The Office is a show that’s meant to be over the top. The comedy about an American workplace is meant to be extreme and take hilarious tropes from real offices and bring them up to the next level. So, there are many things that happen at Dunder Mifflin that would never make sense in the real world. While it is a television show and a comedy, there are still some times where they show really stretches suspension of disbelief. The Office might be full of hilarious moments, but sometimes these things about Dunder Mifflin just don’t make any sense.
Here are the ten things about Dunder Mifflin as a company that don’t make any sense.
HOW LONG THE FILM CREW WAS THERE
The entire premise of the show is that Dunder Mifflin has been chosen by a film crew to be the subject of a documentary. While this might make some sense, the fact that they are there for so long doesn’t. The film crew follows the employees for years. This would cost a lot of money as the crew for the country would need to be paid. It doesn’t make sense for a small documentary movie to have multiple crew members filming for at least five years. It would make more sense if it was just for a shorter time period.
WHY THEY KEPT TODD PACKER AS AN EMPLOYEE FOR SO LONG
It’s no surprise that how the employees of Dunder Mifflin act is unacceptable a lot of the time. The way many of the employees, and bosses, act would get them fired in many real workplaces. One of these employees is Todd Packer. First of all, it’s pretty unclear what he does. Given how obnoxious he is, it’s hard to imagine he makes a lot of money for the company as a traveling salesman. He seems like more of a liability than anything else. He definitely crosses too many lines too many times to be kept on.
RYAN GETTING REHIRED
This is one of the things about the series that makes the least sense. Ryan is hired at corporate, and then gets fired for committing fraud. After breaking the law and getting fired, the fact that the company ever lets him come back on makes no sense.
This is clearly just a big plot hole that was done to allow the character back onto the show because he’s funny. When Dunder Mifflin buys out the Michael Scott Paper Company, it makes no sense that they would let Ryan be a part of that deal.
HOW MUCH HARASSMENT OF ALL KINDS IS ALLOWED TO EXIST
The sad truth is that different kinds of harassment do exist in real offices in the real world. In some cases, harassers are allowed to keep their jobs. But, the amount of harassment that happens at Dunder Mifflin makes no sense. First of all, sexual harassment runs rampant. Michale Scott is one of the worst offenders, but there are other people that do it, too. There are also a lot of comments made about the appearance and bodies of employees and coworkers. Plus, there are a lot of racist things that are said that are pretty awful.
HOW KEVIN EVER GOT HIRED AS AN ACCOUNTANT
It’s clear that Kevin Malone isn’t really a very competent accountant. In fact, he can barely even seem to do basic arithmetic. While the show actually does kind of address this in the final season when Kevin gets fired by Dwight, the fact that he was ever hired makes little sense. Also, the fact that he’s allowed to keep his job for so many years and that no one notices his incompetence comes across as a bit strange.
THE FACT THE COMPANY DIDN’T GO UNDER SOONER
The entire premise of a regional paper company being able to last in this day and age really makes little sense. In a digital age, this small of a company, especially one that is so clearly mismanaged, and one that’s all about selling paper doesn't make any sense.
While eventually they do go under as a company, and the Scranton branch has to be saved by Sabre, the fact they are able to stay in business so long just doesn’t make any logical sense.
HOW MANY BOSSES THEY WENT THROUGH AFTER MICHAEL LEFT
In the season right after Michael leaves, The Office really struggles to know what to do with itself as a show. They go through a series of different bosses to replace Michael, and none of them are any good. They are all rather incompetent or weird to the point that it makes zero sense. Robert California basically appointing himself as CEO of the entire company is extremely infuriating.
HOW ANDY’S EXCURSION ON THE SAILBOAT WASN’T FOUND OUT ABOUT
Andy as a character starts out as annoying and gets even more annoying as the show goes on. When he becomes manager of the branch, he then goes on a trip to sail the world without resigning. The fact he’s able to be gone for months and not found out is frustrating to watch. This is because Dwight effectively runs the branch while he’s gone, but it makes no sense, none of the other employees would tell anyone what was up.
WHY DWIGHT WAS NEVER FIRED
Dwight Schrute might eventually become a good enough employee to actually run the branch, but he doesn’t start out that way. While he might be a good salesman, he’s also a big risk to have around.
He causes huge problems such as when he starts the fire and then cuts off the CPR dummy’s face. He’s also always harassing other employees, and overall, he would definitely have been fired long ago.
HOW MICHAEL SCOTT EVER BECAME MANAGER
One of the things that makes the least sense about the series is how Michael ever got the Regional Manager position. The show always insists that the Scranton branch does well, but it’s hard to believe that’s true. Michael is incompetent in so many ways and always harassing employees and sometimes even customers. He’s definitely not well-equipped to do the job.