Many fans have said that Michael and Jim have one of the most underrated friendships on The Office. However, for every good moment they had, there were quite a few bad ones that would show why they would have been better staying as work colleagues.
While Pam and Dwight care deeply about Michael's well-being, Jim believes his responsibilities to Michael end as soon as the clock strikes five. Michael also undermines Jim several times as he is threatened by the salesman's popularity amongst their co-workers. Keep reading to discover the 5 worst things Jim did to Michael (& 5 Michael did to Jim).
Jim lets Michael fall in a Koi pond
One of the worst things Jim ever did to Michael was allowing him to fall into a Koi pond. In the episode "Koi Pond," Michael becomes the butt of all the jokes when the office finds out he fell into one of the ponds. The jokes become even worse when Michael gets a call from the owners' of the hotel, demanding he pays for the fish he killed.
However, when Meredith is sent a video of Michael falling, they soon find out that Jim was responsible for the fall as he deliberately moved out of the way when Michael reached out to him. Jim would later tell Michael he hated the fact that the regional manager didn't trust him enough to handle the meeting by himself.
Michael reveals Jim's feelings for Pam to the office
In season 2, Jim's feelings for Pam were exposed to the rest of the office after Michael slipped up. In "Booze Cruise," Jim decided to confide in the regional manager after Pam and Roy decided to set a date for their wedding. A devastated Jim then proceeded to tell Michael about his feelings for the receptionist and asks that he keep it a secret.
However, Michael ends up accidentally revealing all to the office in "The Secret" when he tells Toby that Jim is depressed. In turn, this forces Jim to tell Pam before she overhears it from their other co-workers. Although Michael seems really upset by his mistake, it does show that Jim wouldn't be able to trust him fully.
Jim jumps on Michael's job opportunity
One of the conniving things Jim ever did was apply for the same job as Michael. In "Beach Games," Michael takes the office on an excursion to the beach to test out who the next regional manager of the Scranton branch should be. When Michael announces that he will be leaving to take the corporate job in New York, the candidates all step up their game, par Jim.
Instead, Jim and Karen call David and say that they would be interested in the position as well. Jim didn't even want it, he just took the interview because he was repressing his feelings for Pam. He didn't even care that this could have opened a lot of opportunities for Michael.
Roping Jim into his prank
In "Branch Wars," Dwight and Michael head down to the Utica branch after Karen tries to poach Stanley for her business. This all came about after Karen and Stanley set up a scheme to bluff a raise out of Michael. However, instead of taking the bait, Michael decides to recruit Dwight on his excursion to prank Karen.
The pair also manages to trick Jim into the scheme when they manipulate him into believing they are going on a sales call. Jim is further placed in an awkward situation when Karen believes that he orchestrated the prank to see her. He then further angers Karen when he reveals that he was engaged to Pam. Michael didn't exactly think this one through.
Jim avoids a triple date with Michael
It was clear to all that Jim and Pam hated it when Michael was too invested in their relationship. However, was there any harm in them going to dinner with Michael and Jan? For half of season 4, the fans watched as Jim and Pam made numerous excuses not to have dinner with the couple.
By "Dinner Party," Michael manages to trick them into going when he makes sure that Jim and Pam don't have any plans. As soon as they arrive, Jim is quick to try and come up with an excuse, going as far as to fake a flood in his apartment. It's not like Michael and Jan were the only couple in attendance as Dwight, Angela, and Andy came along too.
Michael's micro-managing
In season 6, Michael and Jim are made co-regional managers of the Scranton branch. However, Michael struggles to share the power with Jim and begins to micro-managing all his acts ("The Promotion"). The first signs of Michael undermining him begin when Michael refuses to step into his office.
He also undermines Jim in front of his co-workers by holding a conference room meeting, despite the younger salesman asking him not to. The final nail in the coffin is when Michael announces in front of their colleagues that what he wants is more important than Jim's wishes. While it's understandable that Michael struggles with change, there is no need to demean him in front of his colleagues.
Jim doesn't invite Michael to stay over
During the "Dinner Party," tensions between Michael and Jan came to a height after the couple got into an explosive argument. It got so bad that Jan ended up throwing Michael's Dundee trophy into his flat screen. As a result, the police soon arrived after a noise complaint was filed.
When the police ask whether Michael had somewhere to stay, Jim refuses to let him into his apartment because it was flooded. Michael and Dwight soon figure out that Jim was lying when Pam has to correct him after he said it burned down. Instead, poor Michael had to spend the night at Schrute Farms.
Michael jokes about Jim's proposal
One of the meanest things Michael did was tarnish the memory of Jim and Pam's proposal. In "Garage Sale," Michael recruits Pam, Jim, Ryan, and Oscar to help him come up with the perfect proposal after the regional manager decided to pop the question to Holly.
When Michael asks Jim how he did it, the administrator divulged how Jim asked her to meet him halfway to where he proposed outside a convenience store. Michael then mocks the pair for believing that was the most romantic thing in their relationship. He's lucky Jim didn't just walk out and leave him to it.
Not inviting Michael to his barbecue
The worst thing Jim ever did to Michael was excluding him from the barbecue party he was hosting at his apartment. This all occurred in "Email Surveillance" when the IT guy arrives at the office and sets up a program that monitors the workers' emails. Whilst Michael is going through the messages, he finds that everyone has been invited but him.
While no one would admit to Michael they will be going to the party, Jim reveals that he didn't invite Michael to the party because he wanted everyone to be able to relax and have fun. He even manages to rope Dwight into it by saying it's a secret party for Michael. As fans all know, Michael was hurt by the rejection.
Michael sabotages Jim's promotion
The worst thing Michael did to Jim was when he tried to sabotage his promotion. As fans know, Jim and Michael ended up becoming co-regional managers after Michael compromised with David to keep Jim at the branch ("The Meeting"). However, this all came about after Michael sabotaged Jim's promotion because he didn't want to lose his position.
David asks Michael what he thinks of Jim, Michael says that Jim is incapable of becoming a good manager and shows him the negative reviews in Jim's file. When Jim finds out what happened, he is furious at Michael for ruining his chances of advancing. As a result, Michael had to make a big compromise to make it up to him.