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By Rick Ingebritson   |  The Office  |  March 19, 2010
Andy Bernard is one of the Dunder Mifflin sales staff members under the gun.

Andy Bernard is one of the Dunder Mifflin sales staff members under the gun.

With the “talent” running roughshod on “The Office,” the Dunder Mifflin worker bees rose up and demanded fair treatment.

Instead, they got pastries.

With Sabre offering rich sale rewards, the sales staff’s bloodlust can only be sated by new leads.

Michael, upset over the staff’s smashing of his honey and jelly sandwich, isn’t giving the leads up, even after Phyllis’ chilling “Hand them over, numbnuts” threat.

Longing for the good ol’ days when staff made friends first, made sales second and made love third, “in no particular order,” Michael decides to teach his sales staff a lesson by giving the leads to non-salespeople.

This proved a revelation to me, as I know what the trio from accounting do, of course, but what Creed and Meredith do, well, I was a bit hazy on that one.

Through extensive research done on NBC.com and Wikipedia, I learned, to my surprise, that Creed is a “quality assurance representative.” Of course, that vague title kinda fits the mysterious Creed …

I also was mildly surprised to learn that Meredith and Kelly share the title of “customer service representative.”

Whatever the title, Phyllis is not impressed, saying “a lot of their work could be done from India.”

Am I the only one who misses the sweet, innocent, grandmotherly Phyllis? She gets married, shows an affinity for having, um, relations in public, and now she’s a bluetooth-wearing, boss-threatening you-know-what on wheels.

I blame Bob Vance of Bob Vance Refrigeration.

Michael offers clues that lead to the leads, including “If you want to find leads, go to the man who never breeds,” which leads to Dwight’s chokehold on Kevin that would make Homer proud.

Michael stashes the leads in the Dumpster, on, of course, trash day, leading him to a trip to the city dump with Dwight.

Dwight can’t hide his animosity toward his former mentor, saying he “hitched his wagon to a horse with no legs.”

Michael, meanwhile, laments all the nights spent watching karate movies when he could have been out scouring local bars for the woman he would one day marry.

Their frustration with each other escalates into a trash fight that only ends after Michael spills water (at least I hope it was water) from a sink onto himself.

Back at the office, the sales staff agrees to give the rest of the staff 2 percent of their commissions … and pastries!

After realizing they would be happy with the baked goods alone, the 2 percent offer vanishes, which even brings a smile to Stanley’s face.

Michael and Dwight also come to an agreement on a peace offering in the form of  a purple beanbag chair, which makes perfect sense in their worlds.

Another average episode in what has been a middling season for “The Office.” Except for the big two episodes of The Wedding and The Birth, the rest of the season has been pedestrian at best, forgotten minutes after viewing.

It wasn’t a complete waste, however. I did learn Creed and Meredith’s job titles, although what exactly they do on a daily basis, we probably will never learn.

6 Responses to ““The Office’s” leads go nowhere”

  1. DDEE says:

    LOVED THIS EPISODE… FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY

  2. Headacher says:

    We learned what Creed did back when the nasty cartoon image (a mouse and a duck?) made it’s way onto Dunder Mifflin’s paper stock and was distributed to various outlets, such as the High School Andy’s (then) girlfriend attended.

    I thought the episode was ok. It had a number of laughs. The whole scene in the dump was off though. I also can’t help but wonder why Sabre needed to buy Dunder Mifflin when it’s business seems excellent. It can’t be for some sort of tax dodge, because Sabre is feeding DM with great leads, etc.

  3. Jonathan Tully says:

    Michael should’ve gone full-on Glengarry Glen Ross on them: These are the new leads, and to you they’re gold and you don’t get them. Because to give them to you would be to throw them away.

  4. Jaimee says:

    okay, so the fact that you didn’t at least know creed’s job title shows how little you know the show, thus you shouldn’t be reviewing it. They’ve talked about his job in at least two episodes, one is mentioned above and the other is the end of season 4 when Holly is introduced to everyone and she asks what his job is and he can’t answer her and so he hides, calling it “Quabbity Assurance”. Also, yes, Phyllis has gotten a bit bossy, but the interaction between her and Angela has been going back and forth like that since about season 3, this is not news. Also, Michael did not hide the leads in the dumpster, if you were paying attention at all, you would know that they were hidden in the trash can by Kevin. The trash was thrown out into the dumpster because Toby threw out some gross smelling food and then the trash was collected and brought to the dumpster. I agree that accounting (specifcally Oscar’s) accepting the pastries was not very believable because Oscar is a sensible character. One last note: it is not Bob Vance for Bob Vance Refrigeration, Its Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration.

  5. The Truth says:

    The office nerd(Jaimee) is correct on all accounts.

  6. I appreciate all the constructive criticism. I write this blog as a fan of the show and try to present unbiased observations in a humorous fashion, which sometimes works and sometimes does not.
    I do not, by any means, profess to be an expert on the show, which I’m sure is painfully obvious to those who can cite lines and scenes from past episodes.
    I do appreciate your reading the blog, however, and hope you continue to do so, if only to point out what a moron I am …

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