Summary: While Michael is out of the office, the hard working employees of Dunder-Mifflin create a rousing game of office Jeopardy. The game doesn't end quite as planned, as Jim discovers that some things are better left unsaid.
What is 'Blowing Off Work'?
Michael was out of the office. Was it for a business meeting? Was he ill? Did a bus hit him? No one cared. Except Dwight who had called him immediatelyafter stepping through the doorand discovered that he had a meeting with corporate. The point was Michael was out of the office, and everyone seemed to have a spring in their step. Everyone, of course, except Dwight. He looked as though someone had shot his puppy. Or trampled on his prize beet.
"Whenever Michael's not here, everyone perks up a bit. They're not happy; god no. Anyone who's happy at work needs to be kicked in the face. No, no one's happy. But suddenly, the day doesn't seem so hard to get through." Jim smiled. "I feel…I feel like there's some hopefor this crazy world." He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, smiling to himself. Today was going to be a good day. Whenever Michael wasn't there, magic happened. It couldn't really be explained. It was just something that happened.
"What are you going to do today?" the camera man asked Jim.
"Work." Jim replied with a serious face, "Just kidding. Yeah right. No, I've been thinking about it for a while, and I discussed it with Pam. At first we considered having a second office Olympics. But we decided we needed something new. Something fresh. And Pam, she gets all the credit for this one--" he paused and smiled to himself, "--she thought of having the first ever game of Dunder-Mifflin Jeopardy! It's genius. She and I have been collecting questions all morning. And in just a few moments, the game will commence."
Jim stood and left the room. He really did have a spring in his step as he walked over to Pam's desk. When he reached it, he leaned against it and grinned. She looked up and smiled when she saw him.
"So Pam," he began, "how're the questions coming?" she grinned.
"Great. I think we have enough. Except I ran into a small problem with Dwight." Jim feigned surprise, and Pam rolled her eyes.
"Really? I am shocked, shocked. Problems with Dwight, now that's unheard of. Tell me, what seems to be the cause of this abnormality? Has Hell truly frozen over?" Pam laughed.
"Well. Dwight didn't approve of us blowing off work to play jeopardy. Surprise. But, I've gotten the feeling before that Dwight has some kind of man-crush on Alex Trebek, and so I told him that he could read the questions. And he agreed."
"Nice." Jim replied and held up his hand. Pam slapped it before turning back to the computer screen. An e-mail from Meredith had arrived, and it was the last one she had been waiting for. The game was ready to begin.
"Yeah, but what is up with Dwight and Alex Trebek?" Jim asked, "Because I've noticed that before too." He raised his eyebrows and glanced over to where Dwight was sitting, "And remember that time he tried to grow a mustache?"
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"Is Alex Trebek my hero? Yes. The man is a genius. He knows all the answers to all the questions all the time. That is someone right there who I could easily devote my life to. Besides he has a really cool mustache, and what a lot of people don't know is that chicks dig mustaches," Dwight paused as the camera man asked him a question, "Of course I tried to grow a mustache. Didn't work out in the end."
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Just about the entire office had gathered in the conference room. Jim stood in the front of the group with Pam and once everyone quieted down he said,
"Okay everyone, this is how it's going to go. Everyone knows how to play jeopardy, so…answers must be in the form of a question. Pam and I will be judges to see who buzzes in first—which you will do by slapping the table—and that's about it. So we need three contestants. Who wants to play?"
Ryan, Phyllis, and Oscar tentatively raised their hands. They sat down at the main table everyone else gathering around them. Jim looked at Pam who nodded, and he exclaimed,
"Okay contestants are you ready to play jeopardy!" Ryan raised his fist in a half-hearted cheer. Oscar and Phyllis were silent. Jim raised an eyebrow.
"Right. I'll take that as a yes. Alright, the categories are--" Dwight put a clammy hand on Jim's arm.
"Uh Jim—" he interjected, "I am the host, reading the categories are part of my duties." Jim tried to be subtle as he yanked his arm away from Dwight. Something about Dwight touching him made him want to pull out an industrial sized bottle of sanitizer and squirt it all over his arm.
"Whatever." Jim said and handed the stack of note cards to him. Dwight walked over to the podium and positioned it exactly in the front center of the room. He stood behind it and cleared his throat and smoothed his hair. He cleared his throat again and straightened the podium once more. As he reached for his hair again, Jim coughed loudly and Pam sighed. Dwight glared at them and cleared his throat once more before reading,
"The categories are: Name that Tune, Early Beginnings, When a Man Loves and Woman and Vice-Versa, Potpourri, and Potent Potables."
"What—Dwight, no, that last one is not a category," Jim said angrily. He was beginning to lose his temper.
"Well it should be," Dwight replied before returning to the game, "The first category is Potpourri for 200. This animated show is the favorite of both Kevin and Michael." Ryan slapped his hand on the table.
"What is South Park?"
"Correct." Dwight replied. "What category would you like next?"
"I'll take Early Beginnings for 600."
"When Angela was fifteen she had two cats, one named this and the other named this. Am I allowed to answer?" Dwight asked Jim, "Because I really think I know the answer."
"No Dwight, you're not allowed to answer. The answer's right there on the card in front of you." He looked down at the card.
"Oh. Hey, the answers aren't there in the real game, right?" Jim and Pam exchanged a look.
"Uh yeah they are," Pam said, "No can you please just continue the game?" Dwight looked at the card, and then out the window.
Oscar hit the table with his hand, "What is Kitty and Cat?" Pam nudged Jim,
"How original," she muttered under her breath and they laughed.
The game continued for about forty-five minutes with questions concerning Creed's favorite band, where Meredith grew up, Stanley's wife's name, and Pam's favorite type of yogurt and on and on. Surprisingly, Ryan was in the lead, winning by a landslide. For a temp he seemed to know suspiciously a lot about everyone in the office.
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"I listen. Uh, people see me as you know, below them, so they say a lot of stuff in my presence, and thus I have all this…useless information. I try to forget everything I hear, because it makes me really sad that I know this much about everyone here. But it doesn't go away. Sometimes I have nightmares," Ryan sighed before adding, "Its only temporary, right?"
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The final question remaining was 'When a Man Loves a Woman and Vice-Versa' for 1000. Even if Oscar or Phyllis got the points, Ryan would win.
"The final question is "Jim's first love."
Phyllis hit the table first, followed quickly by Oscar and then Ryan,
"Phyllis," both Jim and Pam said at the same time.
"Who is Pam?" Jim felt his stomach give a jerk and his cheeks turn red. That was not what was supposed to happen.
"What?" Pam gasped. He refused to look at her. He would not look at her. If he looked at her, he knew his eyes would give him away. He cleared his throat. Words failed him. He could see the words before him; he could picture them there, but he couldn't wrap his mind around them. His mouth refused to form them. He knew everyone was staring at him. He knew she was staring at him. But he could not raise his eyes from the floor.
"Is that wrong?" Phyllis asked quietly, "because I thought—"
"That's what I was going to say," Oscar said and Ryan nodded along with him. Jim shook his head sharply and Dwight said suddenly,
"Uh. I'm not really sure what's going on here, but that was wrong, so Phyllis that puts you in last place…and Ryan won. If I had gotten a chance to play, I'm sure I could have won because I have a very sharp mind. I think its important to know as much as you can about your comrades. You never know when you're going to need it."
No one was listening to him though. Everyone was still focusing on Jim and Pam. Jim decided to look up from the carpet, and sure enough, everyone was staring at him. He grinned sheepishly.
"Ha good one guys. Yeah that's funny…" his voice trailed off awkwardly and he cringed inside. He made to leave the room. Everyone else stayed where they were. He exited and went to his desk. Just sitting there, the reality of what happened sank in. It was stupid. What he should have done was just laugh right when Phyllis had said 'Pam.' He should have laughed and denied it, and Pam probably would have gotten a kick out of it. But instead he had said nothing, and now Pam knew. He had known this day would come sooner or later, but he had pictured it so differently. He hadn't wanted it to be something just blurted out by a co-worker, but there was no going back now.
Even though it was only 2:30, he grabbed his papers and coat and headed for the door. As it swung shut behind him he heard Pam call after him, but he ignored her and headed home.
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"So," Michael said when he returned in the late afternoon, "What'd I miss?"
