When Jim convinces Dwight that the building is unsafe due to a radiation leak, Dwight rents a bus and sets up the office inside. Meanwhile, Nellie asks Andy for a letter of recommendation in order to adopt a baby.
Tropes
- Comically Missing the Point: When Jim admits to Dwight that he was tricking him with the half-popped popcorn bag, Dwight responds "You mean you flooded my building with dangerous electromagnetic radiation as a prank? That's the best prank you've ever done."
- Does Not Like Spam: When going over the pies that they'll eat, Pam notes to Jim that rhubarb is the one flavor served that she does not like, something she reiterates when Dwight promises to get her rhubarb pie.
- A Father to His Men: Jim motivates Dwight, who's bummed out about not being the father to Angela's child, by telling him that because he owns the building, the employees of the office are like his children (or "Bildenkinder", as Dwight puts it).
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Jim pranks Dwight to try and get some time at home for himself and Pam. However, this backfires on Jim as Dwight is the office's landlord and Dwight uses a clause in the tenancy agreement to provide an alternative workspace in the form of the titular, cramped, Work Bus.
- Hypocritical Humor: Andy plays a video just consisting of the group's "fails" from their softball game, and chastises them for not being able to accept their failures. When Jim then plays the video Andy "left out" of him accidentally splashing himself with the water cooler and everyone chants "Fail!" at Andy, Andy quickly loses his temper.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Nellie presents Andy with her adoption letter and Andy quickly dismisses it as unsignable and wishes Nellie luck with her "impossible dream". What Andy doesn't realize is that Erin helped Nellie write it using her own experiences of being in foster care and never being adopted, so she ends up taking Andy's rejection personally.
- Jim listing infertility as a symptom of EMH exposure to make Dwight think the radiation spots in the building are dangerous was just a means to convince him to give everyone the week off from work. But he didn't know Dwight was still upset about the DNA test for Angela's baby coming out negative and ends up driving Dwight into anger and depression.
- Jerkass Hasa Point: If Dwight is shelling his own money for gas and it is a work day, it's not really his fault that Jim desperately wants to make amends to lying for her.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Andy, after rejecting Nellie's adoption letter, walks over to what he thinks is Nellie crying over it... only to discover she's actually consoling Erin, who helped Nellie write the letter and felt hurt by Andy's cold rejection of it. Andy immediately feels regret.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Pam senses that something is deeply wrong with Dwight besides his usual annoyance with Jim, saying that if Dwight was really mad at him, he'd be plotting revenge but instead is just moping and lashing out. She encourages Jim to confront Dwight directly, which is how Jim finds out that Dwight is still reeling over having learned that Angela's baby wasn't fathered by him, and Jim's trick convinced him into thinking his own building's EMF made him infertile.
- Pie in the Face: At the end, Kevin attempts to insult Oscar to try to invoke this trope. Oscar does not feel offended by Kevin's pathetic attempts at insulting him, though he quickly realizes what Kevin is trying to do and decides to humor his co-worker, to Kevin's joy.
- Serious Business: The office will not rest until they get pies from Laverne's Pie Stand. Kevin is so concerned about the pies that he's able to calculate perfect math by adding "pies" into the equation, while Stanley treats the matter with more seriousness than even Pretzel Day, displaying ecstasy at the thought at least twice in the episode and angrily yelling at Jim to resolve the stubborn Dwight matter as quickly as possible.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Andy initially vowed not to sign Nellie's letter unless she admitted to being a horrible person and unfit mother. But after realizing that his rejection of it affected Erin personally, Andy changes his mind and gives Nellie his signature for the letter, along with his own amendment snarkily but sincerely vouching for Nellie as a mother.
