Jan orders Michael to choose the cheapest health care plan, and he delegates the task to Dwight, much to the employees' detriment. Michael promises the staff a surprise.
Air Date: April 5, 2005
Tropes
- Benevolent Boss: In the opening, Michael tries to describe himself as one.
- Blatant Lies: Michael claims at the end of the episode that he excels when backed into a corner, and that being under pressure is when he shines. This is explained in a talking head in between cuts of him completely freezing up and going silent when confronted by the office at the end of the day.
- Cutting Corners: Dunder Mifflin tries to save money by getting the cheapest health plan, which means most of the employees' expenses won't be covered.
- Downer Ending: In the end, the entire office staff is left disgruntled and upset by Michael failing to select a health care plan and shifting the duties to Dwight, leaving them without a health care plan. Michael also fails to appease them with the surprise he promised them (he pretty much had no plan). Dwight gets put in his place by Jan. Oh and Jan wants Michael to call her back over his assigning the duty to Dwight and not picking the plan himself.
- Drunk with Power: Dwight is given the task of choosing the company's health plan, and quickly gets delusional about it. Jim notes that it's the smallest amount of power that has ever gotten to someone's head.
- Fake Static: Michael tries to end his phone call with Pam by claiming that another call is coming in, forgetting that she's sitting at the phone bank and can see that his extension isn't ringing.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Know-it-all Dwight is unaware that the uterus and not the vagina is removed during a hysterectomy, and that anal fissures are real.
- The Nicknamer: Michael calls Pam "Pam-a-lam-a-ding dong," a name which will be repeated later by Andy.
- Shout-Out: Michael claims that watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? amounts to heavy training in Improv, and also fantasizes about doing improv with Robin Williams.Michael: "Hi. I'm Mork from Ork." And I'm...I'm...Bork from Spork. Nanu nanu! Jibeleebloobloo!
