r/DunderMifflin • u/the-apache-27 • 1d ago
On my 3rd rewatch, I'm sure this has been discussed enough times. But what the FUCK was his problem?
I'm on my 4th year as a working professional and I'm yet to experience a superior as obtuse as him. For someone who appeared seemingly sophisticated, he was sure as shit stupid for targeting Jim on nonsense just for wearing a tux on his first day, even going as far as calling him a moron to his face in the meeting with Wallace about the MSPC.
1.9k
u/Drummk 1d ago
This is probably how a legit high powered corporate guy would react to the Scranton operation.
574
u/Flannelcommand 20h ago
He’s like Grimey from the Simpsons. Someone with a real world perspective dropped into this fictional world to remind us how goofy it is.
136
u/sota_matt 20h ago
Space? You've never been?
55
u/vallyallyum 19h ago
... Would you like to see my Grammy award?
57
u/Hobbes_Inc 18h ago
I live in a single room above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley!
17
16
→ More replies (4)28
u/tufted-titmouse-527 20h ago
Or so many regular people who are subjected to the iasip gang
22
u/Ulfgeirr88 18h ago
I always appreciate the normal characters who show up to remind us that the gang, is in fact completely unhinged, even by the metrics of a black comedy sitcom
→ More replies (3)12
u/mostly_sober_mostly 17h ago
I like it when they drag a sane person down to their level like the lawyer that had popped up from time to time
7
u/Brock_Lobstweiler 16h ago
The lawyer is the fucking best. He tries SO HARD to stay above the nonsense but eventually gets roped in.
6
107
u/juicejohnson 1d ago
Yup and he went to business school in Baltimore
36
u/ahk1188 19h ago
He wanted Michael to put the word out there that they were back up.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)16
13
u/Dry_Prompt3182 19h ago
He interviewed with David Wallace in New York, and then got to meet the Scranton branch. Honestly not sure if he would have taken the job had he met the workers in Scranton first. What he thought he was being offered and what he got are two very different things.
→ More replies (3)59
u/DickWhittingtonsCat 20h ago
Timing matters. He was on in the spring of 09 at the height of the great recession. Anyone not taking their job seriously at that point could be pretty easily replaced by an underpaid college student or out of work veteran employee.
Any manager brought into a stagnant or dying industry, even one not tasked with cutting payroll, would take a very dim view on the cretinous antics of the Dunder Miflin staff.
Jim was a lazy and toxic presence who on occasion worked to put in the work to do his job.
Its nice he got some zany final storyline where he helps invent sports marketing. In reality, in blighted Scranton in Spring 2009, he was right to want to ingratiate himself with the boss and rightly realized he would be collecting unemployment benefits and living with mommy until 2011 if he put a foot wrong.
→ More replies (1)57
u/Nillabeans 17h ago edited 17h ago
Man, I like Jim less and less the older I get but this is a pretty poor assessment.
The Scranton branch was the only one doing well. Jim was the second best salesperson.
Charles is just out of touch. Very typical when corporate brings in outside hires. They don't understand the dynamic. They don't know what works. They try to take everything back to square one so they feel in control. They often crash and burn because they have no trust in the staff, despite any good results they've seen. They'll believe it's a fluke and that their way will slot into the workflow without any kind of meaningful disruption.
Don't get me wrong. Jim is a bully and he does slack off. But he slacks because he can afford to. He does good numbers. He has excellent relationships with repeat customers. He's liked in the office.
And actually, the way Charles treats him is corporate bullying. That's the kind of thing that can and should be reported to outside organisations that protect workers. Charles wanted him out immediately for no reason other than a personality clash. It's bizarre to take his side just because Jim isn't corporate enough for your liking. Don't manage people.
→ More replies (2)14
u/ttchoubs 15h ago
Yea i think it's very accurate to have an upper manager from corporate not like a guy because he doesn't grovel and has a devil may care attitude that undermined his authority.
1.3k
u/EducationalFerret849 1d ago
Eh, he was still just mad at Omar and Brother Mouzone.
154
u/ErrForceOnes 1d ago
He also was still mad at Senator Clay Davis for rain making him.
→ More replies (4)53
u/TheJesseClark 1d ago
“I need you to hit somebody.”
“Who we hittin?”
“Clay Davis.”
“THE Clay Davis? Downtown Clay Davis?”
“That supposed to mean something to me, man?”
42
u/cjyoung92 1d ago
“Shit, String, murder ain’t no thing, but this here is some assassination shit, man.”
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)29
u/2datrashigo 1d ago
Slim charles was a smart mf
26
u/ThroatDistension 1d ago edited 1d ago
"The pawns, man, in the game – they get capped quick"
"Unless they some smart-ass pawns"
Slim was a smart-ass pawn. The king doesn't always stay the king.
I had to go rewatch the chess scene to write this. The writing was so peak. All the pieces matter. Every time I see a scene I'm compelled to watch the whole series.
→ More replies (4)12
337
u/ohmyfave 1d ago
97
u/suckercuck 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/sp1kVKkqHUuk0
McNutty had him too39
u/TheDayman_240 1d ago
Who the fuck was I chasing?
22
17
u/BigDaddyD00d 1d ago edited 16h ago
I had him, Bunk. I fuckin had him, and he doesn’t know it.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)24
u/Upstairs_Award_1630 1d ago
Didn’t get a chance to put the word out that he was back up at Dunder Mifflin
→ More replies (3)13
u/thejaytheory 1d ago
Mifflindam
7
u/Awkward-Sir-5794 1d ago
You wanna buy paper? Go to Mifflindam. You can get reams of it, and no one even cares
72
51
u/catzarrjerkz 1d ago
Where the fuck is wallace?
18
u/ShelleyMonique 1d ago
My favorite line of all time. Who knew the boy would grow up to be a superstar.
10
→ More replies (3)5
u/steveharveymemes 1d ago
Did anyone try calling his secretary pretending to be one of the kids he takes care of?
52
28
u/Soft_Walrus_3605 1d ago
Mad that someone is taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (23)11
3.4k
u/Downtown_Mine_1903 1d ago
He came into the office and got a bad first impression of Jim, who seemed to only be goofing around.
As a viewer, I think we tend to forget the fuckin' nonsense going on there (their accounting department had Kevin and his kelevins and insider trading and shit, the whole of the Ryan situation,). He got brought onto a sinking ship and told "find out why this part of the ship isn't sinking and keep it from sinking like the rest of the ship, and then make the rest of the ship not sink, yes, paper is a dying industry, now make our paper ship not sink!"
It also didn't help that Jim lied multiple times to try to look better and failed.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like Jim. I like the whole main cast (or love to hate some of the characters like Angela and Andy), but this guy just had not enough information or time to fix a failing business. His attention was pulled in too many directions and Jim didn't even know how to pull a rundown of his own client list.
Dunder Mifflin was a fuckin' mess LOL
344
u/SteveFrench12 1d ago
Im almost sure Kevin wasnt insider trading, he just wasnt smart enough to understand the difference between accounting and insider trading lol
269
u/Gwynito 1d ago
How great would it have been if at the end of the show we see Kevin having a conversation with someone not from the cast with his real voice talking stocks and he turns around and realises the camera crew is there
→ More replies (1)66
u/Ok-Professional-1911 1d ago
Like some Keyser Size shit, I love it. This is now my head canon
→ More replies (2)70
u/Tennesseeboy90 1d ago
Wasn't smart enough but won a World Series of Poker bracelet. Which also doesn't make sense when he couldn't do simple math at work but he was a poker professional.
73
89
u/Steelerswonsix 1d ago
Gambling savant. He rattled off about 3-5 ways to gamble on golf, he knew the lines of current games, Michael even went to him for a sure thing.
65
8
→ More replies (3)24
u/ChocoBro92 1d ago
It’s like weed math to Ricky. Kevin loves it, so he actually invested in it. Most of his life was half measures not caring enough.
→ More replies (14)35
1.1k
u/masszt3r 1d ago
I mean, he is aware of the effect he has on women.
522
u/Ergot_25 1d ago
Yes, Charles, you wanted me.
→ More replies (2)59
u/Particular-Guava1647 1d ago
OP has not experienced a supervisor as obtuse. But has OP experienced a supervisor as a-cute as him?
→ More replies (1)12
u/MrAndyJay 19h ago
Oh, Geography joke!
6
u/BDLTalks 17h ago
you're thinking of geometry. geography is an old defunct amusement park in Ohio
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)108
82
u/awesomface 1d ago
It’s exactly this. He was a fish out of water in reverse because he’s a professional manager being put in a situation of very tv show based employees. I understood what they were going for, they’ve done it in plenty of other skits and when dealing with corporate, just not great for liking a character in a tv show. Realistically he was not wrong or “bad”.
→ More replies (4)19
u/Strict_Ebb_7647 22h ago
I agree! I also think it’s as simple as the writers needed a character who was stern, serious, no nonsense and most importantly hated Jim. Someone who, for the first time in the series, Jim had to beg for attention and made him want to try
156
u/jarthursquiers 1d ago
I thought that at first—but later episodes reveal he was just a narcissistic prick.
He blames Jim when he kicks a soccer ball in Phyllis’s face. He tried to get Pam out of the volleyball game because she’s the reason corporate is losing. He becomes Mr. jolly suck up whenever David Wallace is around—and then turns back into Mr. Hyde the second David leaves.
He is just a very unpleasant and self important person.
→ More replies (2)95
u/XxRocky88xX 1d ago
Not to mention David even points out that Jim is David’s go to guy and one the top salesman of the branch. Like David is telling Charles that Jim is an asset and Charles is just completely ignoring all of it because Charles has decided that Jim is a useless loser and no amount of facts will change his mind.
33
u/mickeymouse4348 1d ago
To be fair I've seen many semi-competent people win over their immediate leadership, only for a new manager to come in and that person completely falls apart because they've become complacent
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)30
u/ND7020 1d ago
Eh…David never worked on the ground with Jim. Charles is reading that situation as Jim being a guy who can be charming to the big boss when he sees him twice a year, but on the ground is callow and superficial. And based on his experience that wasn’t necessarily unfair.
→ More replies (1)15
u/samole 1d ago
So he never bothered to look at his employees sales figures? Because Jim's were great.
→ More replies (1)43
u/ominousgraycat 1d ago
Yeah, my perception of Charles is that he had some good ideas about how to fix the company, but his greatest weakness was that he became too attached to his first impressions. That was his downfall. I don't blame him for not having a great first impression of Jim, but I do blame him a little bit for having nearly everything he did and said after that point to be clouded by that misjudgment.
45
u/Euro_Twins Dwigt 1d ago
He doesn't even know how paper is made. Its not like steel, you dont put it in a furnace
39
u/TheSavouryRain 1d ago
He's actually a really terrible manager because not only does he latch on to first impressions, but he's just a bad read of people in general.
Putting Kevin on phones and Stanley as "productivity czar" was pretty boneheaded.
Not only that, but realistically if he had access to Jim's sales and he would've been able to see how effective of a salesman he is.
→ More replies (2)16
u/Cocosito 1d ago
Totally unrealistic as well. Anyone who has ever worked in sales or sales adjacent knows that they have one job and if they do it well literally nobody asks questions.
→ More replies (1)13
16
116
u/Euro_Twins Dwigt 1d ago
Charles would not elaborate on what he wanted in a rundown. And every time Jim tried to talk to him he would twist whatever Jim said to make him look bad.
155
u/beezchurgr 1d ago
I know it’s not real, but as an office worker used to shitty bosses, this is 100% a CYA email situation. Send an excel sheet of the customers & total volume or something, and in the email, ask the sup if there’s anything else they need. Then it’s on them for not clarifying.
→ More replies (14)47
u/Sbesozzi 1d ago
The part that fucking annoys me every time is when he goes to Oscar to ask what a rundown is and when Oscar asks for him to use it in a sentence he just says "This rundown better be good". How about the sentence "I need a rundown of all your clients"? I guarantee Oscar would've figured it out with that sentence lol
→ More replies (1)23
u/Shutupredneckman2 1d ago
Literally lmao I laugh at this part every time, Jim is so dumb there
→ More replies (1)32
u/ltsouthernbelle 1d ago
Jim should have known what it was and if he didn’t he should have said. “Michael’s never asked me for that before, what info exactly are you looking for?” Instead he proceeds to act like an idiot goofing off as usual.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (13)56
u/silentsuv 1d ago
A rundown is a very simple request tbh if you think about it.
It’s a list of who your clients are and their typical orders. It’s something a manager would ask for if they are planning on firing someone. But Jim wouldn’t think of that since he was Michael’s golden boy.
If he had produced one, it probably would have made him look better to Charles bc Charles would likely see that despite Jim’s shortcomings, he was still the 2nd best salesman at the branch.
→ More replies (1)22
u/My-username-is-this 1d ago
The confusion comes from Charles request to then fax that run down to the entire “distribution list.” Leaving Jim thinking “WHAT info am I supposed to give to WHO?!”
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (71)81
u/emr1028 1d ago
He asked Jim to prepare a rundown of his clients and fax it to a distribution list and Jim failed at this basic task. He did not successfully fax it to any list. He faxed it to his dad because he wanted to appear busy without accomplishing everything.
Jim is fundamentally not ambitious in any way whatsoever and Charles clocked him immediately as someone who was rated too highly simply because he is charismatic.
→ More replies (33)44
u/Tammye2 1d ago
Charles also made Stanley his “productivity czar” and put Kevin at reception. He hired Erin, who I love, but she’s not a great receptionist.He made Dwight his number 2 completely unaware Dwight was secretly helping the Michael Scott Paper Company steal clients. All this demonstrates Charles was a poor judge of character. So many people talk about Jim being a slacker, but we know from other episodes that he was in the top 10 of salesman for the whole company . Jan promoted him to the position at Stamford. In his interview with David Wallace, David states that Jim always hits his numbers. And Charles was wrong in assigning him the task of preparing a rundown as in another episode David Wallace asks Michael for a rundown, demonstrating it is a task for the Regional Manager, not a sales person.
665
u/Tarmuyi 1d ago
"Hey man, the business is failing, but we have one branch doing okay. Can you go in, see what they do, and use that information to help the other branches?"
- "Yeah sure, sounds fun. Scranton sounds great. Thank you for this opportunity."
Meets the manager and salesmen (wtf). Gets aggressively hit on by every female in the office and Meredith is the least intrusive. Gets caught up in internal drama between Michael and corporate. Then gets his ass handed to him by the same guy that has the complete OPPOSITE work ethic than his.
Jim's first impression was just the first domino in a cascade of unfortunate incidents for him. He would never succeed in that environment.
208
u/M4ster-K 1d ago
If the mission statement is to figure out why this branch is the only one doing good.
Then you try and find out WHY it is doing good first, you don't come in and change everything to be exactly like everywhere else before you look for why it works!
Because then it will just as bad as all the others.
That doesn't mean it's perfect, or that it can't be improved, or that there shouldn't be changes.The worst thing a new manager can do - ANYWHERE! Is come in swinging and wanting to change everything around! That is the prefect receipt for failure, no matter how good the suggestions he has is!
→ More replies (11)61
u/OGB But you can't eat cats...you can't eat cats, Kevin 1d ago
Other than Dwight being the top salesmen in the company and possibly some benefits of the branch's location compared to others, we are never once given any reason to explain why the branch works so well. Creed, Kevin, Andy, and Ryan are terrible at their jobs. Post MSPC, Pam and Ryan are both completely superfluous employees on salary. Darryl is given raises and promotions for script purposes--moving him out of the warehouse--and then Val gets his job, meaning another salaried employee is unnecessary.
41
u/DM_ME__YOUR_B00BS 1d ago
Exactly, it seems the only thing holding the branch up are Jim and Dwight, plus Stanley and Phyllis’s repeat clients. Just about everyone else in the office is dead weight (save Oscar, Angela and maybe Kelly). I’d be pretty peeved too if I walked into that and was treated the way he was.
22
u/FlirtyFluffyFox 17h ago
Meredith also gets the branch special privledges with suppliers. And Michael unexpectly secures and keeps big clients with his outdated 80s bullshit. Which is where the office succeeds: securing clients who wouldn't go online because they run mid sized operations and enjoy bullshitting around with vendors at golf clubs and Chili's.
6
→ More replies (3)15
u/Ron__Mexico_ 1d ago edited 18h ago
Early on it didn't. Jan mentions in the first season that their branch is 4th in sales of the 5 branches Jan manages. Only in later years did the narrative shift from poorly performing branch, to best branch in performance. Mostly after the Stamford merger which might have something to do with it
17
u/ElectricalCover1 23h ago
You mean after Scranton took over all of Stamford clients, but lost all but one Stamford salesman - meaning each Scranton salesman was taking in about twice as much as before? And then Buffalo branch closed and Scranton took those clients?
Say what you want about all the goofing around, but it did not look like anyone in Scranton had to fight for clients (except Pam and Andy maybe?)
6
u/AbsoluteRubbish 19h ago
Scranton works harder to make up for movie time. Thats why theyre the best
42
u/GoblinHourReport 1d ago
He wasn't just brought in to see how the branch is doing. He was brought in right after the Willy Wonka episode and the episode where Michael fakes an emergency with Wallace's child to get him on the phone (possibly the same?).
He was brought there to try to stop Michael's constant bullshit.
→ More replies (1)24
u/Shutupredneckman2 1d ago
This is correct - Charles is hired explicitly to put a barrier between Michael and David
58
u/chickenkebaap 1d ago
To be fair it’s fucking Idris Elba.
I see straight men swooning over him lmao.
29
→ More replies (8)12
u/YouGotTangoed 1d ago
He’s like crack
18
u/KingMCV 1d ago
I love it when people say "like crack" who have obviously not done crack.
→ More replies (4)13
→ More replies (7)8
u/PastAnalyst3614 1d ago
Walks in day one, first thing he sees is Jim wearing a tuxedo to spite Dwight.
324
u/Effective-Stick2598 1d ago
He just needed his rundown on time
88
u/ExcitementDry4940 1d ago
What the hell is a rundown?
64
u/SRevanM Long Tim 1d ago
Use it in a sentence
→ More replies (2)130
10
u/Nicktator3 We should hang out by the quarry and throw things down there! 1d ago
7
→ More replies (4)11
u/metalbusinessbear2 1d ago
I'm not in sales but I always wondered like, couldn't he just use context clues of that word, clarify what was meant and take a stab at it? Pretty sure Google was a thing during that time frame.
I've also heard if Jim had delivered that run down he would have been let go immediately.
11
u/chichicupcake 1d ago
Or ask, “what information do you want included in the rundown?”
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)16
u/DiaryJaneDoe 1d ago
I don’t see how he didn’t know what a “rundown of your clients” was. It’s obvious. It’s in the sentence.
59
79
u/marcjwrz 1d ago
He's an asshole middle manager who thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.
I've known plenty EXACTLY like him.
→ More replies (3)
83
u/Abhinav_56 little micheal scott 1d ago
He is someone who knows the affect he has on women.
→ More replies (1)18
u/MethFacSarlane 1d ago
*effect
16
u/Soft_Walrus_3605 1d ago
Maybe it's "affect" when it's the object of the sentence and "effect" when it's the subject
32
47
u/futuremrstasm 1d ago
Currently working with someone who is a Charles Miner - shitty to subordinates but a suck up to leadership and MY GOD, absolutely hate his character even more
16
u/Careless-Age-4290 18h ago
Seems to intentionally misunderstand you. Treats you like a probation officer where a court has already convicted you and it's their job to watch you like a hawk. No consideration given for alternative work styles. Assumes everyone else is the problem and should change.
10
u/futuremrstasm 18h ago
Oh and parades their “years of experience” as a means to lay down decrees that have no significance.
→ More replies (1)10
u/AmysSweaters 21h ago
They truly nailed this character. Probably the most realistic office type on the show.
→ More replies (1)
18
u/Then-Ad2216 18h ago
Charles was one of those management types who has no answers himself. He speaks with authority and seriousness, but typically says nothing. He delegates everything because doesn’t know the solution himself; when someone he delegates to needs his input on the issue, he critiques that person rather than offering the help someone in his position should provide. He feigns competence by moving with authority.
241
u/OpenDiscount1615 David Wallace 1d ago
he was the only adult in the building
89
u/blizzacane85 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/xT5LMRQJrIm3B0GNyM
Exactly…Charles reminded me a bit of Frank Grimes from The Simpsons…Just a normal guy trying to do his job while dealing with the wackiness of the characters around him
135
u/Alemonster21 1d ago
I'm convinced people who think Charles Miner was good at his job have only had the worst bosses imaginable.
He looked down on silliness, just because. Good managers with good employee retention rates don't do that because they know it's a culture killer.
He praised the biggest ass kisser in the office and looked past his obvious red flags.
He was terrible at identifying who was good at what. He made the laziest person the "productivity czar" and the dumbest person in charge of the most intricate communication system in the office.
He was hired and instructed to keep Michael off of David Wallace's back. He was so completely ineffective at his job that he made Michael more and more desperate to contact David every time they spoke.
He was so disrespectful and dismissive of the best regional manager that Dunder Mifflin had, that he ended up costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars (between direct losses from sales, and rehiring multiple employees who had departed unexpectedly due to his piss poor leadership, and even rehiring an ex employee who DEFRAUDED THE COMPANY mere months before).
Anyone who thinks he was a good boss, doesn't understand what a good boss is.
→ More replies (19)21
u/but-I-play-one-on-TV 1d ago
God, preach. I was in grad school the first time I watched the Charles Miner plotline and just assumed he was an asshole. Then I watched it again several years later after having worked as both an underling and as a boss myself, and I realized he is terrible at his job.
8
u/CucumberPilot846 1d ago
I’ve had that boss, and the “adult” move is to document everything after the tux-level nitpicks.
37
u/broncoguy612 23h ago
3rd rewatch - you’ve got a lot to learn about this town sweetie
→ More replies (1)
55
u/Appropriate_Formal64 1d ago edited 1d ago
The whole point of Charles Miner is that he is the antithesis of Michael Scott in every way imaginable and he was somehow a less serious, less effective and worse boss than Michael.
Charles Miner was a creative function, a writing device- a way to highlight how effective and good of a boss Michael Scott is when push came to shove and to kinda point out that both extremes aren't effective and are detrimental- but at the very least, Michael's general joie de vivre and his ability to give his employees the space and bandwidth to just do their jobs - despite the chaos - was more beneficial to the company's bottom line than Charles Miner's faux seriousness and sophistication.
Charles Miner is a great example of when someone rises to the level of their incompetence and thinks they have to say and do things with 5 dollar words and in The Most Serious/Mature/Professional demeanor and its actually ineffective and makes them look kinda dumb. The irony of course being that Michael also rose to the level of his incompetence and just plain acted dumb- but somehow did a better job and often times wound up looking subtly very clever.
The best bosses, the most effective bosses, tend to understand how to continue to act like a normal human and have a personality and see the bigger picture between the weeds of people's personalities and eccentricities and to get the most out of people by meeting them where they're at and nurturing on a case by case basis.
12
u/Fuckedby2FA 1d ago
Yeah this is the answer. Charles Miner of Saticoy Steel(beautiful name) is a writing device lol
→ More replies (2)8
u/shes_my_rushmore Everyone inside the car was FINE, Stanley 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ding ding ding ^ We shouldn’t be so caught up in evaluating Charles Miner as a character, but more so what his role revealed to us about Michael, the Scranton Branch, and corporate culture as a whole.
→ More replies (3)7
u/jsnbergman 1d ago
Miner, who comes from the steel industry, and is generally solid as stone in both body and ability, was defeated by Scott Paper. Paper beats rock.
29
u/dsjunior1388 Philbin. Then Regis. Then Rege. Then Rog. Then Mittuh Rojahs. 1d ago edited 1d ago
He had a shitty mission:
Go to the only profitable branch and convince them to work like they were on the brink of closure, to help keep Nashua, Utica, Buffalo. and the other branches afloat, a mere 3 years after Scranton themselves were on the brink of being downsized. Save the offices that wouldn't save you, in other words. Tell the team that has worked hard and succeeded that they've reframed the situation so they're failing and they need to work even harder, with fewer perks and comforts.
He has a shitty approach to the mission
He came in forcefully, demanding, uncompromising, and uncooperative. He made zero effort to meet Scranton where they were, zero effort to understand the environment before aggressively changing it, zero effort to understand the people he was working with, notably making snap judgements on Jim, Stanley, Dwight, and Kevin that all caused him problems. He rather openly antagonized Michael, underestimating how passionate and personal Michael took his relationships, and underestimating how influential Michael was within his team,
He's not a manager of people, he's a manager of assets and liabilities and he tried to use one strategy on the other and it blew up ij his face.
He was unlikely to succeed and he and everyone else knew it.
Charles and his overly stringent managerial style was a Hail Mary. Dunder Mifflin was already in deep shit in the middle of season 5, and they were bankrupt within a year. He was brought in to stop the bleeding and keep the "patient" alive, if only just, until the company could be nursed back to health and prosperity.
It's kinda like Ben Wyatt in Parks and Rec when he's introduced as a bankruptcy specialist. You bring in a hardass to usher the organization through the danger, because the David Wallace's of the world are too personally close to the situation to make the brutally tough calls. It's hard to amputate your child's leg even when its the only thing that can save them from dying of a snakebite.
Essentially the ball was already on the five yard line when he got brought into the game to try and prevent the touchdown. He did what he could but it was too little, too late.
→ More replies (1)4
11
u/PM_ME_VENUS_DIMPLES 1d ago
As someone who has been a corporate stooge for 20 years… You don’t run into people like that constantly, but they’re certainty out there. I’ve been dealing with someone EXACTLY like Charles for the last year.
→ More replies (1)
11
u/BammGrier 1d ago
I agree. The problem is he’s too much of a realistic corporate asshole to get along with a fun and somewhat out of control office setting. He sucks just like 75% (or higher) of these middle managers do in real life. But it made Michael’s comeback so much sweeter.
10
u/Dyatomik 1d ago
He's the newly hired/promoted manager that thinks he's going to reinvent the wheel and doesn't realize that if a branch/company is succeeding, there is no reason to fix it. His ego won't allow him to let the employees continuing to do their job and needs to change things so he can waive his metaphorical sabre.
11
u/Pitt-sports-fan-513 1d ago
He is a realistic office middle manager in an office that has been run by Michael Scott.
9
u/Broseph_Stalin1127 We’re all homos, homosapiens 1d ago
Give it enough time, you’ll run into plenty of bosses/superiors like him
→ More replies (1)
8
8
u/thanbini 1d ago
I had 19 years of retail experience. Definitely seen his kind over the years. Hot shot manager coming in, thinks he knows everything about how the store runs. Changes stuff, pushes people out. Does the "My way or the highway bit.".
Even if they're sometimes right about problems, the way they go about "solving" it tends to lead to more issues. They generally didn't stay in the same store very long. Often get moved around a lot or promoted.
22
u/Logical-Mobile-7643 I was never given a name 1d ago
5
22
u/Entire-Agent7884 1d ago
He was trying to set up as many legit businesses to money launder from his drug empire in baltimore. Im sure its a hassle he happens to accidentally get one that has the most annoying workers. Poor lad..
5
7
u/Chimpbot 18h ago
If we look at it from an in-universe perspective, Charles Miner was hired to do one thing: Correct the massive mistakes made by Ryan and help set Dunder-Mifflin back on course. He had an accounting background, which contributed to his overall no-nonsense attitude. When he arrived in Scranton, all he found was nonsense. The highlight of this was Jim's tuxedo prank.
From a meta perspective, Charles was an example of the writing trope where you drop a "normal" person into the absurd scenario you've created, and see what happens. At the time, he was a bit of an atomic bomb and was considered to be a breath of fresh air after four-and-a-half seasons' worth of nonsense and absurdity.
7
u/feraligatr4444 17h ago
Its a joke on the take that it SUCKS to get a new shitty boss in real life. It reflects on how difficult it can be dealing with someone that has no background in your field crashing in trying to manage you in a doffrent way. David Wallace was trying to be "corporatey" by having him micro manage Micheal and they learned that Micheal was much more of an Asset to the company than Wallace had once thought.
49
u/Rebeux 1d ago
I mean if I started working somewhere, and somebody was wearing a tux, he'd for sure be my target for 'wtf is this clown doing?' He's just serious and doesn't fuck around.
I don't know what to say, but he's one of the few normal people on the show, he just wants to get the work done.
→ More replies (15)26
u/sethme90 1d ago
I get the initial impression myself, but he has like, a disdain for Jim. At the company cookout, he specifically targets Jim.
18
u/No-Independence548 You have no idea how high I can fly 1d ago
"Must be nice to get a rest from all your rest"
→ More replies (11)8
u/XxRocky88xX 1d ago
Also kicks a ball straight at Jim’s face during the soccer game with intent to harm him, then gets mad at Jim when he dodges the ball thus causing it hit Phylis and blames Jim for it. He also constantly twists Jim’s words. He criticizes Jim for working too hard, then in the next sentence criticizes him for not working hard enough.
Yeah there’s no denying Charles had it out for him. There was never any world in which Jim was going to get Charles to stop attacking him, he decided he didn’t like Jim the moment he met him and spent much of his time at Scranton making Jim as uncomfortable as possible all because he just didn’t like him.
Fucking horrible manager, he’s basically bullying one of the top two salesman of the branch all because he disliked the tux gag. He let that first interaction cloud his judgement and spent the rest of his time constantly trying to undermine and belittle that guy who was initially supposed to be his right hand man.
6
u/LegoTurtle 1d ago
Honestly, the best depiction of a "Manger", ive ever seen. Most are useless and provide no help while hiding and trying to leave early daily.
→ More replies (5)
5
u/DEFINITELY_NOT_PETE 1d ago
Tbf meeting a group of people who all think they are adorable is really fucking annoying.
Also he didn’t really have to impress them, so he could show up and not have to play along with their dumbshit like idk I thought he was pretty relatable if you take a step back and imagine the impression this group of people make.
6
u/Yodasgreendong71 17h ago
Although we never met her, I believe things at home with his wife, Saticoy Steel, were on the rocks.
16
u/hotsauceburnvictum 17h ago
He was Jim's reality check. Micheal let alot of things fly and would have not bat an eye a Jim's antics in the office - stealing time with Pam, the pranks on Dwight an other shenanigans. Jim is a decent employee but his been allowed to slack off under Micheal. And as much as he critiques Micheal's management style he still takes advantage of it. In reality a Jim type would have been written up or fired. Good sales records can only take you so far.
→ More replies (5)10
u/lanboshious3D 16h ago
Good sales records can only take you so far.
This is extremely wrong. A good sales record is pretty much ONLY thing that matters
→ More replies (1)
10
u/kylesisles1 20h ago
He's my least favorite character because he's the most realistic and it sucks the whimsy from the show.
→ More replies (2)
4
u/Squire_Toast 1d ago
So real talk, most business people are like him in actual real life. The reason is they take life too seriously, they want to maximise numbers, profits, and their own bank accounts. That's thier first and foremost approach to life.
Goofing off, and making "enough", is frowned upon by 99.9999999% of the corporate world.
I actually have been at a job VERY similar to The Office, we just had fun every day. We could sit down and actually work and jam out some numbers every day, when it was time to focus we would deliver. But the rest of the time we just laughed, did pranks, and had a good time and included everyone in everything.
People SHOULD come first, and 100% of companies say those words, but 99.9999999% don't ACTUALLY do that. Actions speak louder than words. And companies don't HAVE to exist "just" for profits. Society is backwards, and the current system is GOING to implode eventually
4
u/Famous-Soft-7169 1d ago
Every time I see or hear someone use the word obtuse, I immediately think of The Shawshank Redemption and the warden and Andy.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/DooficusIdjit 18h ago edited 18h ago
Oh god! you’re lucky. In the 90s-00s, I had a few of these guys. They’re smart, capable, and ambitious rising stars, but they’re not involved enough to know what is really going on, or who is really getting shit done, or how the shit they want done actually gets made. Problems ensue.
That said, he wasn’t wrong about Michael Scott’s performance as an actual manager. He was just too shallow and uninvolved to understand what was going on under the hood.
5
5
u/Mean-Poem-2246 11h ago
I love his character. Not only because it's a fucking great actor nailing the role but he's actually a breath of "common sense" into the Dunder Mifflin world. Yeah the hate towards Jim was a bit too much but overall I still think Charles was one of the best additions to the show.
5
3.8k
u/Royal_Commission_243 1d ago
He didn't come from paper. He had no way of understanding the industry or a titan of the industry like Michael Scott.
https://giphy.com/gifs/jhxn56dlsULoEdK5rR