“Hi I’m Date Mike, nice to meet me.”

Even the biggest fans are shocked looking back at moments of The Office. Blundering boss Michael Scott could easily be today’s poster child of workplace harassment. It’s not just the chorus of “that’s what she said” jokes, but the cringeworthy moments he bullies an overweight employee (S3E9), shares a topless picture of his boss with the whole office (S3E11), or forcibly kisses a male employee whom he outed (S3E1). Of course, these moments were meant to exemplify Michael’s oblivious assholeness. But the fact that they were set up almost lightheartedly, and on prime time TV no less; it’s obvious the show could never air today.

Looking back with a MeToo lens, Michael Scott could easily epitomize the misogynist boss. He has a compulsion to offend, from microaggressions to full-blown abuse, and the effect on his employees is to demotivate, gaslight, and outright harm; particularly women, people of color, and sexual minorities. As regional manager, he holds a decent amount of power over his employees, and uses it to keep them late, force them into conference room “meetings” and influence their pay and benefits. Not to mention he has the ability to fire them.

Michael at his worst

While it would be convenient to a 2019 narrative to characterize Michael Scott as a powerful, abusive male boss, there’s a flip-side to him that is the exact opposite; Michael Scott is a complete loser.

Let’s just look at some of the tragic failures throughout his life:

Wet his pants while ring bearer at his mother’s wedding

His best friend in 4th grade was the lunch lady

Had a bad relationship with his stepfather

Was bullied in school, including getting hit with a pee-filled balloon

Flunked math

Thrown into a frozen lake by the girls volleyball team… 4 years in a row

Couldn’t afford college because he lost his savings in a pyramid scheme

Did not lose his virginity until age 28 (and didn’t have sex again for 7 years after)

Has virtually no savings in his 40s and declares bankruptcy

Is estranged from his half-sister and nephew

Got a terrible deal on his condo, and later sold it on eBay for a loss

It’s consistent with what a lot of us knew about childhood bullies — the worst jerks were those who got picked on themselves. For Michael, we were fascinated by the traumatic childhood & teenage experiences that shaped him into the quirky monster he became in The Office. We laughed at it.

Yet, at the same time, we want to believe that the abusive, chauvinistic bosses of 2019 are a product of privilege. That way, we can take out our jealousies and find a kind of justice — “they’ll get what’s coming to them.” It’s also consistent with the narrative we so strongly want to believe; that coming from privilege breeds ignorance, and coming from adversity builds character. It’s the philosophical backbone of our quest to tear down every patriarchal monster until there’s none left.

But here’s the 180 pound gorilla in the room: Aside from his skin color and gender, Michael Scott never had any advantage, and his traumatic childhood undoubtedly shaped his problematic adulthood behaviors. Not every monster is an evil genius. Sometimes they are blundering fools who never had the social bandwidth to escape their lonely narcissism.

Can you feel bad for a monster? Nine seasons of The Office taught us yes. But no, I would not try any of his antics at home.