.

Jim was prob a big underachiever in life. Lacked real motivation.

Lived in a shite town, made fun of inferior coworkers, lived in a shite apartment, and overall was scared of success.

He had opportunities to work for corporate, date a successful girl, or move on to better things but feared a challenge. Ryan at least took shots. Jim never got out of cool college guy mood.

Reminds me of doing an internship for a factory in a small town and thinking their ‘Jim’ was cool. Looking back, that guy was a loser.

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Ryan at least took shots.

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Ryan took a lot more than shots.

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Jim was prob a big underachiever in life. Lacked real motivation.

Lived in a shite town, made fun of inferior coworkers, lived in a shite apartment, and overall was scared of success.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the whole theme of the show. Your supposed to identify with him. That you are stuck in a shite job dealing with goofball co-workers while knowing you should apply yourself and do better. So you find the jokes he plays with them as payback for him dealing with their ridiculous quirks. I bet most everyone didn't really feel he was a dick first time through. When you start really liking all the characters as the show grew and you then go back and really evaluate how he treated them, then it's a bit dick-ish. But it's not like the show is going to change how they write a character for re-watch purposes.

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tried to bail on Pam at the dinner party

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The awkwardness would’ve been so overwhelming at that dinner party that I think “every man (and woman) for themselves” applies.

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I think people are hyper focused on Jim’s problems because he’s the most normal of everyone.

Michael is an idiot who would have been fired long ago for many actions he took
Dwight consistently harassed people for various reasons and damn near shot someone
Angela is super judgmental and started a fight between Andy and Dwight
Ryan and Kelly are always fighting or fricking also Ryan had a coke problem and probably the biggest dick in the show at times
Creed is well Creed
Meredith is a drunk and kind of slutty
Andy has massive anger problems
Kevin is just slow
Oscar is kind of pretentious

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You can't look at sitcom characters through the lens of real-world people. They're always caricatures or hyper-exaggerated versions of the people you know in real life.

You know a boss who's overpromoted? Here's a manager who is WAY overpromoted but likeable.

You know an office clown? Well here's a guy who pulls pranks that would get anyone in a normal job fired.

You know a guy who's a bit off? Here's a guy who literally encompasses all those traits.

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Jim’s pranks almost always followed Dwight being annoying or an arse to the office or him.

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Nah, most of the pranks were the cold open where there was no context. Just Dwight walking in and Jim ready with a mouse trap.