What We Learned from “The Office”: Pt. 4

All Relationships Can End in Grace

“The people that you work with are . . . your very best friends,” Michael Scott said. Even though Michael was delusional and desperate to make everyone in his office his friend (compensating for his friend-less socially-awkward past), it’s arguably the truest thing that he ever said. And we can’t deny it. No matter hard we try. We have (at the very least) the opportunity to find the best community in the places where we spend the most time and have some of the most challenging experiences. Such opportunities get hindered when there’s so much transience and turnover of personnel and everyone’s instructed to leave as much of their personal life as possible back at home. But, in workplaces unlike that (such as Dunder Mifflin Scranton), there’s the opportunity for both quality community and quality production.

Jim and Pam held their wedding ceremony in Niagara Falls to disinterest their co-workers with the commute, but Michael gave everyone the workdays off to attend. And, as we also discussed, their co-workers also all found themselves, curiously, at Jim and Pam’s daughter’s christening. The employees of Dunder Mifflin Scranton may not have known wedding etiquette or basic theology, but they knew Jim and Pam better than their own relatives did. And, despite all the relational conflicts and general boredom, the departing employees knew they would miss good ol‘ Dunder Mifflin Scranton, no matter what dream position/retirement they acquired (e.g. Athleap, Cornell Admissions).

And there’s always the opportunity to show grace in community. How Jim, after pranking annoying Dwight for years, helped save him his job and get his promotion to manager. How Dwight then upheld Jim publicly. How Oscar, after years of rude holistic condescension from Angela, hosted her and her toddler son in his home, saving them from homelessness. How Stanley, after years of annoyance from Phyllis, carves her a bobble-head and she speaks against his public perception as a grump. The list goes on. 

In an ordinary workplace, there’s plenty of alternatives to grace for such conflict and relational challenge. People can resign, transfer, hold grudges and/or never take any initiatives of friendship again. Grace and forgiveness can be initially painful, but the quality community and quality production of humble little Dunder Mifflin Scranton can be the result.

The more selfless effort, time and grace, etc. you give to a community of people, the more grace and community-feel you will receive. And this doesn’t just pertain to workplaces, but families and churches as well. True community is not a commodity. This is why, for example, people that serve and volunteer in churches feel more like they’re part of a community than back-row church-shoppers. It’s why people that invest love, time and energy with family members, local and distant, don’t feel awkwardly out of the loop at gatherings. That’s the way the pre-Constantine churches of Rome operated, serving their communities with Truth and love.

So, wherever you are and whoever you’re with, strive to give selfless service and grace to those around you. When you make your life not so much about what you want to do and how you feel, and you realize you’re not alone, life, ironically, can be much happier for you. Just like people at Dunder Mifflin Scranton turned out to be, as the banker asked, “generally happy.”