Despite their record sales, the Michael Scott Paper Company is going broke quickly and they face bankruptcy. However, an investigation by David Wallace might help Michael out.
Episode Tropes:
- Badass Boast: Michael gives one to Wallace and Miner that while his company might be in trouble, Dunder Mifflin is the one in the most trouble and he could always make another paper company if this one fails.Michael: I don't think I have to wait out Dunder Mifflin, I just have to wait out you.
- Batman Gambit: Jim pulls one when Dwight finds out that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke and rushes to tell Miner before the negotations are closed. Knowing that Dwight has already embarrassed Miner twice in front of Wallace, Jim derails him by egging him on about all the cases that he's cracked before. This causes Dwight to go into a rant about solving mysteries on his farm and Miner, clearly out of patience and once again seeing Dwight as an idiot, completely dismisses him and orders him to stay away from the negotiations.
- Coordinated Clothes: A subtle example. Jim and David both happen to be wearing light blue shirts with a blue tie, while Dwight and Charles are both wearing yellow shirts and a brown tie, showing who's on the same wavelength with who.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Implied by Phyllis when she points out to David that he should have talked to Michael on the phone instead of directing him to Charles and this entire situation might not have happened. David admits that he's been wondering the same thing himself.
- Dumbass Has a Point: While it might be stupid of Michael to reject an offer of $60,000, he's not wrong when he says that having a stable job is better.
- Exact Words: When Pam asks if Michael has any coffee, he hands her a thermos and says "milk and sugar". There is no coffee in there. It's just milk and sugar.
- Gilligan Cut: Subverted. As Michael, Ryan and Pam are preparing to negotiate a buyout with Dunder Mifflin, they all repeat to each other that they must not reveal to David that their company is broke, with the elevator doors closing on Michael agreeing out loud that there is no way he's going to admit that they are broke. The show then cuts to... the same elevator, where Michael is now anxiously fretting that he's going to accidentally admit it. In the end, he manages not to.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Charles Miner finally realizes all too late that he has severely misjudged both Jim and Dwight. Jim, whom Charles had dismissed as incompetent, is suggesting completely reasonable business strategies to compete with Michael's company, while Dwight, who Charles invited personally, has completely asinine suggestions such as filling Michael's house with bees and makes Charles looks foolish as a result. This, along with Jim intentionally egging Dwight on to bring out his facetious nature, causes Charles not to believe him when he tries to reveal to him that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke.
- Idiot Ball: Ryan didn't account for expenses such as delivering product when coming up with the company's price model, meaning the company is on its way to bankruptcy. He even has to be lectured on how a variable cost pricing model works despite having gone to business school.
- Ironic Echo: Charles tries to give a last goodbye to the Scranton branch as he's leaving, only for Michael to cut him off and tell him "You're done" in the exact same way Charles had forced him out.
- It's All About Me: After Michael rejects David's $60,000 buyout offer, Ryan complains that Michael just cost him $60,000, somehow believing the money would all have been going to him.
- Malaproper: "Well, well, well, how the turntables..." as well as "Our balls are in your court."
- Professional Butt-Kisser: It's revealed, much to Jim's amusement, that Charles Miner is this way with David Wallace.After witnessing Charles kissing Wallace's ass.
Jim: (makes smooching sounds in a talking head in the break room) - Status Quo Is God: At the end of the episode, Michael, Pam, and Ryan get their jobs back at Dunder Mifflin. Of course, they have to work for it, with Pam's risk in particular in joining Michael getting her a new job in sales.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Michael Scott Paper Company's low prices, while effective in gaining more customers, are costing them money and they could go broke in less than a month.
- On the flip side, because of Michael's company, Dunder Mifflin lost 10 of their biggest clients. Unless they get those back, in the next shareholders meeting, which will happen soon, they're going for David Wallace's head, who will have to explain how the company's most profitable branch is losing clients so quickly. Unspoken, but implied, is that he will have to explain the policies that led to the company's most successful and longest lasting regional manager to quit in frustration.
- Angela and Kelly try listening in on the negotiations by holding a coffee cup up to the wall. When Angela asks what she hears, Kelly responds with muffled noises.
