Do You Row or Play a Game?

Let me be clear. I *love* murder mystery games!  My high-school acting debut was as the singing telegram girl in our own adaptation of the movie/board-game, Clue. It’s totally dorky, I know, but the idea of a mystery dinner theatre – whether at a local dinner theatre venue or with friends around a dinner table – excites me no end.  It was, therefore, absolutely no surprise to me that the staff very quickly got in on Michael’s game last night…who wouldn’t want to avoid work to do some role playing and mystery solving?

Of course, we’re seeing through Jim’s eyes some of the genius of Michael’s management style.  One parent might want to keep rowing a sinking boat, but it’s the parent who leads the game who really helps the kids deal.  But more so than Jim’s affirmation of Michael’s skills, it was the staff’s affirmation that got me.  And not only in their willingness to go along with the game – their willingness, desire and enthusiasm – but, more so, it was that Michael knows them so well.  As Stanley and Angela get up to huff out of the room, Michael’s instinctively knows (and has ready) sandwich platters and baby carrots.  There’s no argument. They sit straight back down. And the solution is as simple as a $2 bag of baby carrots! That’s good management! Knowing your staff so well you not only anticipate their orneriness, but you also anticipate the solution to it and the way to get them involved in the team play.  There’s a reason Michael has survived so long in this business – survived and thrived.

I’ve started to track this weekly now, I know, but I’m sticking with it – I continue to love Creed and the quirky, strange insights into his messed up, potentially criminal world.  His peeling out of the parking lot after a nonchalant exit in response to Michael’s declaration of a murder having taken place was just perfect.  As was the creepy tableau photo arrangement with the witness to Meredith’s spilled brains.  As was Kevin’s attempt to get into Southern character with a slow and concentrated, “Y’all”…topped only by Oscar’s own brilliant garbled attempt to do the same.

So when catastrophe threatens, do you row or play a game? Well, if the game involves role-playing, southern accents, fake entrails, garter belts and lace gloves and a dramatic three-way show down in the conference room…I think it’s obvious: you play the game.

Posted by Natalie

Read the entire conversation on The Office here