If we’re talking about all of the ridiculous things the characters from The Office have to deal with throughout the series’ run, Michael Scott’s name is going to come up a lot - particularly in some of The Office’s’ best episodes. But he’s not always the source of the issue. Quite a few other characters have been at the center of the problem at hand.
Ok, in fairness, Michael was involved in some of the situations ahead, but when compiling this list, I did aim to choose situations where he wasn’t mainly to blame. I also left off the last two seasons, since Steve Carell’s character wasn’t part of the show at that point.
When Ryan Started The Fire
In Season 2, in one of B.J. Novak’s best episodes, the staff spent most of the day outside because someone started a fire in the kitchen. Is it turned out Ryan — the temp who really didn’t want to establish himself as any kind of “guy here” at the office — started the fire by applying the wrong settings to the toaster.
Dwight's Disastrous Fire Drill
In Season 5, Dwight decided to teach the staff a safety lesson by starting a fire in the office, and trapping everyone inside to deal with the disaster. Naturally, it was chaos, and in addition to a lot of destruction, it also led to Stanley collapsing.
Creed Got Debbie Brown Fired
I had to think about “Product Recall” for a bit, because there are quite a few problems going on throughout this episode, including the R-rated watermark illustration. It’s made pretty clear that Creed was to blame for at least part of it, due to skipping the quality checks he’s supposed to do. But we already knew that Creed’s probably not very good at his job. I think his biggest offense here was how he went about covering his tracks, which included finding someone to take the fall for him. And that someone was Debbie Brown, who we never actually saw, but was indeed fired for the debacle.
When Todd Packer Left "A Present" In Michael's Office
Todd Packer was always the worst, but one of his most disgusting offenses was the “gift” he left on the carpet of Michael’s office. While Michael spent the episode waiting for the mess to be cleaned up, everyone was left to wonder who did it. It wasn’t until the end of the episode that Michael learned it was Todd Packer, and suddenly the joke was somehow funny to him. No one else seemed to appreciate it.
Jim and Dwight's Snowball Fight
Normally, Jim gets the better of Dwight in his attempts to prank him, but in Season 7’s Christmas episode, the snowball somehow backfired, as the feud between Jim and Dwight escalated, and Jim never managed to get the upper hand. At one point, this included Jim flinging a snowball at Dwight using a lacrosse stick, though he missed Dwight and ended up smashing a hole through the window of the conference room.
Jan During The Dinner Party
Ok, Michael Scott is part of the problem in Season 4’s “Dinner Party,” but I think Jan wins for being the worst offender of the evening. The tension throughout the night was enhanced greatly by Jan, who not only accused Pam of having a thing for Michael, but at one point made everyone listen to her ex-assistant Hunter’s music, tried to dance with Jim, and chucked a Dundie at Michael’s expensive tiny flat-screen TV.
Jim's Idea To Have Everyone Stay Late
Jim may have had good intentions when he encouraged everyone to stay late at the office so that they could finish up the work they had, and not have to come in on the weekend. Of course, that plan would’ve worked better if he hadn’t forgotten that the gates would be locked, resulting in no one being able to leave the parking lot that night after they finally finished.
Stanley Losing His Patience With Michael
Can we really blame Stanley for not wanting to deal with Michael’s annoying and often pointless conference room meetings? Probably not. But he certainly crossed a line when he lost his patience with his angry “Did I stutter?” response to Michael trying to get him to participate in the conversation.
David Wallace Transferring Holly To Nashua Because She Was Dating Michael
David Wallace had a right to be concerned that a relationship between Holly and Michael might cause a problem — especially considering the complications Michael and Jan’s relationship caused. Still, transferring Holly to Nashua certainly had an impact on Michael’s happiness at work, which we saw even more later on in the season.
Andy And Dwight's Duel
Andy and Dwight understandably had a conflict when Dwight's affair with Angela was revealed, but the duel undoubtedly took things too far, and Angela shares the blame, as she encouraged it. Things could’ve gone really badly, particularly when Andy used his car to crush Dwight against the fence. Fortunately, they called off the feud, and it was Angela who lost in the end, as they both ended things with her.
The Time Jim Leaned Away From Michael As He Fell Into The Koi Pond
Jim felt frustrated with Michael not letting him handle a sales call on his own. Still, that doesn’t excuse the way he leaned away from Michael as he fell into the koi pond. Yes, ok, Michael is the one who fell into the koi pond, and as he admitted later, he’d been in that lobby before, so he knew it was there. But the footage doesn’t lie. Jim leaned away and let Michael fall when he could have at least tried to grab him.
When Dwight Was Responsible For Picking A Health Care Plan
We could blame Michael for this, because he’s the one who let Dwight be in charge of picking a new healthcare plan, but let’s put that aside for a minute, because where was Toby during all of this anyway? The power went straight to Dwight’s head during this Season 1 episode, which included him, at one point, demanding that people write down all of their medical issues, which he later read aloud in front of everyone.
When Dwight Cut The Face Off The CPR Dummy
Starting a fire in the office wasn’t Dwight’s only offense in the “Stress Relief” episodes. He doubled down on the chaos later when, after the CPR training person declared the training dummy dead due to their failure to follow proper resuscitation techniques, Dwight suggested they harvest its organs, then proceeded to cut the face off the dummy and wear it like a creepy mask.
When Phyllis And Bob Leave Jim And Pam Waiting At Their Table At The Restaurant
Look, I'm not judging Phyllis and Bob for whatever it is they like to do to keep the romance alive, especially on Valentine’s Day, even if it involves the use of a restaurant restroom — that’s their business. But they committed an unacceptable offense, as far as I’m concerned, by leaving Jim and Pam at the restaurant table before the food had arrived, so that the Halperts had to wait politely for them to return so they could eat once the food actually did arrive. Not ok, Vances.
When Dwight Slept In Jim And Pam's Bed
We could argue that Dwight being the problem here started with him smashing a window and tearing apart the Halperts house when all he was supposed to be doing was finding Pam’s iPod so that she could have her playlist for when her baby was born. I feel like he made up for that by redoing the cabinets in their kitchen. It was sleeping in their bed, seemingly without pants, that crossed a line.
Andy Sending Erin Lots Of Birds For Secret Santa
We know Andy meant well when he sent Erin the gifts inspired by the “Twelve Days of Christmas” for Secret Santa in Season 6. The problem was that the gifts involved a lot of birds — like, live birds. Because why try to get creative in how you interpret the song when you can just send her seven swans a’swimming? Poor Erin showed up at the office covered in scratches and desperate for her secret Santa to please stop.
Michael's Obnoxious Nephew
Yes, Michael is to blame for hiring his nephew in the Season 7 opener, but Luke (Evan Peters) wasn't just terrible at his job, he was completely obnoxious. It’s one thing to mess up a coffee order, or show up without enough ice cream, but it’s another to clearly and openly not care about the mistakes. It’s no wonder people were frustrated with him, and that was before they found out Michael was his uncle.
Andy Having His Phone On Him During His Own Play
It’s understandable that Andy hoped to hear from Erin during the night of his play, especially after learning that she wasn’t going to be attending the show. But keeping his phone in his pocket and not on silent during the production was a bad choice. He made it even worse by checking the texts coming through while on stage, and then trying to cover up the distractions with some awkward improv that made a mess of the plot of the play.
Everyone Voting For Oscar To Win The Costume Contest
The thing is, if Oscar had stuck with his original ‘70s costume in the Season 7 Halloween episode involving a staff-wide costume contest, it’d be fine that he won. But I'm pretty sure the whole reason people voted for his seemingly clever "rational consumer, as it were" costume was because people couldn't vote for themselves, and so cast a vote away from better costumes that might've had a shot to win. And that's how Oscar won the coupon book.
Angela Stealing Scones From Cece's Christening
It seemed like an honest mistake on the part of the minister at Cece’s baptism who invited the whole congregation to join the “Halberts” for a reception, so I’m not going to blame her for this. Nor am I going to throw all of the blame on Sconesy Cider for complaining that there wasn’t enough food. Because what was Angela thinking stuffing her purse full of scones — “thousands of them!,” according to Kevin — when there wasn’t enough food to go around?
How Dwight And Erin Dealt With Holly When Searching For Michael
I love “The Search” episode so much for the way it demonstrates just how perfect Michael and Holly are for one another. If there are any villains in the episode, it’s Dwight -- who seemed convinced that Holly had some kind of psychic connection with Michael -- and Erin -- who meant well but just didn't see what Michael sees in Holly. Both are proven wrong by the end of the episode, though, and I love that Erin did get a glimpse of the connection that Michael and Holly have.
When Erin Dumped Gabe At The Dundies
Did anyone blame Erin for wanting to end things with Gabe? She never seemed that into him, and even admitted at the start that she wouldn’t have dated him if she didn’t think she had to — yikes. Still, it’s hard not to feel mortified on Gabe’s behalf when Erin took the stage to accept her Dundie, and used her speech time to publicly end things with Gabe, who apparently makes her cringe. She had to be honest though, right Pam?
Dwight Being Ridiculous As The Building Owner
We know from other situations that the tiniest bit of power will go straight to Dwight’s head, so when he took over as owner of the building of the office branch in Season 7, was it any wonder that he took advantage of all of the ways he could control people? This included having Nate un-ply the toilet paper, setting motion detectors on the lights, and covering the front of the building with a cockroach billboard.
When The Sales People Are Being Rude
After Dunder Mifflin Sabre made it clear that the sales team's needs were the highest priority, the salespeople around the office began to become a bit insufferable. Of course, there’s only so much of this kind of power dynamic that Michael would take, so it backfired on them when the boss handed the new leads over to the non-sales-people to distribute.
Kevin Hiding The Leads In The Trash
It was easy to see why the non-salespeople would enjoy having the upper hand when Michael gave them the expensive leads to distribute to the sales team. But Kevin clearly wasn’t thinking when he decided to hide Dwight’s portion of the leads in the trash can. Of course, he couldn’t have counted on Toby having baba ganoush for lunch, which led Erin to empty the kitchen trashcan into the dumpster, which was then hauled away by the garbage man because it’s trash day. Whoops.
Kevin Getting Jim and Pam's Credit Card Cancelled
Kevin probably meant well when he answered the phone in Jim’s office. And he certainly seemed concerned when the caller brought up unusual activity on Jim’s credit card. The whole thing happened so fast, really. And after verifying Jim’s identity, Kevin succeeded in uninentionally getting the newlywed couple’s credit card cancelled while they’re away on their honeymoon. I don't think they ever found out that it was him either, did they?
When Andy Punched A Hole In The Wall
There’d been indications previously that Andy might have had some anger issues, but any doubt was put to rest in “The Return” episode of Season 3. After a series of things went wrong for Andy, when all he was trying to do is impress Michael, he finally lost his patience and put a hole in the wall of the office, using his fist. “That was an overreaction.”
When Ryan Refused To Sell WUPHF
In another reality, probably with a more motivated person behind it, maybe WUPHF could’ve been something. Alas, Ryan’s company struggled from the start, and when he and the other investors at the office had the opportunity to sell, Ryan was the only one holding out. No amount of pressure seemed to be enough to get Ryan to let go of this brilliant idea, which was actually Kelly’s idea. Regardless, it was Michael’s unconditional support and confidence in Ryan that seemed to do the trick in getting him to let go of WUPHF.com.
Meredith Taking Casual Friday Too Far
You’d think Dunder Mifflin Scranton could have nice things once in a while, wouldn’t you? Alas, Casual Friday was not in the cards. Not only did the day result in Angela complaining about having to look at Oscar’s feet, but Meredith took the concept of “casual” way too far with her outfit, which was, well, not enough outfit in either direction to cover her, um, bases.
Gabe Being Super Creepy After Erin Breaks Up With Him
Gabe had every right to be heartbroken when Erin broke up with him. Especially after she dumped him in front of the whole office. But he took things way too far in the way he handled the breakup, which included following Erin into the ladies room to try to win her back.
When Kevin Used The Hotel Ice Machine To Cool Off His Feet
Kevin using the ice machine to cool off his feet didn’t seem like any kind of act of retaliation for the hotel throwing out his smelly shoes earlier. His dogs, as he put it, were barking, that’s all. Still, watching him sink his bare feet into the ice machine after a day and night of wedding party fun makes me cringe for everyone who helps themselves to that ice after he's done with it.
When Meredith Admits To How She's Getting Steakhouse Coupons And A Discount
If you bring up the topic of ethics at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch, and ask people to confess their own ethical violations, you’re opening a can of worms. This is what Holly learned the hard way in Season 5. And the situation went from icky to ickier, as Meredith revealed just how she’d been securing a discount (and some Outback Steakhouse gift certificates) from a paper supplier representative. Then, when Holly brought this information to corporate, their HR rep insisted she let it go, it not being a great time to give up a discount, after all.
