Line #22 Recap/TheOfficeUSS2E18TakeYourDaughterToWorkDay


1	It's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Take Your Daughter To Work Day]] at Dunder-Mifflin, and (almost) everyone is eager to make a good impression. Toby brings his daughter, Sasha; Kevin brings his fiancee's daughter, Abby; Stanley brings his daughter, Melissa; and Meredith brings her son Jakey, who is suspended from school.
2
3	Air date: March 16, 2006
4
5	!!! Tropes
6
7	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Angela briefly smiles after Dwight tells Jakey off.
8	* BaitAndSwitch: Michael shows everyone an old television show of him as a kid being asked what he wants to be when he grows up. Given that Young Michael Scott appears in a very similar suit and hairstyle to what he has in the present, it's easy to assume as a kid he wanted to have the job he has now, but his real answer is much darker. Given how taken aback by this Michael is, he probably also remembered the moment differently.
9	* CelebrityParadox: Michael mentions ''Film/DaddyDayCare''. Later in the episode, young Chet Montgomery on the ''Fundle Bundle'' tape is played by Damani Roberts, who was in ''Daddy Day Care''.
10	* ClingyJealousGirl: Kelly is jealous that Melissa is talking to Ryan, so she tells Stanley. For context on precisely how petty this is, Melissa is a fourteen year old girl.
11	* CringeComedy: The Ryan/Kelly/Melissa/Stanley subplot, with poor judgment from all involved leading to a very uncomfortable confrontation in the break room.
12	* DamnedByAFoolsPraise: Pam is horrified with Roy winds up bonding with Jakey, a delinquent who's at the office because he was suspended from school, and tells her how great the kid is.
13	* DumbassHasAPoint: Despite shifting the blame to Ryan in a fit of jealousy, Kelly is correct that Melissa's flirting with Ryan needs to be nipped in the bud.
14	* FriendToAllChildren:
15	** While Michael is initially frustrated by the kids' presence (mostly because it means he can't tell adult jokes like he usually does), he eventually warms up to them and does a great job hosting the day's activities.
16	** Jim demonstrates a good knack for interacting with kids, developing a bit of an IntergenerationalFriendship with Abby.
17	** Pam ''wants'' to be this, and frets a bit when she's unable to bond with any of the girls who show up over the day. She eventually ends up making a connection with Jakey, the only boy to show up.
18	* FriendlessBackground: Poor Michael.
19	* FriendlyEnemy: Toby helps save the day for Michael by lending a sympathetic ear and assuring Michael it's not too late to become a father.
20	* IJustWantToHaveFriends: What did a young Michael Scott want to be when he grows up? A father, specifically because then he'd be able to make himself some friends in the form of his children.
21	* KidHasAPoint:
22	** When Michael explains Dunder Mifflin's work to the kids, they correctly point out the company is just the middleman to the manufacturer, who could easily just sell the paper themselves.
23	** Phyllis does indeed look like the stereotypical portrayal of [[NurseryRhyme Mother Goose]], as Sasha mentions.
24	* MistakenForPedophile:
25	** At the end of the episode, Michael decides to give Internet dating a try. He picks a username so that women will know where his priorities are. His username? "[=LittleKidLover=]."
26	** Stanley rather unwisely takes DramaQueen Kelly's story that Ryan was making moves on his teenage daughter at face value and reacts accordingly.
27	* MaliciousMisnaming: Jakey constantly calls Dwight "Mr. Poop."
28	* ManChild: Kelly gets jealous when she sees Stanley's daughter, who's about 13-14 years old, flirts with Ryan and treats her as a legitimate threat to their relationship.
29	* MustHaveCaffeine: Melissa drinks macchiatos...and nothing else. She's in eighth grade.
30	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The normally apathetic and lethargic Stanley absolutely ''explodes'' when he thinks Ryan is flirting with his underage daughter.
31	--> '''Ryan''':Stanley yelled at me today. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.
32	* OddFriendship: After utterly failing to bond with any of the visiting girls, Pam strikes up an unlikely rapport with Jakey over shredding paper.
33	* OhCrap: When Kevin realizes how much porn is on his computer.
34	* PapaWolf: Don't appear to be interested in Stanley's daughter.
35	* PunnyName: Edward R. Meow, the reporter cat puppet on ''Fundle Bundle'', named after Creator/EdwardRMurrow.
36	* RetroactiveRecognition: An in-universe example. When Michael shows his video of ''Fundle Bundle'' to the gang, one of the kids is a boy named Chet, who says he wants to be on TV when he grows up. Everyone recognizes him as a young Chet Montgomery, a popular local TV weatherman.
37	* SameClothesDifferentYear: You can tell which of the kids on ''Fundle Bundle'' is Michael because one of them is a boy with Michael's suit and [[HairstyleInertia hair]].
38	* ScaryBlackMan: When Stanley yells at Ryan. Ryan later calls it one of the scariest moments of his life.
39	* ShoutOut:
40	** To children's literature, specifically ''Literature/{{Struwwelpeter}}'' and ''Literature/FromTheMixedUpFilesOfMrsBasilEFrankweiler''.
41	** Michael mentions Music/JanetJackson and frets that Take Your Daughter to Work Day forces him to adjust his humor style from Creator/EddieMurphy in ''Film/EddieMurphyRaw'' to Eddie Murphy in ''Film/DaddyDayCare''. Michael is also enough of an old time comedy nerd to reference Creator/MelBlanc's conductor character on ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' ("Next stop, Cu…camonga!").
42	** The episode ends with Michael and Dwight singing [[Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung "Teach Your Children"]].
43	* ShowWithinAShow: The show Michael was on as a child, ''Fundle Bundle''. It was based on ''The Land of Hatchy Milatchy'', a real children's show that once aired on local Scranton television and was similar to ''Series/RomperRoom'' or ''Series/TheBozoShow''. The producers of ''The Office'' were unable to secure the rights to use ''Hatchy Milatchy'', so the writers made up their own similar show instead. Viewers who grew up in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area before TheNineties still would've gotten the reference. For example, ''Fundle Bundle'' was hosted by Miss Trudy, while ''Hatchy Milatchy'' was hosted by Miss Judy.
44	* StunnedSilence: Edward R. Meow's initial reaction to kid!Michael's answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?".
45	--> '''kid!Michael''': I wanna be married and have a hundred kids so I can have a hundred friends and nobody can say no to being my friend!
46	-->'''Edward R. Meow''': (''after a JawDrop and a long awkward pause'') Uh... Oh, okay. Well, nice talking with you Michael.
47	* TakeYourChildToWorkDayPlot: The episode's plot revolves around this trope.
48	* WhamLine: Kid!Michael's statement mentioned above goes a ''long'' way toward explaining adult Michael's dysfunctional personality. Ryan even gives a "did you hear that?" AsideGlance to the camera, indicating that a big piece of the puzzle regarding Michael had just dropped for him.
49	* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: Michael says that Creed is in charge of ...something.

Context Recap / TheOfficeUSS2E18TakeYourDaughterToWorkDay