For fans of The Office, rewatching the Christmas party episodes is a great way to ring in the season. The antics that the employees of Dunder Mifflin pull at these parties can be extreme and ridiculous at times, but they are really hilarious to watch.
These parties seem to bring out some of the best and worst behavior in the characters from the show, and there are many iconic moments including Jim getting Pam the teapot and Phyllis being Santa. However, there are some things that happen at these parties that wouldn’t be acceptable at a real office party and are actually quite offensive.
Giving an employee a $400 gift
During the “Christmas Party” episode, the gift exchange between all of the employees is supposed to have a cap of 20 bucks.
However, Michael breaks the rules and illustrates once again his pretty intense obsession with Ryan by getting him an iPod. Everyone else is upset by this as it’s obviously a much better gift than anyone else’s. However, the big problem with it is how it shows favoritism from the boss to one employee.
Michael freaking out about a woman Santa
Michael does a lot of immature and shameless things on the show, and he’s known for having outbursts and being unprofessional. Sometimes, he lashes out more than usual at the office Christmas party, and this is what happened when Jim let Phyllis be Santa.
Of course, Michael gets away with things all the time that a real manager never would, but it’s still pretty upsetting to watch him be so mean to Phyllis and also rather sexist about it.
Michael yelling “I need this” at Ryan
During the same episode, “Secret Santa,” Michael can’t handle Phyllis taking over his usual job as Santa, so he also decides to dress up. No one really wants to humor Micahel since he’s taking the moment away from Phyllis, so he ends up trying to force Ryan to sit on his lap while saying “I need this!”
It’s awkward and uncomfortable, and it’s just another time that Michael probably should have been fired for harassing his employees.
The Moroccan themed party
When Phyllis finally gets to take over the Party Planning Committee from Angela, she decides to really switch things up. She is partially doing this to spite Angela who is very conservative and very Christian.
However, Phyllis’ taken on the party also has some issues. It’s stereotypical, and it could be considered Orientalism. It’s definitely not the most politically correct or culturally thoughtful of them, and it was a bit cringe.
Dwight field dressing a goose
While this doesn’t technically happen at the Christmas party itself, it does happen in a Christmas episode. When Dwight finds a dead goose, he takes it into the office where he plans to remove its organs and do all of the preparations needed to cook an animal.
This is just one of many weird, inappropriate things Dwight does, but it's in line with his character. While Toby gives in and lets him do the more gory parts in his car, it’s wild that he’s even allowed to do that and that so many of the other employees want to try the mystery game meat.
Marking the waitresses arms with an “X”
After Carol breaks up with Michael, he and Andy bring two waitresses from Behihana’s back to the party. Firstly, it’s weird that the actresses playing the waitresses change from the restaurant scene to the office party scene, but the messed up thing that happens is that Michael can’t tell the two women apart.
The implication is that he can’t tell them apart because they are both Asian, and so it’s very racist.
Michael making things religious in a weird and offensive way
Michael can never just relax and let the Christmas party be a normal event. When Phyllis becomes Santa, he really loses it. He gets upset and decides to dress up as Jesus instead and does things like declare Toby is the anti-Christ.
While making the party overtly religious in favor of one religion over another wouldn’t fly very well, Michael manages to also offend Christianity. So, all around, it’s not a good look.
Michael’s transphobic joke
Most of the really problematic Christmas party moments from The Office happen in the “Secret Santa” episode. Michael says a comment to Phyllis referencing the fact that she is a woman dressing up as a man. He uses a transphobic slur, and it’s rather difficult to hear now.
It wasn’t really acceptable even when the episode was made, but now more people are aware of transgender issues. It definitely wouldn’t fly in a real office.
Meredith’s drinking and the intervention
While many offices have alcohol at their Christmas parties, Dunder Mifflin definitely handles alcohol in an unprofessional way. These parties can get out of hand with drinking, and Meredith specifically does some wildly inappropriate things when drunk including flashing Michael and accidentally lighting her hair on fire.
This wouldn’t fly in the real world, but neither would the strange way Michael tries to hold an intervention for her.
The blackface scene
Even the characters from the show, except for Dwight, knew that this was inappropriate when they looked up the history of Belsnickel. So, while Dwight had Nate dress up in blackface, he didn’t come into the party.
However, the inclusion of this brief scene was still a problematic moment, and it’s actually been pulled from Netflix and NBC when the episode re-airs.