Office Ladies - Peacock Superfan: Customer Survey

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela break down the Peacock Superfan episode of “Customer Survey”. Heartbroken Michael has left Holly in Nashua, Jim and Pam are long distance as Pam studies art in New York and Angela Martin plans her wedding with Andy despite having a secret affair with Dwight. Not to mention Kelly has sabotaged customer surveys to reflect poorly on Jim and Dwight. The ladies remember where they were when shooting this episode, Angela points out a Dwight talking head that had 32 candy bag alts and with the help of Rich Sommer, Jenna brings to life the original scene that was ultimately rewritten where Alex confesses his love for Pam. So no need to be smudge and arrogant, just enjoy this episode!  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on TikTok To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together and we're best friends. And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you. Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews behind the scenes details and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0. Hi there, everybody.

Bonjour. Why French? That's why I found out today. I don't know. I'm wearing a black and white stripy sweater. And I just feel like if I had a red beret, I'd be very French right now. You would. Well, I couldn't wear my beret and my headphones to podcast.

True. Before we get into this episode, I mean, are you dying to hear a jumping up and down update? Did you do your 50 jumps? Every day. I'm doing them every day. My calves don't hurt anymore. Really? Yeah.

That was just the first couple of days. days. And I'm, I think there's something to this. It's really great. I have a question for you. What? Are you jumping in sneakers or barefoot? How? What? What? Not in sneakers. So here's what I do. I get up in the morning. I shower or get dressed. I mean, I have to put something on the ladies, some form of support. Right. So they don't bounce like crazy. Right. And then I jump. And then I go downstairs and I get my cup of coffee. and I get my morning started. But it's like very first thing and I'm usually, Sam, what is it?

How high are you jumping? Not high. You don't have to jump high. Okay. I'm picturing you doing like basketball style like leaps for, okay. No, imagine like enough for a jump rope to fit under my feet. Okay, perfect. But I'm not bending my knees.

I'm just jumping up. But then I also like I wave my arms because I just like want my arms to be part of the pumping of the jumping. Perfect. What day are you on? How many days? Maybe like 10 now or something? I don't know. I need to look and see when I started. You got to mark that down. This is where my mind goes, because my house is this older house, right? That if our kids jump upstairs in the kitchen, we're like, what was that? Yeah. I mean, it's so loud. So I started a picture of Lee making coffee in the morning and like, ding, ding, ding, ding.

They didn't mention anything. I had to tell them I was doing the jumping. No one said, mom, what's happening up there every morning now? Well, you probably have better insulation than we have. Maybe. I mean, you could drop a corridor upstairs and we're like, oh, someone drop something. Are you still patting yourself down, Angela? I don't do it every day. I don't know why that's funny to me.

Because it's predictable. The most predictable thing about me is my inconsistency with a new trend. The only thing I've stuck with is tennis. I'm like, I do tennis every week. That's all I got. Well, listen, why don't we jump into this episode today? We are going to break down the super fan of customer survey. Customer survey was season five, episode seven.

It was written by Lester Lewis and directed by Stephen Merchant. We've got a version of Fast Facts for you, friends. It's called, Where Are They Now? That's what it's called. Yes, Fast Fack number one is called Where Are They Now Character Recap. Cassie helped us with this. We thought it might be good. to frame, where are we now in everyone's storyline?

So last episode, the episode prior to customer survey, Michael and Daryl drop Holly off at Nashua. This is after David Wallace caught Michael and Holly kissing at the Crime Aid fundraiser and said they can no longer work together. Yeah, so he transfers Holly. That was such a dick move, David Wallace. I agree. How many people are hooking up in this office over the years?

Seriously. So many. Angela Martin would have been transferred a long time ago. I know. Well, Holly doesn't think that a long-distance relationship is going to work and ends things with Michael. It's very sad. Yeah. Pam is in New York. She is attending art school and now also working at the corporate offices of Dundermifflin.

She and Jim are engaged. Angela Martin is engaged to Andy. and Andy is very excitedly planning their wedding. But Angela is also having a secret affair with Dwight that Phyllis got a glimpse of back in season four finale Goodbye Toby. So there's a lot happening here. Yeah. And finally, Ryan is back working at Dunder Mifflin,

and he's sort of seeing Kelly and his reluctant aloof dating style. So you guys, this episode originally aired on November 6th, 6, 2008, and Jenna thought it would be fun if we did a little thing called, where were we? Yes. Where were we? Our fast fact, too, is called where were we? Where were we as Jenna and Angela? Angela, do you want to tell us where you were? Yeah, I went into my digital clutter, like you know I like to do, and I have emails for you. Okay. That I'm going to share. The first one is, me and you and Jen Salada, writer, director, Jen Salada, had a thread going. We did?

Yeah. The week this episode came out, in fact, Jen emailed us and said, you guys, this is what I was talking about on set. Have you seen this? And it's titled Ninja Cat. What? And I wrote, LOL So Awesome. And you wrote, ha, ha, ha, ha. And I went to the video and it's now unavailable.

Oh, no. It was clearly has, I mean, if titled correctly, is some sort of cat doing ninja moves? I don't know. Ninja moves, okay? But a glimpse into what we talk about on set, by the way. Yes. Also this week, we got an email from Randy Cordray. Oh, I just love even saying his name because I just adore him.

The email is titled, Office Latest Schedule. and he addressed it, Hi, team office, please see the attached schedule. It is now our plan to only shoot the Super Bowl two-parter in December. We will shut down production for Thanksgiving from Monday, November 17th through Friday, December 12th. We're also going to have a table read on Wednesday, December 3rd. Oh. I know.

And then he sent us a whole schedule, which you would have loved. And it said, who was writing what episode and what director they had picked? I would love that. I know. And then lastly, I have one where I sent you a picture of Isabel being super cute. And you sent back a picture of yourself in a Dallas Cowboys jersey in front of wallpaper that you'd put in your bathroom. And the wallpaper was all these different. It looked like bugs, maybe.

Yes. Yes. So in our old house, we wallpapered our bathroom with the page. of this book that was like, it was like illustrations of bugs and insects and snakes and things. But it was really cool looking. Oh, we thought this was like the coolest thing. Well, you look adorable in this picture.

Well, thank you. I was trying to figure out if it was an early selfie or if you like set the phone down. Oh, yeah. Clearly you took it, but it's super cute. Well, there you go. That's what you and I were doing in my digital clutter. We were getting emails from Randy with schedules. We were looking at Ninja Cats and wallpaper and cute babies.

I love your digital clutter. That brought back such great memories. I know, but don't you want to find Ninja Cat now? I do. Yeah. Well, I did a little deep dive, and I found that in November of 2008, I attended a special screening of the movie Milk in New York. Oh.

And I found pictures of it, and I was reminded of how incredibly proud I was of the outfit that I put together for myself. I styled myself for this screening. Oh, I can't wait. What was your big showstopper fashion accessory? Okay. So it was all black. It was black pants, then this black blouse, but the blouse had like a ruffle running down the front of it. Like, it was a button down blouse. And then on each side of the buttons was like a structured kind of ruffle. Like a prom tuxedo? A little, but it was a buttoned down blouse. A little, but Not super big, but like, I mean, cute. And then I had on a black blazer and I had on black patent heels and I had like a black purse.

But I know that sounds boring. Let me tell you my big style moment. I wore a gray patent belt. Oh. That's right. It was all black except the belt. I mean, you are just really on the edge of like crazy, risky fashion trend.

Yeah, I know. Exactly. I also wore some hoop earrings. Oh. Yeah. Sounds like. Yeah. Lee was my date. Apparently, Sean Penn was there.

I mean, he's in all the pictures when I was looking up this event, but I didn't meet him. Oh, well, I would very much like to see her outfit. All right. I'll send you a picture of it. I feel like if I had met Sean Penn, he would have been like, that's a stylish lady. I'm glad she came to my screening. You know? Yeah.

I'm sure that is like how he measures. Yeah. Like people by their style. Seems like it, right? Yeah, he seems that way. He does. I'm kidding. I don't know him at all.

I know. I love that. I mean, one of the things that has been so fun about our rewatch podcast and is just revisiting this time in our life. You know? It's been really, really delightful. And at this point, it's been long enough that. revisiting the fashion of that time in our life is also kind of fun. Okay.

Where are we? Fast fact three. Are you ready for it? Yeah. You don't know it. It's a Dr. Tibido tidbit. I love Dr.

Tibido. All right. Someone shared this with me. I guess he posted this over on our Facebook fan page group. Mm-hmm. Here is what he said. Quote, If you listened to every podcast episode one time up through office food, you have now spent

13 days of your life listening to Office Ladies. That's like listening to Office Ladies all the way through the Siege of the Alamo, or if JFK played the ladies through the entire Cuban Missile Crisis. Oh, Lord. Hopefully your 13 days were much less stressful. Aw. But we have created now even more than 13 days, but 13 full days of content for people. I mean, we are here for you if you're going to drive coast to coast.

Yeah. No kidding. We got you covered. Dr. Tipito, I love all of your stats. Well, why don't we take a break? And we'll come back with our breakdown of the Superfan episode of Customer Survey. There is so much more delicious stuff in the Superfan. I can't wait to chat about it.

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and you can choose to get paid via Interact E-Transfer, PayPal, or check. Join for free today and get a new member bonus after minimum qualifying purchases. Just go to rackettin.ca. Download the app or install the browser extension. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Terms and conditions apply. Hey, friends, I'm Sharon McMahon, host of the preamble. Listen, I know you're dealing with a lot, and it's even harder to do it when the world around you feels chaotic.

But I'm here to help. Each week, my expert guests and I slow things down to talk about the stories shaping our world, what's really happening behind the headlines, why it matters, how it all connects. And if you're ready for real understanding and maybe even a little bit of hope, follow and listen to the preamble wherever you get your podcasts. all right we are back and let's talk about a few of the storylines in this episode starting with the cold open where michael is lying about being engaged to holly oh yes michael has everyone gathered around him in his office he's sitting at his desk and in true michael fashion

he asked to lie and say everything is fine and not only that they're engaged lady in the extended version michael really really spends a yarn that's so much longer than the one that is in the original broadcast. He details his huge proposal to Holly. It made me laugh so hard. I want us to hear the whole thing. Come on. How did you propose?

Spill it. Were you wasted? How did I propose? Let me see. Well, I drove her up to Nashua and I had the ring. Big 10-carat diamond. It was beautiful. And I got down on my hands and knees and shooting star.

crossed overhead and it just lit up the diamond like a shooting star and we were in a restaurant and i put the diamond into a cheeseburger and she took a bite started to choke so what do i do ixed PR training, go around, start doing the Heimlich. The ring pops out of her mouth, hits her shrimp cocktail right onto her finger. Million to one shot. All of the Greek people in the restaurant start screaming, who bah! Which means congratulations.

Oh, man. Okay, I just, can we talk about how in his fantasy, he could make this engagement anything he would, wanted. In his fantasy, his fiance chokes on the ring, and he has to save her life. Yeah. Amazing. And there's shrimp cocktail. He's on his hands and knees. There's so many wonderful details. There's so many details. I just loved it. And as Steve, as Michael Scott is delivering this, Steve is so brilliant because he is making it seem like Michael is just making this up on the spot and he's got that kind of look of wonder in his eye as the lie gets bigger and bigger.

But we know that Steve was doing a scripted dialogue. But he's making it seem like Michael's discovering it. It's just brilliant. Steve is brilliant. We all know this. That was a big part of the Michael character that Steve had to play all the time was delivering dialogue like that. Yes, with like this sense of wonder that it's coming out of his mouth.

Well, after that moment, there was. one more really great couplet of dialogue that is new to the super fan. Because right after Michael's speech, Andy gets very excited and he goes, big idea. We should totally do a double wedding. You and Holly, me and Angela. And Michael goes, we would never do that. And if we did, it would be with Jim and Pam. And then Jim goes, and we would never do that. And Michael goes to Andy. So there you go. It was like multiple disses on different levels. Yes. This got me curious about double weddings. Would you ever do a double wedding? Would I ever do a double wedding? Yeah. I wouldn't. No. No. I know. I want the party to be my party. Yeah. I don't want to share my party. I looked into it. I guess only 1% of weddings are double weddings in places like the U.S., the UK, Canada, and Australia. There are other parts of the world where double weddings are more popular. But I ended up on some thread about double weddings, and there were two people who shared

double wedding stories, and I thought I could share them. Okay. I mean, I guess, I mean... I think I was on Quora. Oh, yeah, Quora will get you a random answer. You know, here's the thing. I don't mean to poo-poo double weddings for the 1% that have had them. I just, I guess maybe it saves money, right?

Yep. But you would have to really like the other people and really have the same take. Yes. Well, here's what one person said. They said, quote, I have only ever been to one double wedding. Two sisters whose parents had also been married in a double wedding. And their father was the minister of the church. So the logistics were quite a performance, but it all went perfectly. This person went on to say, first, the dad escorted his eldest daughter down the aisle. Then he went back, escorted his younger one down the aisle. aisle. He didn't bother asking who gives this woman. I think he said something to the effect of I give this woman. Then he went through all the vows with one couple and then he did it again with the second couple. So not only was it a double wedding, but the dad was the minister of the double wedding. I mean, I feel like Michael Scott would be so delighted to be this dad. He could walk both his daughter's down the aisle at the same day and he gets to do all the talking? This is Michael Scott's

dream wedding. I'm just asking myself if I'm the younger sister. Am I annoyed? Am I like just this whole thing? It's like I'm the second bride to walk down the aisle. I'm the second set of vows that get exchanged. Like is everyone done kind of like crying after the first one? Also, what about the bouquet Tos. Everyone's fought it out for the older sister's bouquet. And then you're like, you're like in the back one like, you guys, I have one to throw. So am I my book? Yeah. I don't have any details on that. All right. Here's my next letter. My next Quora. I have been a wedding officiant for 20 years and full time for six. That's literally hundreds of weddings and I've done one double wedding. It was for two sisters. One was marrying a man.

the other was marrying a woman. So the sister who was engaged to the man held off marrying her fiancé until it was legal for her sister to wed her bride. And once marriage equality laws were passed, they decided to both get married in a double wedding.

I was like, I had goosebumps by the end of this. I was like, that is the sweetest thing. Yeah, that is sweet sibling, like, support and love. that is really nice. That's special. I know. All right. That's what I got on double weddings, everybody.

So back to this episode. After the credits, we have the scene where Kelly comes into Michael's office and she's carrying a stack of customer surveys. But first, she tells Michael, hey, you know, I just need you to know. I'm out $100 on the bridesmaid's dress that I bought for this wedding that turned out to be fake. In the broadcast version, she sort of drops that news. and then Michael says, are those the customer surveys? Like, the joke is that he just kind of ignores her.

Yeah. In the superfan version, this conversation was longer. And Michael expands on what it's been like for him since he lost his fake fiancé. I think we should hear it. So I returned my bridesma dress, and it was on sale, so I'm out $100. And I'm out of fiancé. You know what that feels like? it is like

hot sand that you drink and then you go to get a glass of water and it's just more hot sand and then you start thinking why is hot sand coming out of my faucet you want to talk to your fiancé about it but she's gone

that's actually how I feel about my dress I know I love that no matter what Michael says Kelly's going to bring it back to her dress but also So how did she even have time to buy a dress? Didn't he's only had this fake fiancé for like,

didn't it all fall apart all in the same? Oh, yeah. Do you think Kelly had bought this dress and wanted to return it? And this is like she's trying to get Michael to pay for it. It was like not connected. I don't know. Or am I missing something? Like, I feel like didn't he announce he was engaged and then it all fell apart all in the same scene?

It definitely feels like it fell apart in the same day. Yes. Well, we also learn pretty quickly that Jim and Dwight didn't do well on their customer surveys. And Sam, Cassie, Jenna, four minutes and 47 seconds. Clacky balls! Clacky balls, catch. Yeah. Yeah.

I just really miss a clacky ball catch. I still have the clacky balls that Cassie untangled for me in my office. Sam, it was a gift you gave me. I just want you to know. Wait. Didn't somebody else? as clacky balls get tangled and we never untangled them? Didn't that happen?

Are they mine? Are my clacky balls tangled? No, mine were tangled for like almost a year because my friends, my neighbor's toddler, came over and went, like, wait, wait, wait. You guys, please hold. I need to check my clacky balls. Holding. Well, are your clacky balls tangled?

Um, you tell me. Nope. No. It's so frustrating to watch. It's so satisfying. I think it's so satisfying. All right. My clacky balls are fine.

I couldn't wait. I'm sorry, everybody. I didn't want to wait until after we were done podcasting to know. Well, there you have it. Clacky ball catch. I also have another moment in this scene between Jim and Michael that I want to point out. First of all, one of my favorite lines in the whole episode, which is when Jim's like, how'd I do?

And Michael goes, you did poopie. It's like so funny to me that he said the word poopie. I don't know. It makes me laugh every time. But Michael also mashes two words to form a new word. Lady, there's a new Michael word. We did not talk about this in any detail the first time we rewatched it. We sort of lightly mention it, but we don't share it in its full moment.

You know what I mean? Okay. So in this moment, Michael is reading comments that people have said about Jim in his customer's review. And Michael says, let's see what we can find out. Sorry. This line also made me laugh. I'm sorry.

This whole scene got me. Jim's like, can I see what people said? And Michael's like, yeah. And he goes, let's see what we can find out with reading. What? With reading just made me laugh. And then he reads, Jim Halpert is smudge and arrogant. And Jim goes, I think you mean smug.

And Michael goes, arrogant. And Jim goes, come on, Michael. and then Michael says, and there's our smudgness. Smudgness. Yeah. It's smudged and arrogant. I love it. I want to start using smudgness.

All right. I'll do it with you. Okay. Well, this scene extends further in the superfan version, and we see who actually did well on the customer survey. Stanley and Phyllis are high fiving. Andy awkwardly tries to get in on the high five, but their whole desk clop did well. Yeah. This is suspect.

Well, I want to discuss. the scene in the kitchen with Jim and Andy. This is the one where Jim is drinking from Andy's mug. Andy wants coffee and he's annoyed because Jim is using the mug and he asked Jim to swap it out, but Jim refuses. Yeah. I mean, I love it because Andy says, dude, that is my face. Like, it's very clearly his mug.

Yes, and Jim, like, holds the coffee cup up and then Andy makes the face on the mug. Yeah. Well, listen, we talked a lot about these mugs when we first broke down this episode, but we didn't discuss this scene, which I would like to do now, because I want to know, how do we feel about this? Also, we got a fan letter from Vanessa G. who said, not a question, but more of a comment. Jim has no sense of personal boundaries. He drinks out of Andy's cup, which he later does with Daryl's mug and doesn't find it wrong. Remember when they're an athlete and he's drinking out of Daryl's stuff? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

When I rewatch this episode, I was also struck by this. So here are my questions for us. Number one, is Andy being unreasonable asking Jim to switch mugs? Number two, is Jim being a dick? Number three, are you possessive about your coffee mug? And number four, how would you feel if you saw someone drinking from your mug? Begin. I have strong feelings right out of the gate.

Okay. Andy is not being unreasonable. That's his mug with his face on. it and he probably drinks out of it every day. Yes, Jim is a dick. Yes, I'm possessive about my coffee mug. And I would not like someone drinking out of my hummingbird coffee mug. I feel the same. I feel 100% the same. Like how much effort is it for Jim to just transfer his coffee into another mug and give Andy his mug back and say, oh my God, I'm so sorry. Yeah. And look, at home, you know, whatever. I have a bunch of different mugs. Josh might drink out of

one of my mugs. I don't care. You know, they're all. are mugs in our kitchen, right? Exactly. At work, you're working with people who aren't your family. They're your co-workers and you might have brought in your mug from home or maybe it's a mug you got at work, but it's your mug and everyone knows it's your mug. Exactly. I would not be happy if I came into work one day and one of y'all was drinking out of my

pockets mug. I know. I'd say what's going on. I would never do that. Why are you? And I would not drink out of your hummingbird mug. I know. I wouldn't do it.

Mm-mm. Boundaries, people. Boundaries. Well, we also got a letter about these coffee mugs from Roz F, who wrote in to say, there did not appear to be a mug with Michael's face. Was he left off Kelly's guest list? You would think he would be upset about not being invited to her party? Or was that addressed somewhere in the deleted scenes? I thought of this as well when I was re-watching it. Yeah, you feel like for sure you would have seen Michael's face on one of those mugs. I went to the shooting draft, and Roz, here's all that it said I'm going to share with you. In the stage direction, it says Jim stops when he sees something on Stanley's desk. The camera zooms in on a mug of pencils with Stanley's snapshot printed on it. Jim turns to the other desk. The camera whips around and discovers other photo mugs. Kevin has one full of M&Ms.

Angel has one full of paper clips next to a similar mug with a picture of her cat. We pan back to Jim as he heads into the kitchen. Jim opens a cabinet inside amongst the random coffee cups, Jim finds photo mugs of Oscar, Phyllis, and Creed. So no mention of Michael. No mention of Michael. So at the end, when Michael is in that scene with Kelly, I'm surprised he didn't say,

why wasn't I invited to that party? See, now I am willing to suspend belief and believe that he was, and his mug is like in his office. and we just don't see it. Right. Because I don't think he could be nice to Kelly at the end if he was also like if she had not invited him.

Yeah, he would be so wounded. He'd see all those coffee mugs around the office. He would have known. In the way that Jim and Dwight didn't even realize that Kelly had made a gift for her party that a little take-home gift, Michael would have noticed it right away. No, you're right.

Yeah. I agree. So now you guys, Dwight, thinks he's being sabotaged, and he says, these can't be my scores, Jim, for your information, I'm being sabotaged. And I'm going to find that person and punish them. And now he's on the case. He's going to mom detective this. He really is. Do you think we could have solved this as mom detectives? Me and you? Yeah. I don't think I would have picked up on Kelly on the phone, you know, when Dwight's like, I hear something. I don't think I would have heard anything. But she wasn't on the phone.

She was. She was. She was listening in? How did I miss that? Yes. No. He just storms back to her desk, but she wasn't really listening in, was she? Yes. She quickly hangs up the phone when he comes into her nook. I totally missed that. Yeah.

He's talking to the guy, and he literally tells a person he's trying to make a sale to. Shut up. Shut up. Do you hear that? I know. And I thought the guy was like, what? No, I just need paper. And then Dwight immediately runs back to customer service because I think part of their job, like quality assurance is they listen in on calls.

There had to have been blue. For that scene where Rain storms back, because there's absolutely no way that Mindy Kaling, even like the first time he stormed back there, I don't believe she got a single word out of her mouth. No, there's definitely- I mean, that would be really hard for her. There's definitely bloopers. And also, John was really messing with Rain. Remember, he kept pulling his arm back and they were like kind of fighting. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Listen, lady, should we take a break? And then when we come back, we can dive into a little bit of this Jim Pam storyline with the Bluetooth. Oh, yeah, and all the different things they hear from each other's day. And then he mutes some stuff so she doesn't hear. Shady. That's some shady fiancé material right there. Hmm. Yeah.

Jim's doing some shady stuff in this episode with Andy's mug and with the Bluetooth. The muting. Shady Jim. Shady Jim. All right. We'll be back. all right we're back and like we said before this is the episode where jim and pam are on the phone with one another the whole time and so throughout this episode we cut between jim at work at dundermifflin

and pam at work at the corporate offices of dundermifflin and i want to start out by discussing a little of pam's wardrobe okay so there's a whole story here and as i rewatched this i was like Oh, yeah, I see what happened. This wardrobe, we received a note from NBC executives about this episode. And I'll explain why. You might notice I'm wearing a very chunky scarf with a blazer. Okay. And I remember when we were designing Pam's New York corporate look, we wanted it to be different from what she might wear in Scranton,

but we also wanted there to be some element of her artistic art school vibe. So the idea we came up with was this idea of wearing scarves and blazers. So wait, let me get this straight. New York, Pam, is scarfy? Yes. Okay. She wears a scarf with a blazer. Okay.

She's scarfy blazer. Scarfey blazer. So when this episode went to the network, they came back with a note. They said they felt like there was just way too much fabric up around my face. It's just, it was a real kind of chunky scarf. And unfortunately, I had also worn something very similar in employee transfer. That's when I meet Jim's brothers for the first time, and I'm wearing this scarf in blazer. But that scarf was not as bulky.

I also had the same look in business trip, which we had already shot when we got this note about NBC hating the bulky scarves. So anyway, if you watch season five, you're going to see that there's this scarf blazer trend. There's a couple of real bulky scarves. But then as soon as Pam gets back to Dunder Mifflin and frame Toby, it's like no more weird scarf business. It's like, in fact, it's like a cute little top with like short sleeve. Like there's way more skin because they were like, there's all I see is fabric and her face. We need to end to this. I am so curious about who this really bumped at NBC.

Like, who fired off that email? Who was like, what the hell is happening to Pam in New York? The scarf. Lose the scarf. And then they probably stayed on top of it. They were like, I'm seeing another scarf. Hello, scarf number three, scarf number four. I know.

And then they were like, I'm sorry, we already shot the episodes. Do you want us to reshoot these scenes without a scarf? And they were like, no, we can't afford that. but for all future episodes, I don't want to see another one of these scarves. I love the idea of someone being really pissed off at NBC about the scarves. They really would micromanage my Pam wardrobe sometimes. I mean, I told you early on, they tried to put me in a pair of pants, and they said, no, she needs to be in a skirt.

Well, that was an overall note for the ladies, very 1950s of them, because I wanted to wear pants one time, and I also was told they wanted us in skirts. But you eventually did get to wear a lot of pants. Not a lot. Not a lot. Not a lot. Once or twice here or there, maybe for a cold open where we show a jump in time

and then we jump back. But no, very rarely. The only time I was allowed to wear pants is if I was wearing jeans and it was like some episode like where we go to Jim's house for the barbecue or something. Yeah, or like Andy's play. I got to wear jeans.

That was very exciting. Yeah. All right. Well, listen, this is also the episode where Jim reveals that he needs his annual bonus so that he can buy his parents home because they want to retire. He has not told this to Pam. So this is why he's so nervous about these customer surveys because they might affect his bonus. And that's why he has to mute.

He has to mute so Pam doesn't overhear everything. Exactly. But definitely Pam is the villain in this relationship. So we want to make sure we remind everybody that Pam is an awful person and Jim is wonderful. Don't come for Pam, people. Now we have this famous, hilarious, amazing butt-licker scene. I could watch this scene every day of my life. I'm not kidding.

I love it that much. It's so damn funny. And just so you all know, it is exactly the same in the broadcast version and the superfan version. it's perfection. They included everything. It's so good. Yeah, they did not mess with it, thankfully, because it is brilliant. I did have a fun catch that I didn't personally clock the first time. You guys might have all clocked this, but I don't know why this whole episode, to me, I was really paying attention to the mangled phrase count. And Jim has his own mangled phrase. It's in this scene, and I want you to hear it.

Here's going to happen. I am going to have to fix you. Manage you to, on a more personal scale, a more micro form of management. Jim, what is that called? Microgermint? Boom. Yes. Microdriment. But listen, I don't think that's a Jim mangled phrase. I think that's Jim speaking Michael.

Well, yes, yes. I should have framed that better. Yes, that is Jim having a little fun with Michael, knowing that Michael will think that's an actual word. Yes. And maybe getting back at him for smudgness. But it did crack me up. And I do have one more other runner I need to talk about, lady. Okay.

So finally, we all find out that Dwight was right about him and Jim being sabotaged by Kelly. And in rewatching the superfan version, there is this runner at the end where Jim says, you know, on the Bluetooth to Pam, turns out Dwight was right. And then Pam says, I wonder what else Dwight was right about. And then there are a series of Dwight talking heads. where he is supposedly right about things. It cuts all around the office, out in the parking lot, different days. It's like the documentary crew has compiled these moments over time, and now they're airing them all as a little runner.

I thought it was so funny. So funny. I looked in our candy bag alts for this runner. Lady, the character of Dwight had 32 talking head alts. Wow. 32. Wow. I want to play what made it into the superfan,

and then I'll read a few that didn't make it in. Ready? Okay, great. Here's this runner. It is a fact that major pharmaceuticals do not want you to know that beet juice has medicinal value, both as an aphrodisiac and a laxative. Every article by Christopher J. Kelly of the Scranton Times Tribune

contains five to seven swear words, hidden amongst the letters of other words. The Scranton Zoning Board has a strong bias against beet farmers. The mayor is in the pocket of Big Lettuce. Battlestar Galactica isn't a documentary. exactly the book all the president's men is about a conspiracy just not the one people think Jesus had a daughter and she was the Mona Lisa according to my sources Scranton mayor Chris Dority checked out patio gardening over nine weeks ago from the

Scranton Public Library no fines no fees no nothing guess who appointed the head librarian what we have come to know is fake crab meat is in fact real crab meat and real crab meat is lobster so much So much, but there were so many more. Here are a few. Dwight would have also said, bananas are upside down. Okay. If ants and wastes ever figure out their differences, it's curtains for the human race. I actually think that's true.

Really? Toilet paper? One plie or two ply? How about no ply? What the bathroom tissue syndicate doesn't want you to know is that if you eat properly, you don't need their product at all. Okay, I'm going to tell you something. That's kind of true. What are you talking about? If you eat healthy and you poop, there's nothing, no residue on your butt? I think so. I think it's just you have a clean, what would you call that a clean drop? A clean drop. Every time you have to have a very specific diet. I don't know. What about pee? Come on. Yeah, ladies still need the toilet paper for pee. But, you know, I'm a big believer in the bidet.

You know, I moved a wall in my house to make room for a bidet. Yeah. When we renovated our home after we bought it, I moved a whole wall so that I could put a bidet in my bathroom. I love my bidet. When we lived in London, we had a bidet. And when we came home from London, I was like, I can't live without that thing. Yeah.

I mean, when we went to Singapore, Josh was like, whatever that toilet is we're getting when we get home because it does everything that has a remote control. That's the thing. Now you can get like bidet toilets, but I'm talking, this was like 15 years ago. And like the bidet that I knew of was the one that had to like sit next to your toilet as like its whole own separate thing. But here's what got me into the bidet. Someone gave me this analogy. They were like, if you got poop on your hand, would you just wipe it off with some toilet paper and go about your day? You wouldn't. Right.

You'd wash your hand. Yeah. So don't you want to wash your tush? Yeah. And I thought, yeah, I do. I really do. By the way, this is coming from the person who doesn't always wash her hands after she pees at home. But I do wash my tush.

Well, growing up, my friend in Indonesia, her parents' bedroom had the bidet that sits next to the toilet, like what you're talking about. That's what I have. This is like the 70s, you know, late 70s, early 80s. And we made it into a Barbie fountain pool. Yes, it also can double as a Barbie swimming pool. All right. Where were we? Yeah, where are we?

Oh, I want to talk about the Pam Alex art school storyline because I have a very important. very fun new tidbit that you know, Angela. Mm-hmm. When we originally broke down this episode, we interviewed Stephen Merchant and we discussed this scene where Alex pulls Pam aside and he tells her, I think you should stay in New York. If you're serious about being an artist, you have to stay in New York. Oh, yeah.

You know, Jim is in her ear. He can hear all about it. We also talked about this scene with Rich Summer when he was on the podcast. You might remember it was, yes, Angela? Yeah, I raised my hand. Yes. Just because I want to point out, when Pam talks to Alex and he's, you know, tiptoeing into the flirty land, right? She doesn't mute.

She got nothing to hide. Well, lady, thank you for that. That's right. Yeah. Pam, the awful, horrible person who never supports her husband or believes in him, didn't mute herself. Just something I'd like to get on record. Jenna will never forget. The snarky people who wrote about Pam being like an a-hole.

I know, I won't. She's like, I will see you forever. I'm going to talk shit about you as long as I can. You're protecting Pam and her legacy, and I think it's wonderful. Thank you. Well, you guys, you might remember that this was a really difficult scene to film for many reasons. First of all, because it was a spy shot into this glass conference room. And yet Rich and I, we had to be able to hear Jim delivering his Bluetooth lines so that we got the timing right on our end.

And the only way to do that was to have John hide under the conference room table the whole time. That is so bizarre to me that John Krasinski was under the table while you and Rich did your scene. That is so funny. So that's number one. and then number two, this whole time that Rich was on the show, there was all this back and forth over whether or not Alex was going to make a play for Pam. And it was like, we often shot different versions of scenes because they would kind of decide in editing how flirty they wanted him to be.

So you might remember that there was a different version of this conference room scene that was in the shooting draft. And it was very flirty. And Rich shared with us that he had memorized, the original version. And so when he got to set that day and they handed him this less flirty alternate version, he was having such a hard time

like getting all that sort of like lovey-dovey, flirty stuff out of his head. He's to this day sort of haunted by this day of shooting. Whenever I talk to him, he's like, oh, if only I could go back. Well, here's what's crazy. Not even knowing that we were going to break this down

out of the blue, Rich Summer texts me like two weeks ago and he's like, Jenna, look what I found. It's the original script for that conference room scene. It's the one that I memorized. Oh, wow. Where Alex confesses his love to Pam. So I asked him if he would record it.

And he did. And Angela, you play Jim and I play Pam. I'm very sorry, everyone. Just apologies in advance. My version of Jim is not going to be. What you want, but I just tried to fill in so I could make this moment happen. Lady, I thought you did great. Oh, well, you're my best friend.

All right. Well, anyway, here we go. Here is the lost Alex Pam gym conference room scene. Hi, friends. I'm glad we're doing this because it feels a tiny bit like therapy to get to say the lines that I first read that got stuck it so deep in my brain that I could never unsay the sort of intent of them

no matter how the lines changed. Did that make sense? Okay. Here we go. Seen 54-55 as originally written. Hey, what are you doing here? Is there a place we could go talk? Who is that?

Alex? Sure, Alex. Is everything okay? I think so. I don't know. Ooh, this is juicy. Angle the Bluetooth towards him as he speaks. Hey, Barbara, I'll be right back. Can you watch my phone?

Where are you right now? Don't go anywhere alone with him. Is this hallway okay? There's no right place to do this. Alex is into you! Okay. Wow. The last thing I want to do is burden you with this.

Alex, I... Let the man speak. Please, let me just get you. get this out. I won't forgive myself if I don't say this. And I know you've got a boyfriend. Fiance. I am her fiancé, Alex. And a life planned with him in Scranton. And Jim's fine. But you deserve a man who challenges you. And I think we both know he's not that guy. Then who is the guy? Is he the guy? And I don't want to ruin our friendship, but I will risk it for the chance of the future we might have.

It's you, Pam, it's always been you. Yeah, well, let's see him propose at a gas station. I see things that nobody else sees the way you are so annoying in the morning. Yep. The way you bite your lip when you draw. What? You draw? I love the way you look at my art. I don't even know what I'm saying.

Please tell me he's raising a boombox over his head. Please! Look, just give me a chance. Please. Not for me, but for you. Yes! A million times, yes! Alex, I'm sorry.

I love Jim. I hope we can still be friends. Definitely. And thanks for saying all that. I know that took a lot. Yeah. You're such an ass. I know.

No. Not you. Whatever. And seen. Can you believe he said it's been you? It's always been you. I mean, I also couldn't believe that he said, I see things no one else sees. That's some balls right there.

Like, he's known you for a hot second, but he sees everything. All these other people in your life have never seen in Pam. I know. And then he's like, I hope we can still be friends. I mean, buddy. oh my gosh so many turns you're not going to be friends after this you're not no no and i really want to apologize for no don't apologize my gym is was ridiculous like i mean i think i recorded that like on the go and that is hilarious to me well i'm so glad we changed it to him suggesting that she

not leave new york because i actually think that create there's no way that pam is going to dump Jim and be with Alex. That just isn't realistic. But it is realistic to like plant this seed of doubt in whether or not she should be going back to Scranton. Yeah, that's the only seed of doubt in this scene that makes sense to me is about her questioning sort of her aspirations in life and her career hopes or sort of dreams, right? She never questions Jim ever. Right. That's separate. Yeah. Yeah, but like what is the tension that would be created in their relationship if Pam had to say, hey, I don't want to move back to Scranton. I don't want to break up with you. But like, do you see a future in New York? And I have to say, why didn't she? Like, they don't have kids yet. I guess Jim's not going to be for that because he's trying to secretly buy his parents' house. But, you know, why not transfer to Dunder Mifflin in New York? York and be with Pam and she gets to continue to pursue her artistic life. I think she didn't want it that bad.

Yeah. I don't. I mean, Pam is not a dormant, you know, especially, you know, as her relationship with Jim grows, she's able to like share with him that she really loves living in Scranton. Yeah. She really likes living there. She's happy there. We also find out that I guess a big part of this program was graphic design.

and she doesn't like it. Right. That's not what she meant by being an artist. And so I think she feels like I don't need to keep pursuing this. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So she had some self-discovery there.

She found out something about herself. She does. The other storyline in this episode is the whole Angela Andy kind of Dwight triangle moment because Andy's trying to find the perfect place for them to get married. but Angela doesn't really want to marry Andy, so she just keeps saying no to everything. And then finally, they settle on Shrewt Farms, which is also kind of foreshadowing for Angela.

She does eventually get married at Shrewt Farms. Yes, and when we discuss this episode with The How We Made Your Mother Guys, we discuss how this scene also shows people getting married in their own graves, and that ends up being a callback. But, lady, we got a letter from Kara T with another callback catch. Kara says, Angela hates the idea of getting married in a tent when Andy proposes this idea, but she and Dwight end up getting married outside in a tent in the finale.

Was this choice intentional to further drive home the fact that she and Dwight are soulmates and her andy's relationship was never meant to last? That is a great catch, Kara. I don't think it was intentional, but I like it. Yeah. I also loved in this storyline, just Andy, talking about how he got the best tentist. Yes, of all the tentist, he got the best. Oh, poor Andy. Well, before we wrap up this superfan breakdown, I thought we should play a classic Michael Redemption moment.

I always love them in our episodes. It's that scene we talked about of when he's bonding with Kelly. and I thought it'd be a really nice way to end this episode. Let's hear it. I have an enormous amount of trouble trying to get people to come to my place. And I hate it. I can't tell you how much leftover guacamole I have ended up eating over the years. I don't even know why I'm making such great quantities.

Here's what we're going to do. we were going to sit here for a while, make it look good, and maybe you should cry. Can you make yourself crying? No problem. I think you should do that. Amazing. You know that second laugh is Mindy's real laugh. Yes, exactly. It is. I loved hearing it in the episode.

Well, everyone, that was our breakdown of this super fan of customer survey. A big thank you to Rich Summer for reading that long-lost scene with us. I really enjoyed revisiting this one. I did too. And you guys, we hope you have a great week. Thank you for listening. And we'll see you next time. Have a good one.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Auditius. and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbicoe. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Our theme song is Ruppertree by Creed Bratton. Thank you.