Litigation Value in The Office: priceless (That's What She Said)

December 21, 2014 4:09 PM

"That's what she said" is not only a much-used catchphrase in The Office (US edition), but also a blog about episodes of the US edition of the show from the point of view of HR litigation, starting with season 3.
posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total)

That's what YOU say...
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:10 PM on December 21, 2014

Hat tip to Naberius for an AskMe answer broadly referring to this site, or one like it.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:13 PM on December 21, 2014

Shouldn't Toby be writing this?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:39 PM on December 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

I might be a humorless curmudgeon but I couldn't watch the Office because of knowing all this stuff. I guess I prefer "in another universe but with realistic details from this universe" type fiction to "supposedly in this universe but completely unrealistic" fiction.
posted by bleep at 4:48 PM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

bleep: "I might be a humorless curmudgeon but I couldn't watch the Office because of knowing all this stuff. "

Yeah, and don't even get me started on all the things they got wrong about paper.
posted by signal at 4:54 PM on December 21, 2014 [12 favorites]

might be a humorless curmudgeon but I couldn't watch the Office because of knowing all this stuff. I guess I prefer "in another universe but with realistic details from this universe" type fiction to "supposedly in this universe but completely unrealistic" fiction.


If only that were true. I have worked exactly one place that was that bad, without the humor or good people. I don't talk about it because it was cartoonishly absurd. I mean, it went so above and beyond what any reasonable person would believe that I've only told close friends, and often with the disclaimer "this is going to sound like I'm exaggerating, but that's how bad this place was." HR might as well have been Toby because she was powerless to stop the insanity. And admitted as much! Repeatedly! Her job became to stop people from quitting over the nuttery that went on.

Only real difference was the boss wasn't misguided but lovable. He was a horrible person and it permeated every pore of the place.

I considered filing suit over things done to me, as well as reporting them for various things I'd seen. I probably could have made a healthy best egg from it. But in the end, I just wanted to be done with that place and never have to think of it again.

I'm certain there are other workplaces just as terrible going un-litigated for that exact reason.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 5:08 PM on December 21, 2014 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I have worked in a number of places that could have given Dunder Mifflin a run for its money in Worst Place to Work contests. If it seems cartoonishly absurd to you, consider yourself lucky.
posted by winna at 5:28 PM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

A number of my friends worked at a software company near DC that was kind of incredibly terrible. They always had stories about the boss/owner being distressingly Michael Scott, with the big exception being that Michael generally seemed to mean well. Whereas this place, if you were leaving to work somewhere else, you couldn't tell anyone where, or he'd sue your new employer. Completely frivolously, but it happened several times, and usually the employers didn't want people enough to fight the suit. Also the HR department was the owner's wife, so.

I believe things can be bad.
posted by kafziel at 5:37 PM on December 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

Some close coworkers and I have nicknamed a few people "Michael Scott" and "Dwight." And there's a meeting known as "the daily HR violation."

I never found anything on The Office to be all that outlandish, except that they actually tried to bother with sensitivity training.
posted by none of these will bring disaster at 7:45 PM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Some close coworkers and I have nicknamed a few people "Michael Scott" and "Dwight."

I worked briefly with a guy who I could not stand, but couldn't quite describe him to others. When I hit upon describing him as "the biggest assistant to the regional manager I've ever met" to people, suddenly everybody just got it.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:09 AM on December 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

I did twenty years in the cubicle trench wars - sometimes The Office was a little too close to reality. The last manager I had loved the show. If you did a job well done you got a little photocopy of a Schrute Buck.
posted by Ber at 8:02 AM on December 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

Curmudeon here (though far from humorless) who quite enjoyed The Office, but I must say I do not 'get' this expression. That is all.
posted by Rash at 7:20 PM on December 22, 2014