The Office isn’t just a great show but it has become the show that when I am working from home, I habitually turn it on for background noise. Maybe it’s because I watched it all the way through then started it again right after, and yes this pattern has continued with no end. Maybe it’s one of my “comfort shows” because I think everyone can agree that food isn’t the only thing you can put in the comfort category. Or maybe in some weird parallel, because they’re doing work and I am too; it’s just fitting.

The biggest take away I have from all my Office watching is that it really sticks the point that you know your coworkers in a much deeper level then you think. Majority of the characters do not interact outside of work and I think that is pretty typical in most work settings. Yet, the 9-5 that they spent together 5 days a week enabled them to really discover who each person was (except the IT guy). In the reality of today’s workforce, you spend most of your life working. Even though your coworkers may never interact with your personal life, they might know it in a way that those at home do not. For me personally, people I’ve worked with have seen my times of stress and success, presentations in front of boards, they’ve heard me on calls to CEOs of large companies; no one in my personal life has seen that side of Eva. As stated before, in this time and especially in America, work more than likely exceeds personal life. So, isn’t it interesting that your personal life people may never see how you are majority of the time?

Now on a strictly fun and interesting note as an Office fan, matching the characters with those around me. Even now as a business owner, I still come across the Dwights, Michaels, and Ryans of the world, and yes it definitely brings a laugh to the situation instead of immediate annoyance. Tell me if i’m wrong but you’ve had a boss that you can relate to Michael Scott in some capacity. How about a hometown planted, comfortable as they are, coworker like Pam? Who hasn’t worked with someone that could resemble at least one side of the Kelly and Ryan relationship IRL? For my business partner and I, all we need to say to each other is “he’s a Dwight” and no other description is needed.

Never watched The Office? Start now and do it all night long. “That’s what she said.”

Written by Eva Gerrits