1 [Report This]Date: September 29, 2022 08:20 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Speechless !!!! This is so good . I have read a lot about them now here but you have something very real . How you have caught the moments we can only imagine and yet kept it real without straining it … Brilliant !! Totally totally loved it 😍
Author's Response: Wow, thanks so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it :)
1 [Report This]Date: September 28, 2022 08:57 am Title: a house with a terrace upstairs
First of all I finished watching the office last week for the first time . Jim and Pam never left my mind and I came across this … I can’t tell you how brilliant this is. As I was reading I could actually see it too . Loved it . Specially the season 9 bits . My heart is leaping with joy !! Thank you . Please continue writing .
Author's Response: Thank you so much! If you enjoyed this, check out the second story in this series “the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist,” thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
Date: June 26, 2022 02:32 am Title: a house with a terrace upstairs
I have read it twice. The chapters dedicated to season 9, are the best. I love it.
Author's Response: Wow, thank you so much, this means a lot to me. (And the s9 chapters are my favorites in this one too 💗)
1 [Report This]Date: May 29, 2022 05:57 am Title: a house with a terrace upstairs
It's a wonderful story from beginning to end, but the best part for me is your analysis of Jim and Pam's relationship in season 9. It's a season I especially like because it's realistic. Romantic love doesn't last forever, and Jim and Pam's wasn't going to be any less. And it's amazing how you've delved into the feelings of both of them. I loved it, loved it and loved it.
Author's Response: Thank you so much for reading and for your review!
1 [Report This]Date: April 21, 2022 05:01 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
I haven't been around much so I'm only now getting to get caught up with this but... oh my, is it lovely.
What an absolutely beautiful look at season three with all your perfectly placed flashbacks. You are incredibly talented at dialogue and you wove it seamlessly in with the established canon. It honestly felt as though this was all that we missed.
Love this!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your kind words, and for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it! :)
Date: April 18, 2022 05:37 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
This was really nice. You are so gifted with your writing talent and those regular updates are just perfect to keep anyone hooked. I like your take on involving the camera crew into your story and made those little behind the scenes parts so believable. Thanks for the sharing the story, it was so much fun reading it.
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your kind words!
1 [Report This]Date: April 18, 2022 05:37 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
This was really nice. You are so gifted with your writing talent and those regular updates are just perfect to keep anyone hooked. I like your take on involving the camera crew into your story and made those little behind the scenes parts so believable. Thanks for the sharing the story, it was so much fun reading it.
Author's Response: Thanks so much for reviewing and for coming back to finish!
1 [Report This]Date: April 15, 2022 07:05 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
After all the angst this story had it’s nice
to see them have a peaceful ending.
It was kind of funny seeing how the doc crew was scrambling to find out what was going on in
New York.
Author's Response: Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed!
Date: April 12, 2022 03:20 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Chapter 10 calls for REVIEW #100!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳
JIM. MY HEART. NEEDING TO LEAVE THE INTERVIEW AFTER SEEING THE MEDAL 😭😭😭😭
PAM’S EYES. HIS CHILDREN WITH PAM’S EYES AGAIN, I’M DEAD.
THE FLASHBACK. SOMEONE CALL 911!!
AAAAAAAAAAH TD IM LITERALLY DECEASED 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Date: April 12, 2022 03:14 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Huh, that fangirling camera operator shares her name with me… what a coincidence…
TD. What a PERFECT way to end this fic!! Ugh my fluffy and steamy heart!!
THE PENDANT. UGH. You and I both have this thing for Jim giving Pam butterflies and writing about it, huh? 😂
I’m SO sad this fic is over, but it ended so BEAUTIFULLY! 🥰🥰
Author's Response:
You know that camera operator is 100% you.
Thanks as always for your feedback and being such an awesome source of support! xo
Date: April 12, 2022 03:12 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
It’s not a simple feat to make me feel bad for Karen. This girl follows this man’s words to go with him to Scranton, begins a relationship with him, and stays after realizing his heart isn’t in it and he’s in love with someone else. Why would I feel bad for her, when she did this to herself?
But you, ma’am… you made me feel bad for Karen. This poor girl put her everything into this skinny relationship that was destined to fail, HOPEFUL that the people around her were wrong and she was doing the right thing… for it to be true. Ugh…
At least her HEA is on the horizon!
GREAT chapter, TD!
Date: April 12, 2022 02:00 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
I’ve been waiting for this happy ending for 11 chapters and it did not disappoint!!
Loved the addition of the epilogue. Jim still wanting to daydream about Pam *swoon*
This whole thing was so well done, and even though my heart aches for most of it, it was just awesome.
I guess I’ll have to continue this and just reread terrace again, oh such such a hard life
Author's Response: Thank you soooo much, I'm so glad the ending paid off! And thanks for the kind words about terrace!
1 [Report This]Date: April 12, 2022 10:18 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Okay, *this* is everything I want out of fanfiction. Please don't have me read anything that isn't this fluffy, okay?
Author's Response: I know you can't read much of what I write but I'm so happy you popped in for this. Glad it didn't disappoint. Maybe the next thing I come up with will be fluffy? Maybe?
Date: April 12, 2022 06:33 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
I think I just lost a filling from the sweetness of that epilogue. That was totally awesome. Thank you for writing it and sharing that with us. d84;a039;
Author's Response: I never responded to this, but thank you!!!
1 [Report This]Date: April 12, 2022 04:23 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Happy Archiversary. What an amazing way to commemorate it!
Adn what a beautiful chapter to close this one up- once again seamlessly filling in all the missing lines of dialogue and all the scenes and stuff that feel like they were always there just kept from us - so thanks for giving us this inside view.
LOL, I imagine with the frozen pea shoes she would feel a lot like Michael (or a future Kevin - making up a new footwear)
Good note that she doesn't love the haircut, that it's not quite him (generally I liked his hair neater but I get the symbolism at play)
And good for her with the note, of course Karen was being territorial and look what that gets you, Filipelli since this FNB doesn't hold back anymore.
--Maybe it’s a long shot, but the receptionist who’s still in love with the paper salesman figures it can’t hurt to try. --
I had the same idea about this scene -that the instructions of the crew would be to follow and see about getting so more dirt.
He leans in close — very close — so only she can hear him, and asks his next question in that husky tone she’s been imagining for months.
“Pick you up at seven?”
I love this image - so thanks.
It feels like hope.
And I love how this line comes back.
The epilogue was just what it should be - a snapshot of their early days with a little bit of the insight into some key occurrences that would have happened during this time...
buying the ring - and almost giving it to her - their first time and being nervous about it
Kissing the soft head of a wrinkly newborn in her arms as they become parents, then waving goodbye as they send that child off to college. The images exist without any exertion, with no struggle. - Okay - you really got me here.
The conversation that came up at the one year felt so true to them, so real and also necessary.
PS - so Pam got her TiVO somewhere around this time---she did not have it in season 2 and yes I remember the line where she talks about Jim setting hers up not so well)
So beautiful, how JIm buys her the butterfly because HE NOTICES what she's been drawing and I love the symbolism her of her metamorphosis.
Gorgeous last line - Her eyes flicker with those tiny specks of gold again. “You got me everything.”
I'm glad saved a jellybean for this one - great chapter and an amazing story. Thank you for writing it and sharing with us.
Author's Response: Thanks Max! Your reviews are always some of my favorites to read. Thanks so much for joining me and being so present for the journey. You rock. xo
Date: April 11, 2022 11:37 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
The image of Pam sitting around the house with frozen peas hair-tied to her not-burned feet is... amazing.
"She still wants him, yes, and maybe there’s a part of her that always will. But wanting and needing are two very different kinds of desire and she’s learned to appreciate the difference." A Fancy New Beesly indeed!
"She hopes, at the very least, she might get to see that sparkle back in his eyes before he leaves. Even just once." The reuse of once here? *chef's kiss*
"There’s a part of her that hopes it might remind Jim of who he used to be: that paper salesman who was in love with the receptionist. Maybe it’s a long shot, but the receptionist who’s still in love with the paper salesman figures it can’t hurt to try." Love this construction and love Karen's accidental sealing of her own fate. There's something meaningful in Pam's ability to recognize someone else's insecurity in their relationship.
"Pam realizes that the crew is actually unaware of what had transpired between them in the parking lot last May, but she’s not about to get into all that now." Delilah: PHEW.
"He has to admit it’s a pretty amazing feeling to go to sleep every single night thinking “that was the greatest day of my life.”" EEEEEP.
"twenty eight days, thirteen hours and forty two minutes" Of course he's counting the minutes!
"It’s effortless, the way he loves her." HOW DO YOU WRITE LIKE THIS?
"“No, Pam,” he answers. Her eyes flicker with those tiny specks of gold again. “You got me everything.”" SERIOUSLY? HOW??????
Thank you for having me on this journey with you. Now, get started on the Stanley-as-manager AU!
Author's Response: Joe, you are amazing. And a million thanks for all of your help and support, the story is absolutely better because of it. You're the best. (The absolute best.)
Date: April 11, 2022 07:35 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Happy anniversary! I love what you did with this story. It was emotional and so well written. You know these characters inside and out and it shows in everything you write. Bravo and congrats!
1 [Report This]Date: April 11, 2022 07:08 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Fantastic ending. I love the backstory of the butterfly necklace.
Also, happy anniversary! a house with a terrace upstairs is one of my favourite stories to re-read. I can't wait to see more from you!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! And thanks for letting me know about terrace, that truly made my week. :)
1 [Report This]Date: April 11, 2022 06:02 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
So very lovely. Throughout this story, I felt like I was viewing footage that had been cut for time, or, of course, was too private to be shared. Every bit of it was 100% real and true! Thank you!
Author's Response: Thanks for reading and reviewing, I truly appreciate it!
Date: April 11, 2022 05:22 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
So I had an unabashedly big grin on my face while reading all of this. After everything else that's gone done in this story, this is the payoff Jim and Pam have earned. I always love reading what happened right after Jim bursts in on Pam there in her talking head, and this one didn't disappoint in the slightest. How she can tell just from that brief smile that HER Jim is back and he's back for her. Then for him to come up to her desk with his sleeves rolled up and grab a couple jelly beans to further cement everything in place, just beautiful.
The epilogue was wonderful too. Yes it's new love and they're clearly still in the honeymoon phase of everything, but as made perfectly clear, they know this is it for the both of them. They may not have been ready earlier, but they are now and it's stunning to witness. I loved Jim giving her the necklace and that it's her art that inspired it. Then for her to explain the feelings behind the butterflies makes it just that much more special.
Really fun that you posted this on your one-year archiversary. This story has been quite the ride through S3. One of the best ones in regards to getting in their heads and going past what we see in canon. Outstanding job with it all. I wish I still had some jellybeans for this last chapter. Excellent work for sure.
Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat
Author's Response: Thanks warrior, your feedback is always so awesome and I truly appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed the ending!
Date: April 11, 2022 02:17 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
*He looks completely relaxed, his jacket draped over his arm, his shirtsleeves rolled up to the crooks of his elbows. He doesn’t break eye contact with her the entire length of his walk to the front desk, where he perches in his usual spot, dangles his bare forearms across the counter, and pops a jelly bean into his mouth.
He leans in close — very close — so only she can hear him, and asks his next question in that husky tone she’s been imagining for months.
“Pick you up at seven?”*
Uh HI. Love this so much. I've always imagined he just left and then texted her or left a note or something but THIS is my new headcanon. So thanks for that.
I absolutely adoredddddd this reimagining of season 3, my friend. It was amazing and perfect and wonderful. I love how you describe how effortless it was for them after getting together and I also love how you made me love Jam even more, which I wasn't sure was possible.
So good, lady. Never stop! All the jellybeans for you.
Author's Response: Thanks WW! Honestly I toiled over how to get from the interview to Pam actually knowing when they were going out and as it turned out, the simplest explanation was the best. Glad it's now your headcanon :) Thanks again for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it!
Date: April 10, 2022 11:01 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
Please, I BEG OF YOU, I hope you write about Jim coming back, their first date, and reconnecting with each other!
Author's Response: I would never leave y’all hanging. Next chapter is the last one ;)
Date: April 09, 2022 12:57 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
This was a hell of a read, TD. I lived this chapter but found it a difficult read because it’s hard reading about someone else loving Jim and him trying to be with that other person when we really want him to be with Pam. But you gave Karen so much pathos and you gave us permission to have sympathy with her, whilst at the same time allowing us to still enjoy him leaving her and hearing back to Scranton. That is some great writing, Lady!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I know this one is a heavy read, hopefully the last chapter will be a welcome reprieve. Thanks for sticking with it!
Date: April 08, 2022 04:44 am Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
This chapter was like the story within the story and I was totally here for it - what Karen was experiencing through all this did warrant some unpacking.
The poor girl - she feel in love with with the Jim he was trying to be, only to find out she fell in love with a person that didn't quite exist...sure he still had the smile but so much else of what she feel for was a facade, the biggest of which was his ability to give himself over to someone else.
I like the contrast of her with her no-nonsense friend, Monika...and here's what I noticed...as viewers of the show we see Karen as the no-nonsense, able to act, goes for what she wants, opposite of Pam - but here we see that it's all relative; here Karen is weak one in comparison seeming unable to see what she's put on blinders to.
**It’s weird, the way your body sometimes understands things before your brain does. But this is exactly what happens to Karen when she reads Jim’s text.** - so true and I really like the way you present this
Right from the start we see Karen's attraction to qualities that aren't really the Jim we know (although in some aspects they are - the drive he has just wasn't ever for selling paper, and he is helpful) - yeah scratch that - but even so she was still meeting a alt-Jim, when she first noticed him.
**“Thanks,” he finally says after a minute or so. He still won’t look at her, just stares up at the stippled ceiling. He sounds far away again. “For being so upfront about everything. For not making me wonder.”**
This hit me - more for how it made me feel for Jim again and the hurt that was obviously still so raw, especially after coming back.
**In an instant, all of the little moments between her boyfriend and the receptionist she’d wondered about since they arrived in Scranton shuffle through her mind, one after the other, like a puzzle she didn’t realize she’d been putting together this entire time. And Phyllis has just handed her the final piece** - What a perfect description.
The double talk Jim gives her in the coffee shop exchange - great in that he doesn't quite lie and moves the conversation to a direction where he doesn't have to.
OKay, I loved the whole bit with the sunken-cost fallacy - and Karen so seems like the type who would see things with him as an investment she wasn't ready drop - she'd put too much in - including a move to Scranton.
AHA - the stuffed animal on her desk - I was curious about your interest in that and I enjoyed how you worked that in.
The talk on the way home after the beach, was well done and felt so accurate.
She stops trying - the juxtaposition to Jim in the last chapter..nice.
Thanks for giving us the little flash ahead - Lets us see that Karen will be okay and gets over her anger at having been used as *Kelvar* (nice) and understands that they all wound up where they were meant to be even if there were bumps to get there.
Great chapter- really enjoyed it. - but can't wait for what's coming - saving my last JB for the magic moment.
Date: April 07, 2022 11:57 pm Title: the evolution of a paper salesman and a receptionist
THE KAREN CHAPTER. IT'S HERE. IT'S HERE. ABONDANZA.
"It seemed like an open and shut situation. But there was just one problem. “I love him,” she’d said." Oh, Karen. This is not going to be a year you look upon at all fondly.
This fountain sequence is a gut punch. Karen's body reading Jim's text accurately is a nice touch, and the sense that for the first time she's seeing Scranton Jim and knows what that means... ooof. But awesome.
I love what you've done throughout this chapter in contrasting the Jim Karen sees with the Jim we know. This first impression of him she gets is just... so not Jim, and she has no way of knowing that.
"He told her himself he’s really bad at reading signals and for his sake more than for her own, she decides not to send him that one." Oh Karen...
"It doesn’t seem like the sort of thing Jim would spend so much valuable work time on." Oh, KAREN. SO many red flags you're just willfully looking away from in this conversation. Girl. GIRL.
I've said this before, but I think this is very valuable added context for what was going through her mind with the pummeling of Jim with about three different relationship milestones in one conversation in Back From Vacation. Everyone's trying their best here. It's just that their best is not up to the task.
"indicating she has no idea what Phyllis is talking about would make it seem like she doesn’t know Jim as well as she thought she did. And then it hits her. She doesn’t know Jim as well as she thought she did." Oh, KARENNNNN.
"She hates to admit it, even to herself, but the two of them seem perfectly suited for each other in every possible way. It doesn’t make any sense." We know, Karen. We know.
"Maybe everything is going to be fine."/"Everything is not fine." There are a lot of fantastic transitions in this chapter, but this remains my favorite.
Another thing running through this chapter I particularly enjoyed are the indications that it's not just that Karen doesn't know real Jim - it's that the glimpses of him she sees are largely the aspects of his personality that rub her the wrong way. Oh, Karen. (*glares at Jim*)
"I just want all this Pam stuff to be over." Do you, Jim? DO YOU?
"she was never going to be someone he could love when she was essentially just Kevlar." LOVE where this ended.
"“No, it wasn’t,” he says, to her surprise. “I think everything would have been okay. But… I think we both deserve more than ‘okay.’ Don’t you?"" PRECISELY.
"It’s the exact same thing Pam said to her yesterday before she left, as if they share a fucking brain or something." Awwwww. I mean, in context, ouch. But also.
Omg. This ending. Omg. This is perfect.
"DTMFA" definitely existed by the summer of 2006. I remember it fondly.