Bad news for the Dunder Mifflin employees. The recession is even affecting our favorite TV office when it comes to promotions and bonuses for the year. [on a side note, this was a very realistic episode for me as I can attest no one in our company received a raise this year for the very same reason - it's tough times]. Now onto the recap:
New co-managers Michael and Jim are having trouble defining their roles for the company, as Dwight can attest [his frustration at being sent back and forth between the 2 managers to get an expense report signed is hilarious]. The entire office is feeling antsy as they watch this power struggle play out. Michael tries to show his authority by scheduling meetings everyday, but in typical Michael Scott fashion, the meetings are not about anything relevant to the actual job. Jim tries to get Michael to chill out on the meetings, causing Micheal to try to go around Jim to conduct super secret meetings in his office.
When Wallace calls to inform the co-managers that the company can’t give raises that match what the employees got last year, he leaves it up to them to decide how to distribute the smaller bonus amount to the employees. They can either:
- give everyone in the office a 1.5% bonus so everyone at least gets a little something; or
- award a larger amount to those that bring in the most money - i.e. the Sales force and the support staff get nada.
After much debate, Jim presents the second option to the office, and predictably everyone but sales is upset, accusing him of favoritism since Pam is in sales now. Neither Michael nor Jim handle confrontation well, as they quickly retreat back into the conference room to come up with a new plan.
They decide the best option is to award the bonus based on performance as they see it. They each get 24 Boston baked beans that represent 0.5% of the bonus, which they can then distribute on the pictures of the employees they want to give a bonus to. The employees walk in the conference room and feel very demeaned by the results, so it is back to hiding out again for Michael and Jim.
Michael decides to make peace with Jim by giving him his own "World's Greatest Boss", and Jim realizes Michael is now his only friend as it is hard to be a manager and a friend. He tells Jim that before it was always him having to make the tough decisions, and it was nice to share that with someone.
In other news, Pam tries to drop the hint that cash is the preferred gift for the Halpert-Beesley nuptials,[but also like in real-life] nobody is taking the hint.
My Rating: 8/10
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