Continuing in the spirit of the awards season, my next category is “Most Ineffective HR Moment.” And the nominees are:
- When human resources manager Toby told Dwight that his grievances were sent to Dundler Mifflin’s corporate office in New York while they were actually thrown into a box underneath Toby’s desk.
- When Toby elects to disregard the company’s “love contract” policy with Jim and Pam. Or, really, having such a policy at all.
- Failing to discipline Michael for distributing the Kama Sutra during a staff meeting, which Toby attended.
- Failing to address Michael’s statement to Jan that she either “give me a good raise, or no more sex” even though Toby was present during the salary negotiation.
- Toby hitting on Pam. Repeatedly.
You know the drill. Let me know who you think should win the award, and I’ll post it early next week.
I vote for Michael for distributing the Kama Sutra during a staff meeting, which Toby attended. All the issues mentioned are bad but this is most troublesome as the entire office was required to attend the meeting and be exposed to items they might find offensive. Everyone in the office with the exception of Michael might have a real shot at a claim.
I would have to go with Michael threatening to withhold sex. With Toby present.
I would actually rate Toby’s method of dealing with Dwight’s requests as extremely effective.
I vote for Michael handing out the Kama Sutra during the staff meeting. I believe he also pointed out during that meeting that Kelly might understand it a little more? Double harassment…. not so good.
The Kama Sutra thing, for sure.
I am going with not following through with Dwights complaints. Every claim needs to be investigated. If Toby didn’t plan and taking another step he should have been up up front with Dwight. Because Dwights torments are psychological they are probaly much harder to quantify and and justify larger settlements.
I have to vote for the Kama Sutra incident… Seriously.. 🙂
I vote for Dwight’s complaints being ignored. If you can’t trust the HR person with your problems at work, who else can you turn to? I’ve actually dealt with an HR manager in the past who didn’t take people’s complaints seriously, and it made us all feel rather helpless.
Kama Sutra incident with the double shot at Kelly. Personally I think one of the reasons Michael is a terrible manager is because of how poor his HR person is. It adds to the comedy but makes me cringe…
It really wasn’t Michael’s place to hand out the Kama Sutra. As the de facto benefits manager for the office, Toby should have done it.
😉
Michael’s no-sex statement. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. In fact, that statement was probably brought up in Jan’s case against Dunder Mifflin earlier this season.
The Kama Sutra incident gets my vote. (Personally, I think Dwight’s frivolous complaints were handled beautifully! Too bad Toby got found out…)