Something that always bothered me about The Office

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Surely it would have had to have been advertised for in some capacity for Michael, Karen, and Jim to all apply and get interviews.

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If I recall, David Wallace called Michael at the beginning of the "Beach Games" episode to ask him to interview for the position. Jim and Karen both called David Wallace to ask for the opportunity to interview after Michael told them at the beach that he was interviewing for a position at corporate. So, it may not have been advertised.

The real question is, who did Wallace actually want to hire?

We learn in the deposition, Michael was never a serious candidate. Jim and Karen had to call.


Was Ryan always the choice? Seems unlikely.

Yeah. Possibly. I think there were just 3 other branch managers at that point since Josh left. Karen definitely replaced someone.


Obviously the answer is, "it is a tv show"


Another one. When Sabre takes over Jim realizes he wants to go back to sales because there is no cap on commission. A season later he is capped out at commission and misses with gabe because he has no incentive to make a sale.

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How the hell was it possible that neither Michael nor Jan knew that Michael was interviewing for Jan's position? Surely it would have had to have been advertised for in some capacity for Michael, Karen, and Jim to all apply and get interviews. And Michael and Jan were together (and living together, right?), so did they never talk about how Michael was interviewing with David Wallace to work in Jan's office? Surely she would have been like "Oh, cool, what position is it for? .... Wait, that's my position!"

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Jan was Vice President of Sales but Ryan eventually becomes Vice President, North East Region and Director of New Media

So presumably a "new position" was created (VP NE Region/Director of New Media) since Jan hadn't been let go yet. The implication to her should've been that her position was being removed and she was being fired, but since she had gone off the deep end she didn't see it coming.


As far as who David Wallace really wanted to promote, I don't think he had anyone picked prior to interviews. He had only been CFO for about a year at that point. He had already been screwed by one branch manager (Josh) and saw that another would've been unfit for promotion (Craig). He knows that Michael isn't fit but interviews him anyway because against all odds he and his branch are successful, but he realizes there's no way to turn that into a successful system at the corporate level.

Meanwhile we've seen that under Wallace the company had already started looking for lower level employees that might be worth promoting. Note that the episode prior to being introduced to Wallace on screen is when Jan goes to Scranton for the womens' seminar and reveals that corporate is looking for promising talent at the lower ranks. One of the next times we see Wallace is at his dinner party where he gets to know Jim and Karen and presumably other lower level employees as well.

I think all the indicators are there that Wallace recognizes the company leadership as being out of touch with the changing market, and he's looking for a boots on the ground person that understands the business and can make changes that modernize the company. But of course he's duped by Ryan and y'all already know the rest of that story.

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And Michael and Jan were together (and living together, right?)

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I don't think she moved in with him until she was let go.

And as previously mentioned, that bugged me, but not nearly as much as the whole commission cap thing. They didn't even try to explain it away by saying the policy changed or whatever. Wrote it like it was always there.

But again, they didn't binge through episodes then like we do now so I guess I'll give them pass.

Something that always bothered me about The Office was how Michael Scott was always sucking all the dicks, and yet they continued to keep him around. It really makes you think.

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When Sabre takes over Jim realizes he wants to go back to sales because there is no cap on commission. A season later he is capped out at commission and misses with gabe because he has no incentive to make a sale.

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I thought they addressed it. Maybe not well, but doesn't Angela introduce that Sabre had altered the commission policy?

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If I recall, David Wallace called Michael at the beginning of the "Beach Games" episode to ask him to interview for the position. Jim and Karen both called David Wallace to ask for the opportunity to interview after Michael told them at the beach that he was interviewing for a position at corporate. So, it may not have been advertised.

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Jim told Michael at the beach party he was applying for the position.

To answer the OPs question, Jan was on leave and had just returned to the job, but they were already set on replacing her. They just had not told her yet. Totally implausible in a corporate world, but it worked for the show.

Angela says they changed the commission policy.

quote:

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Jan was Vice President of Sales but Ryan eventually becomes Vice President, North East Region and Director of New Media

So presumably a "new position" was created (VP NE Region/Director of New Media) since Jan hadn't been let go yet. The implication to her should've been that her position was being removed and she was being fired, but since she had gone off the deep end she didn't see it coming.


As far as who David Wallace really wanted to promote, I don't think he had anyone picked prior to interviews. He had only been CFO for about a year at that point. He had already been screwed by one branch manager (Josh) and saw that another would've been unfit for promotion (Craig). He knows that Michael isn't fit but interviews him anyway because against all odds he and his branch are successful, but he realizes there's no way to turn that into a successful system at the corporate level.

Meanwhile we've seen that under Wallace the company had already started looking for lower level employees that might be worth promoting. Note that the episode prior to being introduced to Wallace on screen is when Jan goes to Scranton for the womens' seminar and reveals that corporate is looking for promising talent at the lower ranks. One of the next times we see Wallace is at his dinner party where he gets to know Jim and Karen and presumably other lower level employees as well.

I think all the indicators are there that Wallace recognizes the company leadership as being out of touch with the changing market, and he's looking for a boots on the ground person that understands the business and can make changes that modernize the company. But of course he's duped by Ryan and y'all already know the rest of that story.

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very thorough answer for a sitcom there