The Office: The 10 Worst Things Michael Said To His Employees

Michael Scott is an enigma. On The Office, he was the lead and the character many saw to be the funniest, if not also the most cringe-worthy. Over time, however, Michael Scott grew from a horrible, deplorable figure to a more sympathetic, beloved one. This came courtesy of Steve Carell’s affable performance and the warm sensibilities of Greg Daniels.

However, there are many moments over the course of the show that are just downright awful for Michael. He treats his employees exceedingly poorly and says myriad rude and offensive things to them. It was hard to even pare the list down to just ten!

10 Popularity

In “Fun Run,” Michael hits Meredith with his car, which sends him down a spiral of guilt and shame. These feelings, however, manifest in the concern he has for his own reputation, rather than Meredith’s well-being.

While lamenting the way the office turned on him, Michael says he hit Meredith, who is “not even one of the popular ones.” Clearly, he’d have been more sympathetic if he hit someone he thought was cool. Michael can be way too “high school” at times.

9 No Arms Or Legs

In “Stress Relief,” a CPR dummy is sent to Dunder Mifflin to see if the employees can learn how to rescue someone whose health is in danger. Michael observes that the dummy is limbless, which begs the question from Michael of whether someone without limbs is worth saving.

This isn’t enough for Michael, though. He then proceeds to insult Kevin by saying that “no arms or legs is basically how [he lives] right now.” It’s an entirely unprovoked jab.

8 Willy Wonka

Over the course of The Office, Michael makes many attempts to have Dwight “fall on his sword” to save his own neck. That comes when the office conducts drug testing, when the hotel at Niagara Falls is all booked up, and many more instances.

The worst one is when Michael believes his “golden ticket” idea has gone awry and he begs Dwight to take the fall to David Wallace for him. It’s filled with manipulation and lying, including the implication that Michael would have done the same. He is absolutely using Dwight at that moment.

7 Dating Pam’s Mom

“I’m gonna start dating her even harder,” Michael says when he refutes Pam’s protest about his dating of Helene, her mother. It’s bad enough that Michael crossed that boundary with a subordinate, but to say that to her is even worse.

Sure, the line is a bit nonsensical and even a little funny, but it’s still a targeted statement towards Pam. He’s trying to hurt her feelings and it’s never a good look for him.

6 The Only Thing He’s Worried About

Earlier in the show, anything that came out of Michael Scott’s mouth was grounds for being reported to HR. It’s this exact punishment that he worries about when he tries too hard to play nice with Phyllis after she’s insulted by Todd Packer.

In classic Michael fashion, he goes too far when he says he’s not worried about HR. His arms wrapped around Phyllis, he says he’s only worried about “getting a boner.” It’s so obviously bone-headed and offensive.

5 Homophobic Slur

Michael tosses out a number of problematic statements and verbiage over the course of The Office and in “Gay Witch Hunt,” it’s revealed that he referred to Oscar as being “f—-.”

After learning that Oscar is actually gay, Michael becomes heartbroken over his use of the slur. The fact that he felt the need to use the slur towards an employee at all, though, is what’s in question here.

4 “Googie Googie”

Michael Scott does not just use slurs and stereotypes towards people’s size and sexuality, though. He also uses them when commenting on the races of his employees.

There’s no need to comment on his employees’ races at all, but it becomes the focus of the season one episode, “Diversity Day.” In this, he gets right in Kelly’s face and begins screaming at her in a stereotypical Indian accent, asking her to try his “googie googie.” It justifiably results in a slap to the face.

3 Chris Rock

Earlier in the episode, though, Michael feels the need to do an impression of Chris Rock (with completely uncensored dialogue) in front of his employees. It’s not directed at anyone in particular, but it’s still completely inappropriate for a workplace setting.

Not to mention, the reason Mr. Brown was called in for diversity training in the first place was because of Michael’s use of the Rock impression already. He just doesn’t learn.

2 Shooting Toby

“If I had a gun with two bullets and I was in a room with Hitler, bin Laden, and Toby, I would shoot Toby twice,” Michael says in the season six episode, “The Chump.” It’s another time when he goes too far.

His hatred of Toby is always palpable, but to say that Toby’s murder is an object of Michael’s desire (with Michael likely meaning it)? That’s a bit too far to say about one’s employee, no matter how detested he is.

1 Cheerleader Phyllis

The single worst thing Michael has said to any of his employees comes when he talks with Phyllis in the season one episode, “Basketball.” Michael is trying to get one of the women in the office to be a cheerleader for the game when Phyllis volunteers. He replies, “Yuck, that’s worse than you playing.”

It’s not just the horror of the statement that is awful, it’s the flippancy and quickness with which Michael utters it. It remains one of the worst Michael Scott moments ever.

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