Kathy Bates makes her, um, present felt on "The Office."

I’ve always liked Kathy Bates.

Her stunning breakout in “Misery” scared the bejebus out of me, a Stephen King character even more scary on screen than in print.

Her turn as Annie Wilkes, chastising James Caan as a “dirty birdie” and “hobbling” him for his own good, well, that’s the kind of stuff that stays with you.

As scary as she was in “Misery,” Bates was nearly as frightening as Jay Leno’s manager on “The Late Shift,” screaming obscenities at anyone who dared to criticize her weaselly boss.

In the first of a multi-episode arc, Bates plays the same type character on this week’s “The Office.” As Jo Bennett, CEO of Sabre, the company that purchases Dunder Mifflin, she quickly shows who’s boss.

“Sabre” opens with Michael excited about a new box that leads to an unfortunate chant with Erin, who, bless her clueless heart, seems to be hemorrhaging IQ points by the week.

Of course, this makes her the perfect secretary for Michael, who distributes the goodies from the box, including a printer, fax and scanner, only to find out they are meant for a Sabre employee.

Gabe Lewis, with the typical nonsensical corporate title of Director for Merging Regions, is welcomed by the staff and Andy and Erin team up for a song celebrating “Sob-ray.”

Jim and Pam, meanwhile, check out an area daycare and Jim accidentally interrupts the daycare owner’s, um, private time, resulting in them blowing the interview.

Lewis shows the staff a video introducing Sabre and starring Christian Slater, who has succeeded Michael Caine as the Actor Who Appears in Everything. An enthusiastic Slater asks “Have you ever tasted a rainbow? At Sabre, you will!”

Michael, however, isn’t feeling it, and he voices his concerns with Bates, who even in a video chat is intimidating. She politely listens to Michael and then cuts him down to size, comparing Dunder Mifflin’s management to the management of her grandson’s snowball company.

A frustrated Michael rushes off to visit his mentor, David Wallace, who clearly isn’t dealing with his layoff well. They move to Wallace’s hot tub, where he tells Michael of his grand idea for an invention – Suck It, the toy quicker picker-upper.

Realizing David clearly is insane, Michael beats it back to Scranton where, fearing he could end up like his former boss, he embraces his new employer.

Even Michael isn’t too dense to understand that in this day and age, conformity is the best policy.

Otherwise, you’re left singing bad product jingles with your son.

So, what did you think of the episode? Are you happy with the addition of Bates? Do you think Andy and Erin ever will hook up? Would you buy a Suck It?