After seemingly endless weeks of reruns, “The Office” finally came back with a new episode last night. I’m not counting the lame clip show they did two weeks ago as new. It was too pathetic to count.
The first new episode in ages has the gang at Dunder Mifflin‘s Scranton branch facing a new life as “a division of Sabre,” a Florida-based office-technology company. Gabe Lewis, coordinating director for emerging regions, comes to greet everyone and help them to adjust to life under a new regime.
He starts out by playing a “Simpsons”-esque Troy McClure-style video starring Christian Slater.
“So you’ve just been bought by Sabre and you probably have a lot of questions,” Slater starts out before appearing in a montage of cheesy scenes while spouting a series of silly slogans, and everyone is left wondering what it was they just watched.
“So you’ve been shown a nonsensical video, and you’re probably wondering what’s going on,” says Jim. “Well, you’re not alone.”
With the video over, Gabe unleashes a slew of serious changes Sabre is bringing to the Scranton branch:
- They will no longer be paper salesmen, but “printer salesmen who also sell paper.”
- They will no longer have Internet access to “inappropriate sites” or “time-wasting sites like Twitter and YouTube.”
- They will no longer be able to use disposable cups to drink water, but instead will have to drink out of aluminum Sabre-branded water bottles.
No one — least of all Michael — is happy with the changes.
“All of these changes suck …” he says. “I miss the old Dunder Mifflin. Too much change is not a good thing. Ask the climate.”
Change happens, but boy is it tough — especially in the workplace, where most of us spend much of our time. I’m one of those people who think major changes should be introduced more gradually, not dumped in workers’ laps all at once. In my experience and observations of the workplace, that has just always worked better for everyone.
What about you? How have you experienced change in the workplace? What have the change-makers you’ve witnessed done well? What have they done poorly?
Image credit, NBC