The Office: "Guilty" pleasure?

Jim’s pranks. Dwight’s antics. Pam’s innocence. Michael’s… absurdity. What’s not to love about the long-since-finished show The Office?

There are two types of people in the world: those that love, stand by, and swear by The Office… and those that don’t quite get it. I have to say it’s even just the idea of the latter that brings me discomfort.

I don’t know what it is about the show or how they’ve managed to do it, but it’s a show that has me coming back time and time again, even though the series came to completion some eight years ago.

It’s a source of comfort for those who watch, and a source of quality meme and GIF material for those who don’t.

It’s the feeling of coming back to visit with old friends, whether you’ve had a good day or a hard one. Maybe you’re in need of a laugh, or you’re just in need of some familiar faces.

I can’t overtly, admittedly say that I’m especially embarrassed that The Office is my all-time favourite show and “guilty” pleasure; probably the only thing that’s particularly guilty about it in my eyes is how many times I’ve watched the series from start to finish (maybe five, possibly seven… but who’s counting?).

The only way the series can be viewed as that of a guilty pleasure in my opinion is from those people I’ve mentioned above that fall into the “don’t get quite it” group (their unofficial, all encompassing group name: Officrazies). There you have it, the Officrazies and the Offifantatics (as in proud Office supporters; yes, now I’ve termed them both. Get ready for battle.).

A freakish number of people aren’t fans of the show; the dry humour, lack of underscore music, and the diverse and wild array of characters doesn’t quite resonate with them.

And honestly, that’s fine.

Shocking, and weird, and to be blunt also a little unsettling, but fine nonetheless.

But for the rest of us, the “Offifanatics”, if you will, there’s nothing like coming back to visit and laugh with old friends. To go through the highs and lows, the hellos and goodbyes, the fire drills and conference room meetings. I'd be remiss if I didn’t mention the at times antiquated offensiveness skittered throughout the show, but we live, we learn, and we do better.

To be honest I thought for the most part The Office was a fan-favourite show, the lovers outranking the haters. But as I grew older and realized the world isn’t all butterflies and rainbows, I discovered a few people very close to me didn’t care for it at all; you could even say… hated it, perhaps.

(Disclaimer: I am no longer close with those people.)

(Disclaimer’s disclaimer: I’m joking… mostly.)

I hadn’t really sat down and thought about what it is that I love about The Office so much before until I started writing for this challenge. But ultimately, I think it’s the ease.

It’s the ease that comes with a show centred around the simple, monotonous task of going to work and still there being beauty, and laughter, joy and friendships all stemming from this mundane, everyday task. It’s the characters, from Michael’s outlandish (see: humorous) behaviour, to Oscar’s sensibility, to Andy’s upbeat energy, to Angela’s uptightness. It somehow… all works together.

(I mean that, and, also very likely the humour matches with my own which probably helps in some way...)

It evokes legitimate emotions; case in point how unbelievably cringy and awkward you feel when Michael is on a “date but doesn’t know it’s a date” with Jim, Pam, and Pam’s friend playing pool for Happy Hour, and then nearly gets kicked out by the manager and security for trying to show off while standing on the pool table.

That is the stuff of real, true, genuine discomfort.

Having worked in an office myself, I can tell you they are almost never actually that fun and entertaining. But maybe that’s the whole allure of The Office in the first place… because, with the right people, it can be.