Litigation Value: Dwight’s sexual and sexist comments regarding women = additional fodder for a hostile work environment claim (not to mention Clark’s potential claims); Jim taking calls about starting a different company on Dunder Mifflin time = a potential breach of the duty of loyalty; taking another trip to crazy town with Jan = priceless.
With David Wallace unavailable (and wisely so), Dwight has the opportunity to land a major new client and boost Scranton’s sales. Unfortunately for Dwight, the potential client is female and Dwight has difficulty relating to business women. Never fear–it’s Pam to the rescue with a crash course on dealing with high-powered, shoulder pad-wearing businesswomen. It’s no surprise that Dwight has difficulty with Pam’s training but, regardless, all bets are off when the secret potential client turns out to be Jan. Dwight may have landed the sale against all odds but his success doesn’t come without consequences. Here’s my own crash course for Dwight on dealing with a professional woman.
1. Always double-check that you are correctly pronouncing her name–particularly if you believe her name to be quite similar to a slang term for a very private body part.
2. Unless you are her massage therapist or physical therapist, it is generally unwise to tell her in a meeting to “relax and do nothing.”
3. As with Rule #2, you should probably also never say, “I will tell you what your needs are and then I will fill them.”
4. Try to avoid insulting her shoulder pads. While I agree with Dwight that they are generally horrid, it’s probably not wise to state that fact while trying to make a sales pitch to someone sporting an ’80s fabulous frock.
5. Never EVER try to make a sale by offering her your younger male co-worker, smirking, and then promising her “full satisfaction.”
Ignore Rule #5 if you are trying to make a sales pitch to Jan and you care nothing for your younger male co-worker or his potential lawsuit. I did notice that poor, innocent Clark seemed more than happy to be the sacrificial lamb. He clearly does not know what he is in for with Jan. Tell us your thoughts on this episode. Will Clark survive Jan? Will Oscar survive Angela now that she seems to have realized his affair with her husband? It looks like we may very well have an employee violence issue to write about the next episode.
