Recap / The Office USS 4 E 4 Money

Jan's spending habits put a strain on Michael's finances, forcing him to get a second job. Meanwhile, Jim and Pam spend a night at Dwight's farm, which he's turned into a bed and breakfast.

Tropes

• Anti-Climax: Michael quitting his telemarketing job. He's never quit anything before and goes in with a long-winded speech. His manager cuts right to the point.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Jim gives Dwight a heart-to-heart upon seeing just how despondent he is over Angela.
  Jim: Did I ever tell you why I left Scranton?
  Dwight: [incoherent mumbling]
  Jim: Yeah, I didn't think I had. Well, it was all about Pam. Yeah, I mean she was with Roy, and, uh, I just couldn't take it. I mean, I lost it, Dwight. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't concentrate on anything. Even weird stuff, like food had no taste. So my solution was to move away. It was awful. It was something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and that includes you.
• Bad Review Threat: Dwight initially won't allow Pam to book herself and Jim a reservation at his bed and breakfast. Then when Pam implies she'll leave a bad review on Trip Advisor, he relents.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Nick, the boss at the telemarketing company, addresses the camera crew to say that he runs a legitimate operation.
• Brick Joke:
  • While checking in, Jim says that they will need a bedtime story, which Dwight scoffs at. Later, Dwight is shown reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to them.
  • The cat that Andy finds and presents to Angela is Garbage, the cat that Dwight tried to give her two episodes ago.
• Call-Back:
  • Kevin has started a new Police cover band called Scrantonicity II.
  • While not mentioning it by name, Michael tells his call center co-workers a little about his Threat Level Midnight screenplay.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Kelly and Darryl start dating, and she is jealous when he says he is going to spend time with his daughter.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Oscar creates a slide to demonstrate Michael's finances, including essential, non-essential, and entirely unnecessary spending (like magic sets, bass fishing equipment, etc.). Michael is more interested in the graphics.
  • Kelly is baffled by Darryl, being upfront with what's on his mind, and urging her to think before she says anything. What kind of game is that?
• Epic Fail: When Michael goes to quit the telemarketing job, he discovers he had been mispronouncing the name of the drug he was supposed to be selling the whole time.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Kelly is more of a bratty jerk instead of "evil". Nevertheless, she is unable to comprehend why Darryl wouldn't skip his night with his daughter so the two of them can go on a date.
• Exact Words: This little gem from Dwight to Jim and Pam during their stay at his bed and breakfast.
  Dwight: As of this morning, we are completely wireless here in Schrute Farms. But as soon as I find out where Mose hid all the wires, we'll get that power back on.
• Financial Abuse: Jan is strong-arming Michael into spending a lot of money on redecorating his condo.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Michael shows how he's quite the film buff when he discusses with his telemarketing coworkers the flaws of Live Free or Die Hard.
  • Toby diagrams a sentence in real time to illustrate the correct usage of "who" versus "whom". Later episodes reveal he writes novels as a hobby. (He is played by writer Paul Lieberstein.)
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Michael, as a telemarketer, finds himself the recipient of his own Catchphrase.
    Nick: Everybody, conference room. Five minutes.
    Michael: (aside) These meetings are useless.
  • Kelly calls Darryl the most selfish person she's ever met... because he spends time with his daughter that could be spent with her.
• Ignored Expert: When Nick (the manager of the telemarketing company) chastises Michael for making small talk during his sales calls and not sticking to the script, Michael tries explaining that his experiences at Dunder Mifflin show that building a relationship with a lead tends to be more effective than making a scripted quick pitch, to no avail.
  • On that note, Michael ignores advice from the best seller at the call center, who understands the difference between cold calling someone once versus having an ongoing business relationship with them.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction:
  • "Agro-tourism is more than a Bed and Breakfast. It consists of tourists coming to a farm, showing them around, giving them a bed, giving them breakfast."
  • Michael and Jan consolidated their two cars into one car. It just made good economic sense. It's a Porsche, for Jan.
• Innocently Insensitive: Andy, being unaware of Dwight and Angela's former relationship, comes to Dwight for advice on how to woo Angela.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As much of a Hate Sink as Ryan becomes in this season, it is absolutely true that what a person does outside of work becomes a workplace issue once it affects their job performance. Even with Ryan's "quit the other job or you're fired here" ultimatum, he is nothing but a Reasonable Authority Figure in this episode.
• Large Ham: "I...DECLARE...BANKRUPTCY!!!"
• Literal-Minded:
  • Michael thinks declaring bankruptcy only involves saying it out loud (see Large Ham above). Oscar informs him that there's more to it than that.
  • In a deleted scene, Oscar reluctantly asks if Michael has any CDs that he could borrow from. Michael says that he does, but it's soon clear he's talking about compact discs rather than certificates of deposit.
  "I've been putting money into CDs for years. I bought music I didn't even like."
• Misaimed Fandom: In-Universe, Michael imitates Meryl Streep's character from The Devil Wears Prada when interacting with Pam until he finally finishes the movie and realizes the character is the villain.
• Money Dumb: Michael is shown to be having to take a second job to pay for his debts, not helped by his live-in girlfriend Jan wasting their money and having no idea of the debt issue. When Oscar analyzes his spends, he realizes that Michael's issues come from unnecessary purchases such as bass fishing equipment and multiple magic sets.
• Money to Burn: Michael attempts this by crumbling up a dollar bill and putting it in his pocket. Everyone is quick to point out that he didn't actually destroy it.
• Never My Fault: While going over his finances with Oscar, Michael tries to put all the credit card debt on Jan. While she's certainly been treating him as an ATM, Oscar is quick to find that Michael has made a lot of foolish purchases on his own.
• Nice Guy:
  • Vikram. He's technically competing with Michael for a sales bonus (not that Michael is much of a threat as a telemarketer), but he's still friendly with him and gives advice on how to do the job.
  • Michael himself managed to build a rapport with every other worker at his new job except his boss.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Kevin has started a new band called Scrantonicity II, but doesn't go into details about why he's no longer in Scrantonicity.
  • Mose has had nightmares ever since "the storm".
• Not Helping Your Case: When Ryan tells Michael he cannot have a second job if it affects his performance, Michael claims it is unlikely he would have figured out how to use PowerPoint anyway, implying he wouldn't have done it even if he had the time. It's really not a good argument to make.
• No, You: After Oscar shows Michael a PowerPoint chart about where his finances are going, he recommends Michael talk to Jan. Michael is against it.
  Michael: We'll find another way. We'll ask PowerPoint.
  Oscar: It's a presentation tool.
  Michael: You're a presentation "tool" if you think I'm going to talk to Jan about this.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Michael realized that he has cold-called Stanley.
  • Jim gives a minor glance at Pam when he realizes she said two people are going to Schrute Farms, and that means his first getaway with her will be at Dwight's weird farm rather than someplace romantic.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Jim and Pam feel bad for Dwight after seeing how heartbroken he is so they write a positive review of his farm and Jim gives him a heart-to-heart in the stairwell.
  • Oscar taking the time to help Michael figure out his finances.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Michael's aforementioned "declaration of bankruptcy".
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Michael may not be rich, but he is terrible at managing his funds on his own. Oscar finds that he cannot resist buying everything he sees in late-night infomercials.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Michael runs out of the office and hops on a freight train, hoping to get away from everything.
• Worthless Foreign Degree: While sharing his dinner with Michael, Vikram mentions that he was a surgeon in India.