Litigation Value: $300,000 per claim (until respected HR manager is in place).
Though there is so much to write about — office romance, sexual harassment, what Kevin might be regarded as, pranks involving animals, and fraud — tonight, in honor of Toby’s departure, I want to focus on monsters. It is no secret that Michael thinks Toby is one of the worst out there. Not known for his subtlety, Michael referred to Toby as “His Horribleness,” called him an “idiot” several times, and compared him to Satan — all in between beeps on his watch alarm. Over the last 12 years, Michael has mocked (and blocked) Toby’s HR efforts every step of the way. The “Suck This” rock best sums up Michael’s feelings toward Toby.
Unfortunately, we sometimes see that companies in the real world have similar (though rarely as impassioned) views of HR. Some on the business side see HR as an obstacle rather than a tool — and want us “Tobys” to all go off to South America. Now, we know that this mindset is very dangerous and can create significant liability. When employees see that management doesn’t take HR seriously, they don’t either. This causes even more violations of policy — usually left unreported (because why bother). And it really opens the company up to more claims and being blind-sided because HR can’t possibly have a pulse on an organization in this type of environment.
Like all finales are supposed to do, this one left us with a lot of unanswered questions. What’s going to happen with Angela and Andy/Dwight? Where is Mose’s raccoon? Is the force with Holly? Might she turn out to be E.T.? Might Kevin have special needs, as that would explain a lot? And the list goes on.
But two things remain certain. First, Dunder Mifflin will have plenty of problems for us to write about next season. And HR folks are not monsters at all. Ask your management: “Have you hugged your Toby today?” Okay, don’t — it might violate your harassment policy!
Now don’t miss That’s What She Said over the summer. I’ll look at the repeats each week and examine more juicy issues that we haven’t yet looked at. So, keep on blogging!
Don’t forget that Ryan went to jail and his position is open again, might we see Jan come back, baby and all?
I love the blog, and don’t forget to write about the Web-episodes on NBC.com
And I look forward to the blog being one of my few escapes from studying for the Bar Exam
I have thought of a way to retain Toby, maintain the awkward – cringe factor of the show, and to ensure that Troy has plenty to blog about next season…see, Toby now has a picture of he and Pam which he adores, AND the proposal never happened, AND Pam is going to New York for three months for Art School, AND there is an open management position in Dunder Mifflin’s New York Headquarters (thanks Ryan) so…Toby replaces Ryan in NYC so that he can be close to Pam and, in doing so, becomes Michael’s boss. Oh, let the fun ensue!
Also, big thanks to Holly for carrying that HR flag on the first day by not only racking on the incumbent HR guy (by saying, “Yeah, I almost fell asleep during his tour of the files”) but also letting the manager-who-hates-all-things-HR know that he will miss her “orgy party” while he is out of town. Nice.
Technically, Costa Rica is in Central America. FYI.