Michael is shaken after Stanley shouts at him during a meeting. Meanwhile, Jim receives some unexpected news.
Tropes
- Blind Without 'Em: Pam is forced to wear her backup glasses because she forgot to bring contact solution after staying at Jim's. After Kevin makes an uncomfortable comment, she takes them off, but her vision is so bad she needs to hold a notepad right up to her face to write something.
- Call-Back: Upon arriving in Scranton, Ryan checks his eyes and nose for any signs of his drug problem.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Exaggerated as Michael manages to mangle several well-known comedy routines in the span of 30 seconds.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When Michael tells everyone he's going to pretend to fire Stanley and they should all act like it's for real to make it believable, Kevin points out that if Michael just kept them all in the dark, they would've just naturally reacted to it.
- Enemy Mine: Toby and Ryan work together to get Jim into trouble.
- Green-Eyed Monster: This is the only actual motive for Ryan and Toby to gang up on Jim and give him an official warning: Ryan is threatened by Jim's better relationship with David Wallace, while Toby is jealous of his relationship with Pam.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Phyllis makes a snide remark about Michael's latest idea, causing him to tell everyone else to get out.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Ryan is going after Jim because he criticized his program, and Toby's going after him because of his relationship with Pam, but they do have a point that Jim does spend too much of his time goofing off. While it's true that Jim is a very effective salesman, one can only imagine how much more paper he'd shift if he didn't waste so much time. (Of course, the fact that Jim is such a good salesman despite his goofing off weakens their point more than a little, as it makes it even clearer that they have no real justification for giving him a formal warning and that their only real reasons for targeting him are petty and unprofessional.)
- After Stanley's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Michael, Michael comes back with the fact that while that may well be the case, Michael is still his boss and so, while he might never have Stanley's respect, he doesn't deserve and won't tolerate outright insubordination. Stanley concedes the point.
- In general, Michael's response to Stanley's outburst is, as always, over-the-top and based more on his insecurities and neediness than professional boundaries. However, Stanley was flagrantly not paying attention during a work meeting and his outburst was triggered not by one of Michael's usual inane distractions but by Michael actually trying to get him to concentrate and contribute in a professional situation for once. While working for Michael can be trying and, as Stanley notes, he can be a difficult man to respect, Stanley genuinely was in the wrong on this occasion and Michael had legitimate grounds for disciplinary action against him.
- It is worth noting that Michael's attempts to get Stanley involved in the meeting were based around a racial stereotype to begin with, while that likely wasn't what triggered Stanley's snappish responce, it's not a good look for Michael.
- Painting the Medium: When Michael snaps at Stanley and orders everyone else out, including the camera crew. The next scene of him confronting Stanley is shown through the camera crew sneaking back into the office and filming the pair through windows guerrilla-style.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Ryan's official warning to Jim is conducted in fine passive aggressive corporate style, including a slimy little "Whoa, don't get all defensive" admonition when Jim — who is entirely calm, if a little understandably stung at getting a sudden and largely undeserved professional reprimand — tries to ask for more clarification about what's brought on this warning in the first place. Because the truth, of course, is that it's really only been brought on by nothing more than Ryan feeling threatened by Jim's good relationship with David Wallace and Toby's jealousy over his relationship with Pam.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Stanley lays into Michael, telling him how he can't stand working for him.
- Request for Privacy: Michael asks everyone in the room to leave following a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Stanley. Once they're alone, Michael tearfully asks Stanley why he keeps insulting him, to which Stanley responds that he doesn't respect him. Michael accepts this after regaining his composure, but asserts his authority by telling him not to do it again because he's his boss. Stanley agrees, implying a newfound amount of respect, albeit a small one.
- Running Gag: Darryl's fondness for feeding Michael ridiculous nonsense about African-American culture in general and his supposedly "street" past in particular.
- Shout-Out: When Michael asks if he was ever in a gang, Darryl says one of the gangs he was in was The Warriors. Another was the Newsies.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: After Stanley's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Michael, Michael has a simple retort: while the things Stanley tore into Michael for may be true, the simple fact is that Michael is still Stanley's boss and is entitled to some basic respect even if by virtue of his position alone, and Stanley's just going to have to suck that up.
- Stealth Insult: At the end of the episode, Michael pitches a new (very bad) idea, causing Stanley to snark, "It has the potential to be your best idea yet". It sails over Michael's head and Stanley gets to keep disrespecting Michael without raising his voice. Stanley learned something after all.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Dwight's emergency disaster mode for the org chart has this feel.
- Title Drop: The episode is named after what Stanley yells at Michael in the cold opening, in one of the rare occasions that Stanley gets mad.
- Troll: Jim appears to be proposing to Pam, but then asks for a cup of coffee to "energize" him. She flat-out says that if he proposes during a Michael meeting, she will say no.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Michael tries to portray himself and Stanley as this, even though it's clear that Stanley just plain does not like him. The examples of "friendly trash talk" he gives are clearly serious insults.
