The end of the work day drew closer, and above the sound of fingers typing and papers shifting, Jim could have sworn he heard a clock ticking its minutes away. He stared at his computer screen. It showed a spreadsheet, which he had loaded earlier to make it look like he was working, but he wondered if he had clicked the mouse or typed a key a single time in the last hour. He was waiting for the day to be through so he could go home. David Wallace had long since left, and soon after Jim had emerged from the conference room and sat at his desk, he had noticed Dwight giving him malicious glances, even speaking up at one point.
“How's it going, Jim?”
“I'm not getting fired, Dwight. Sorry to burst your bubble.”
The glances stopped after that, and while Karen had come over to ask what was going on, Jim had told her did not feel like talking about it. Pam had also given him a few worried looks, but did not come over to say anything; Jim wondered if she felt like it was awkward to ask him what was wrong after she had seen Karen doing it already. Pam and Karen had gotten along at the Christmas party, Jim remembered, but the two of them had never really shifted into an actual friendship. Jim knew why, of course. He couldn't decide if Pam and Karen generally keeping their distance from each other was good or bad.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jim noticed a slight shift in the blinds behind the window of Michael's office. His thoughts turned away from his complicated relationships with certain coworkers of the female persuasion as he began to steel himself for a confrontation. He had chosen to ignore Michael for the last few hours, feeling too angry and confused over the whole incident with David to do anything, but he needed to talk to his boss before the day was through. And it was almost through.
Jim made up his mind. He left his chair and approached Micheal's closed office door, giving it a sharp rap with his knuckles which went unanswered. After Michael ignored another rap, Jim tried opening the door. It was unlocked. He stepped inside and closed it behind him, turning to look at Michael, who was sitting alone in the darkness.
“Why don't you turn on a light, Michael?”
Michael stared quizzically at his desk lamp for a moment before turning it on. Jim sat down across from him and tried to collect his thoughts. There was no easy way to start a conversation with Michael even when the man was at his best behavior, so Jim already began to get the unpleasant feeling that he would get nothing satisfying from the next few minutes.
“Why did you lie to David about me?”
Michael affected a slack-jawed expression, eyes bugged out to such an extent that Jim would have found it comical in different circumstances. He was familiar with the face Michael used when he was trying to feign surprise. It was not convincing.
“Lie about you? What do you mean? What did David say I said?”
“He said you told him that we were late because Dwight had the time of the client meeting written in his planner, which I put in jello in his car. Which has got to be the lamest thing I've ever heard, Michael.”
“Hey, you're the one who puts Dwight's stuff in jello!”
Jim frowned; although he was angry at his boss, Michael had him on that point at least.
“Look, Jim, I just didn't have time to think of a better excuse, so-”
“So you admit you lied to him, at least?”
“Well, yes. Per se, that is such the case that, it is what I said. Yes.. I omitted the truth. In favor of a different – okay, look, we're getting off track here. I would have gotten in so much trouble if I told David what really happened!”
“What, about you sleeping with Jan on work time?”
“Hey now. Too far.”
Jim raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay, fine. But what else was I supposed to do? If I had lied to David about Dwight doing something that made us late, would you have gone along with it?”
“What, you're asking if I would have backed up your lie to David? No.”
“See? I had to ask Dwight to back up my story to convince David, otherwise he would have found about me and Jan, and who knows what would have happened! I had no choice!”
“No choice? So you blame it on me? David could have fired me, Michael!”
“But he didn't, did he? He told me he wasn't going to fire you! I could have been punished a lot worse than you got punished, Jim; I think you're acting like kind of a baby.”
Jim groaned and leaned back in his chair, holding his hands over his face in exasperation. He had been trying to rein in his temper over the last few hours, but after a minute of conversation with Michael, he was losing it all over again. Michael was impossible to reason with.. It was true that his boss had gotten himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, but Jim had a hard time sympathizing with his boss's plights when they ended up burning him in the process.
“You know, Michael, it's pretty funny that you can pretend I'm somehow your friend and then turn around and do this to me without a second thought,” said Jim, his voice rising. He knew he was probably attracting the attention of some of his coworkers outside, but he didn't care. “You make me look like a fool in front of David for something I didn't even do, and you expect me to just shut up and take it?”
Michael bit his lip nervously.
“That's what she said,” he finally sputtered out.
Jim sat silently. For a moment he wondered if that was what Jan said to Michael, but the thought made him shudder and he pushed it aside, instead giving his boss a glare that could cut through glass. Judging by Michael's silently twitching expression, Jim got the impression that his boss was wrestling with himself over what else to say. Jim wasn't really sure what he was hoping to get from the conversation himself. He wanted to vent, at least. Maybe he just wanted an apology, when it came right down to it. Jim didn't know if an apology would be enough, but it was the bare minimum.
But he wasn't going to ask for one. Michael needed to give him one on his own. Any reasonable person could see Michael had gone over the line, and Jim wanted him to acknowledge that. As he watched, however, Micheal's shifting features finally settled themselves into a hardened, glowering expression.
It was clear that Jim would get nothing from him.
“Fine.”
He got up and left the room, leaving Michael sitting stock still behind his desk. Jim was glad he waited until the end of the day to confront Michael, because he couldn't wait until he left the office.
.....
Kevin, Oscar, and Angela wrapped up their accounting work for the day as they got ready to leave. They had already seen Michael leave early, and Pam had just left the receptionist's desk. Several other coworkers were also gathering their things, throwing on coats and closing their desktops. Kevin grabbed a handful of M&M's and got up from his chair while throwing Jim a sympathetic glance, but he was talking quietly with Karen and did not seem to notice it. He looked at his two accounting coworkers instead.
"You guys think Jim's in trouble?” he asked Angela and Oscar. “He totally looked like he was in trouble.”
“Michael told David it was Jim's fault they missed their little sales meeting yesterday,” said Oscar as he made a few last adjustments on his computer.
“How do you know that?”
“I asked him when I went into his office earlier. It took me about three minutes to get it out of him. I just took his slinky and kept haranguing him until he talked.”
“I don't think it's any of our business,” said Angela as she buttoned her coat.
“Oh come on Angela, you know you're interested.”
“I am not!”
“Whatever,” said Kevin as the three of them left their accounting corner together. “I saw you watching David Wallace when he left. Either you wanted to know what he said to Jim, or you think he's hot.”
“Definitely the latter,” said Oscar. Kevin gave him a high five, which he gleefully accepted.
“You're both disgusting.”
“I just hope Jim isn't in any trouble,” said Kevin. “He always gives me the best advice on my fantasy football. If he got fired, that would suck.”
Oscar shook his head. “I don't think Jim is going to be fired. Michael got defensive when I told him what he did was wrong, but he made it sound like it was no big deal. To be honest, I'm surprised Jim hasn't gotten in trouble before. He doesn't really work that much.”
“True,” agreed Angela.
“He just knows how to take it easy! You guys are so judgmental.”
Angela always said she hated office gossip, but the three of them engaged in it constantly, Angela often joining in after her resistance failed while listening to Oscar and Kevin talk about someone else in the office. Michael always gave them more than enough to talk about. He had left his office earlier than usual today, trying to avoid saying much to anyone and shaking his head at his coworkers as they left the office. Kevin finished the remainder of the M&M's he was carrying in his hand as he wondered exactly what had gone down earlier. He patted Jim on the back as they passed by the sales desks on their way out.
“You wanna talk about it, man?”
“Uh, not really Kevin,” said Jim, who seemed to be waiting for Karen to finish something on her computer before the two of them left. “But thanks anyway.”
“Alright man, just come over to accounting if you need some guy talk.”
The accountants left the office and made their way down the stairway.
“Guy talk?” said Oscar.
“You wouldn't understand, Oscar,” Kevin said with a titter.
Angela shot him a severe glance as they went down the stairs, and Kevin fell silent until they reached the sidewalk and parted ways. Tonight, he was planning to watch a game he had on tape and make some pigs in blankets. He would have to ask Jim what was up later, and make sure his friend knew that he always had his back. Unless Oscar had gotten the story wrong and Jim actually did something bad. In which case Kevin figured Jim was on his own.
.....
“Hey guys, what's up?”
Pam approached Roy, Darryl, and the overweight warehouse worker whose name she always forgot. Roy and Darryl always called him squid or something like that. Something on the theme of sea life. The three of them were chatting a bit near the bailer, and Pam got the feeling that any work in the warehouse had already ceased a while ago.
Darryl nodded. “Hey,” he said curtly.
“Hey baby,” said Roy.
Squid – or whatever his name was – nodded briefly in her direction before the three of them resumed their conversation. They apparently didn't think Pam would have any interest in it as they didn't include her, which she didn't particularly mind as she wasn't really interested. It sounded like they were laughing at something a mutual acquaintance had done, and Pam's mind was on other things. Jim, to be specific.
She didn't know what David had said to Jim in the conference room, but his pleasant mood during lunch had been changed almost instantly. She had wanted to ask him what happened all day, but – once again – Karen's presence made things awkward somehow. It was like Karen was an obstacle, there to make every interaction with Jim stranger, more difficult, even if it was not intentional. Jim's brief visit to Michael's office was even stranger; the angry tone she had caught in his voice while he was talking to Michael, and his even darker mood when he came back out of the room. She would have to ask him what was going on when she got a good opportunity.
“You ready to go?” asked Roy as he wrapped up his conversation with his fellow warehouse workers.
“Sure.”
“Alright dude, I'll catch you later,” said Darryl as he and Roy bumped fists.
Pam followed her boyfriend – she had to think about it for a moment, but she supposed they were beginning to go out together again - as the two of them left the warehouse and walked into the parking lot. A couple of vehicles were already leaving, and she caught a glimpse of Dwight's Trans Am roaring out of the lot. Pam pressed a button on the beeper attached to her key ring, unlocking the doors to her newish car, and was about to turn and say goodbye when Roy paused.
“I was actually wondering if you wanted to come by our – by my place.”
“Oh,” said Pam.
There was something amusing about the question. Maybe even strange. The man to whom she had been engaged for five years, the man she had dated since high school, and yet the way he asked the question made it sound like they were still at square one.
Pam wondered if her reaction was strange as well. They had been living together until she canceled their wedding, but now, somehow she was hesitant towards the idea of going over to Roy's place, even though she had already done it a few times. What used to be their place, she reminded herself. After their aborted wedding, Pam knew that any attempt at rekindling things might be a little awkward for a while. But she had to make an effort, just like Roy had to, if they wanted to make things right again.
While Roy waited for her answer, Pam noticed Jim and Karen behind him, about to get into Karen's car. She wondered Jim was going to his girlfriend's place. He still didn't look like he was in a great mood, but the two of them kissed before getting into the car, and Jim had a hint of a smile on his face afterwards. Pam returned her attention to Roy, deciding that she could use a little company that night herself.
“Yes,” she told him. “I would like to come over.”
.....
Evening was already descending over Scranton by the time Karen pulled her car into the parking lot of her apartment complex. The street lamps were beginning to light up against the deepening blue backdrop of the sky, and apartment windows glowed with soft yellow light. Jim was in the passenger's seat of her car; she had given him a ride to work that morning, and it would only be a short distance back to his own apartment whenever he needed to go back.
Jim got out of his side and joined Karen, who had already gotten out of the car to root around in her trunk. They had stopped for groceries after leaving work. Karen pulled out a couple of plastic bags and passed them to her boyfriend as she closed the trunk. Jim didn't mind carrying the bags; not surprising, as that was the boyfriend's duty, thought Karen with a little grin. The two of them made their way to her apartment door, and Jim waited while she opened it and flipped on the lights.
“So,” said Karen as she pointed a finger, indicating that Jim should put the grocery bags on the island table in her kitchen, “you gonna tell me any more about what exactly happened today to make you so angry?”
“If you really want to know,” teased Jim as he placed the bags on the island and began to remove the groceries.
“I do want to know. I don't think I've seen you that pissed since we started dating. I didn't think it was possible for Jim Halpert to get angry.”
Jim let out an amused grunt as he sorted through Karen's groceries. Karen definitely ate healthier than he did, although the only thing they had grabbed for dinner tonight was a roast chicken and some potato salad. He wasn't sure if potato salad was healthy or not. Potatoes and salads both sounded healthy, but together, with mayonnaise mixed in? He couldn't be sure.
Karen joined him at the counter. “Well,” she said as she grabbed the milk and opened the fridge, “spill!”
“Okay. Basically, Michael told David Wallace it was my fault that we were late to the meeting with Schneider, and Dwight backed him up. Wallace took me into the conference room to talk about it.”
Karen froze in mid-transfer of groceries, holding a carton of eggs in her hand as she stared worriedly at her boyfriend.
“To talk about it? What does that mean?”
“He reprimanded me,” said Jim. “I think that was the way he put it.”
“So, what, you're not fired?”
Jim shook his head. Karen breathed a sigh of relief and resumed putting her groceries away, although relief turned quickly to indignation. “I can't believe that little snot Dwight would back up Michael's lie!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, I can believe it. That wasn't surprising at all.”
“Still, it's over the line. And Michael thought he could get away with it? Is that why you went into his office and sounded all angry right before work ended?”
“I wanted to see what he was thinking, but that was kind of a lost cause.”
“Well, what are you going to do?”
Jim raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend, a little confused by her question.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You're going to tell David what really happened, aren't you?”
“I tried to tell him it wasn't my fault, but it was my word against Michael and Dwight's. And the thing is, if I push it too much, I basically have to tell him about Michael and Jan's relationship, which would get both of them in major trouble, if I could even prove it. It really comes down to who David Wallace believes, because there's no way to prove anything.”
Karen looked unhappy with Jim's explanation, and as the last of the groceries disappeared into her refrigerator and cupboards, Jim could tell that she was trying to think of some way to keep the subject going even though he didn't really feel like talking about it that much. He had been thinking about it all day, of course, but he knew that Karen wouldn't see eye to eye with him.
Sure enough, she spoke up as she threw the plastic bags into another recycling bag beneath the sink. “It just seems wrong to let Michael walk all over you,” she said, getting out a couple of plates and portioning out the roast chicken and potato salad. “I don't know how you can just accept that.”
Jim poured a soda for the two of them and sat down on a stool next to the island table. Karen stood up; Jim had noticed that she sometimes had an interesting habit of eating her meals quickly while standing, not bothering to sit down anywhere. The island doubled as her kitchen table, even though Jim thought it would probably be more comfortable to eat in the apartment's living room.
He thought about Karen's complaint as he took a bite of the chicken. Maybe she didn't disagree with him as much as he thought; Jim did feel like Michael had gone over the line, and it seemed wrong to just accept it. He had avoided getting in any serious trouble with David, but David's opinion of him was affected by Michael's lie, and Jim knew that it might not be the last time Michael got him in trouble unfairly. He and Karen finished the rest of the meal in relative silence.
“Well,” said Karen as she finished off the last of her potato salad, “it sounds like your day totally sucked.”
“That's one way to put it.”
“It's a good thing you're here then. Because we're going to have fun tonight!”
“Nice,” said Jim in an exaggeratedly sultry voice.
Karen rolled her eyes. Judging by his tone, she was fairly sure her boyfriend was pulling a Kevin impression to bug her. “Not like that, stupid,” she said. “Well, we'll see. But I feel like a movie and popcorn tonight, and I just so happen to have a feel-good romantic comedy in mind that I think you'll enjoy!”
“As long as it's not the one I got you for Christmas.”
“No,” laughed Karen. “not that one.”
“Because I've already watched the copy you gave me about five times since then. It's my new favorite movie!”
“Riiight. Just get your butt on the couch and get comfortable, get the movie ready, and I'll make us some popcorn.”
“Right after dinner?”
“I'm hungry, Halpert. Give me a break.”
Jim smiled and plopped himself down on the couch. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to get the movie ready when Karen hadn't told him which one they were going to watch, so instead, he turned on the television and began to flip channels until he found the local news. Nothing interesting ever happened in Scranton, and the news tonight seemed even more boring than usual. As the newscaster droned on, his thoughts raced quickly back to his day at work.
The more he thought about what Michael had done, the more he thought there really wasn't any good way to deal with what had happened. He had been humiliated in front of the CFO, his boss had thrown him under the bus, and Dwight obviously had no problem trying to get him fired, which perhaps wasn't as surprising. Jim knew that in most people's books, that would be the definition of a toxic work environment. Michael didn't seem to have any conception of what he had done or why Jim was upset by it, and he knew that it could happen again.
Worse than all of that, however, was that Jim couldn't shake the feeling of being responsible for what had happened, at least in part. He knew Michael was absent-minded; he knew Jan had a strange effect on his boss; he even knew what had been going on when Michael got the call from Jan and made the detour to his condo. Jim had seen Jan past the doorway, if only for a second, and instead of trying to talk some sense into Michael before they got to the condo or just insisting that Michael get back in the car and go to the client meeting first, Jim had sat back and let it all happen. It was amusing. It was a story he could share with Pam, or even his roommate.
Jim knew that Michael's unprofessional behavior was not his fault, but he wondered if he was really any more professional than Michael. He had to admit that he didn't take his job very seriously, and hearing David Wallace say he was aware of his pranks was a little jarring. Jim was not getting any younger. He was still stuck in a job which gave him nothing in the way of enjoyment or pride, doing nothing to get out of it. There was something ridiculous, he thought to himself, about quitting the Scranton branch only to come right back to it later, willing to deal with the same monotony, the same workplace drama that he had tried to leave behind in the first place.
“Here you go,” said Karen as she returned with two bowls of popcorn. “Why isn't the movie on?”
“You didn't tell me which movie.”
“Oh. Whoops.”
Karen put down her popcorn and went over to the DVD rack beside her television, flipping through the titles until she found the movie she was looking for. She popped it into the player and sat on the couch beside Jim, resting her head against his shoulder as the credits began to roll. Jim tried to focus his attention, but he was still thinking about how to deal with what had happened to him that day. Only one thing came to mind. Now that his mood had calmed down from that afternoon, he was willing to talk about it with Karen.
“You know what? I'm thinking about quitting.”
Jim twitched a little, startled, as Karen jerked her head up from his shoulder.
“You what?”
“Quitting Dunder Mifflin. Maybe you're right about not just accepting what Michael did to me. I mean, it was worse than usual this time, but I mean, come on - people like Michael or Dwight aren't going to get any better. I've been thinking about it, and I need to get up off my butt and do something if I'm not satisfied.”
Karen stared at him in silence for a moment. The movie had already started, and she grabbed the remote to pause it before returning her attention to her boyfriend.
“Just like that, you decide to quit? Isn't this a little sudden?”
“It makes sense, doesn't it?”
Karen sat back on the couch, at a loss for words. Jim munched on a handful of popcorn, feeling like the atmosphere had suddenly become much more uncomfortable that it had been a few seconds ago.
“What would you do instead?” asked Karen.
“I don't know.”
“So, what, you just thought of this now?”
Jim nodded. He waited for a response from his girlfriend. Some kind of opinion on the matter. Based on what she had told him moments ago while they were having dinner, Jim wondered why she seemed to be so surprised. He would have thought Karen would understand where he was coming from. Of course it might make things difficult for their relationship at first, depending on what kind of new job he got and where it might take him, but he could find something local. And it was possible that Karen might want to quit too. He knew she had been feeling a little out of place in the Scranton branch after her Stamford coworkers left, and it might do the two of them a lot of good to get a change of scenery.
Karen, however, was silent on the issue. A few moments passed while Jim waited and glanced uncomfortably in her direction. She seemed to be deep in thought, but finally she grabbed the remote and her bowl of popcorn again, unpausing the movie.
“Let's just watch this, okay?”
“Sure.”
The sound of movie dialogue and popcorn munching filled the apartment, but somehow, Jim found it unbearably silent at the same time. The option of quitting had been lurking in the back of his mind ever since his dissatisfying confrontation with Michael, but only in the last half hour had he started to really take the thought seriously. Particularly after the conversation he had just had with Karen. But her reaction had definitely not been what he was expecting. He decided that the only thing he could do for now was to try and enjoy the movie.
.....
