The Job (The Office)

"The Job" is the final episode of the third season of the U.S. version of The Office. It is an hour-long episode.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler A job opening in Corporate pits coworker against coworker as Michael, Jim, and Karen all head to New York for final interviews. Michael assumes he will get the job, sells his condo, and tells Dwight that he will be taking over Michael's job after Michael gets promoted.

Jim walks in with a new haircut to the chagrin of everyone in the office. He says that Karen said his old haircut made him look "homeless". In an attempt to get Michael to take her back, Jan arrives at the office telling him that she's been more confident and better than ever after taking a vacation. Michael is reluctant to reinitiate the relationship and consults the women of the office. Pam takes the lead, telling him to be strong and end it for good. Michael musters up confidence in his decision to not take back Jan, but it is short-lived when he realizes that Jan has undergone breast augmentation. Soon after, Jim and Karen leave to spend the night in New York City, where they sneak into Spamalot. Karen says that if Jim got the job in New York, she would move to be with him. She asks him if he would move to be with her, but he doesn't answer and things get awkward.

Back in Scranton, Michael leaves Dwight in charge of the office, which prompts Dwight to start his new regime by painting his office black, assigning Andy the role of his No. 2 (after Andy was the only one who said he was interested in the position), and giving Pam the role of "Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager". He also implements a new motivational system deemed "Shrutebucks", which is basically near-worthless fake money. During a meeting shortly afterward, Stanley rejects an offer of Shrutebucks and counter-offers Dwight a billion "Stanley Nickels" under the condition that he never talk to him again.

During his interview at Corporate Michael learns that he would be taking the place of Jan, who will be fired. Michael immediately goes and tells Jan, and Jan has an emotional breakdown in front of various members of the Corporate staff. Then the CFO tells Michael that he's not going to be giving Michael the position. Michael returns to the Scranton office and says he will be there forever. At the end of the episode, Michael and Jan are still together, though Michael seems more and more uncertain of their relationship.

During Jim's interview, it seems as though David is ready to give the job to Jim. When asked for his sales report numbers (which Pam photocopied for both Karen and Jim), Jim notices an encouraging note from Pam slipped into his reports, reading: "Jim- don't forget us when you're famous. Pam", along with a yogurt lid medal, from Office Olympics. Jim, distracted by this, stumbles through the rest of the interview.

Pam, secretly wishing that Karen would get the job, reaffirms in an interview that she is fine with the way that things worked out with her and Jim, that is, until Jim bursts in and asks her if she is available that evening for dinner. Pam, half shocked, answers "yes". In reply, Jim retorts, "Great. It's a date" and then leaves just as bluntly as he arrives. Pam is only able to smile politely and happily with tears in her eyes, quickly forgetting what she was talking about.

The episode ends with CFO Wallace offering the job to Ryan, who—elated— breaks up with Kelly.

Trivia

• On his blog Creed wrote that he thought motorcycles were the best kind of car. "They're small and dangerous."
• References to previous episodes:
  • When Dwight offers Pam the job of secret Assistant to the Regional Manager, Pam responds "Absolutely, I do." In a talking head interview she says that she learned from Jim that's what she should say if Dwight ever asks her to do something secret. This is a reference to "The Alliance" when Dwight asks if Jim wants to form a secret alliance with him.
  • Pam secretly inserts a gold yogurt lid medal from "Office Olympics" into Jim's sales report.
• Dwight references 24 when he states that his ideal Assistant Regional Manager candidate would be Jack Bauer, however he is fictional and overqualified, among other things.
• When David Wallace was listing the things Jan did to get her fired, he told her she always makes the excuse that she visited her sister in Scottsdale, as she mentioned in Back from Vacation. He also told her that she constantly smoked, as she did in "Casino Night".
• Pam's insertions into Jim's sales report are a reference to the original Office's Christmas special, wherein Tim inserts a similar note into Dawn's Christmas present, leading the two to join together at the end.
• Jan's real name is revealed as "Janet".
• David Wallace apologizes to Jim during the interview for making him fill out a form. David blames this on the annoying H.R. guy in the New York office named Kendall, and he goes so far as to say that Kendall is the only employee there Jim will not like. This enmity clearly alludes to Michael's similar disdain for Toby in the Scranton branch.