10 Actual Crimes ‘The Office’ Employees Committed, Ranked by Absurdity
Ten years have passed since the widely acclaimed and enjoyable mockumentary sitcom The Office premiered its satisfying conclusion in 2013. Over the years since its finale, audiences have rewatched the seasons from beginning to end, reliving their favorite moments and laughing alongside its many wacky and lovable characters.
Over the seasons, many of the office’s employees have involved themselves in increasingly bizarre and hilarious situations. Whether their actions were intentional or not, these employees and their antics were entertaining but also very illegal in the eyes of the law. These are actual crimes that the employees of Dunder Mifflin have committed throughout the show’s history, ranked by how absurd the acts were.
10. Indecent exposure in the workplace
It’s Casual Friday at the office, and Meredith (Kate Flannery) has decided to wear a short and revealing dress to work. Unfortunately, the dress is a little too revealing, and when Toby (Paul Lieberstein) asks her to readjust her outfit, she casually flashes everyone in the room.
Though it was an accident, Meredith doesn’t take any steps to prevent any further wardrobe malfunctions nor does she change her outfit. Her careless behavior could have led to an immediate firing and possible arrest for public exposure, but in the end, her actions led to Toby banning Casual Friday entirely.
9. Michael and Dwight frame Toby
Much to Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) dismay, Toby has returned to the Scranton branch. With Dwight’s (Rainn Wilson) help, the two decide to frame Toby by planting fake drugs in his desk and turning him over to the authorities. However, like many of Michael ridiculous schemes, the plan is poorly executed, and the police immediately let Toby go once they realize the “drugs” planted were actually just leftovers from a Caprese salad.
Michael and Dwight risked their jobs and freedoms, not to mention paying $500 on a salad that they assumed was drugs, just because of their petty hatred for Toby. It’s also hilarious that the arresting cops were clueless about who gave them a false tip and didn’t book Michael and Dwight right on the spot.
8. The pizza delivery kid is kidnapped
Michael is upset that he wasn’t invited to the company’s new website launch party and decided to beef up the party at his building by getting a bunch of pizzas. However, a misunderstanding with a coupon leads him to teach the Delivery Kid (Kevin McHale) a lesson in accountability by locking him in the conference room.
This entire ordeal went from being a simple delivery mishap to a kidnapping storyline and hostage situation because Michael wanted to save a couple of extra bucks on pizzas that nobody wanted. Despite ending peacefully with the boy’s release and no arrests, the entire situation was still darkly comedic and tense for the Dunder Mifflin employees who could have gone to jail for being accomplices.
7. Michael kisses Oscar
Michael finds himself in hot water again when he calls Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) a homophobic slur. When he realizes that Oscar is gay, Michael makes an inappropriate statement to prove he accepts homosexuality by forcibly kissing Oscar on the lips in front of everybody.
This cringey Michael Scott moment brilliantly shows how naive he could be as he doesn’t realize that he’s intentionally committed sexual harassment on one of his employees. Though the moment may seem traumatic for Oscar, he won in the end when he was paid three months’ vacation in exchange for not suing Michael or the company.
6. Michael hits Meredith with his car
While pulling into work one morning, he decides to talk about how blessed he feels to one of the camera crew members driving with him. However, as he enters the parking lot, Michael becomes distracted and suddenly hits Meredith.
Michael Scott’s clueless and irresponsible behavior has caused unintentional mishaps in the past, but accidentally running over Meredith ranks high in his long list of infamous blunders. Though the act was involuntary, the police would have booked Michael for reckless driving and liability and would have found himself on the receiving end of a court dispute had Meredith done the responsible thing and sued him.
5. Ryan commits fraud
When he was offered a prosperous job at corporate at the end of season three, the temp Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) jumped at the opportunity and quickly rose to power. However, his new position immediately goes to his head, leading him to commit fraud when his latest project, “Dunder Mifflin Infinity,” underperformed.
Ryan’s subsequent arrest after getting caught was one of the few times in the show’s history that one of the employees of Dunder Mifflin was held criminally accountable for his actions. His sudden downfall was also very satisfying as his cocky and superior behavior throughout season four made him a tv villain fans love to hate.
4. Dwight’s hidden arsenal in the office
Dwight K. Schrute sees himself as the law around Dunder Mifflin, ready to defend himself and his fellow employees whenever needed. To show how prepared he is for a fight, Dwight reveals to the documentary crew his secret stockpile of knives and other dangerous weapons he hid all around the office.
Dwight commits most of his crimes with the best intentions in mind, thinking that it’s for the greater good for the protection of others. However, he fails to realize how absurd and dangerous his methods are. His need to keep weapons in the workplace has even reached new levels of absurdity during one of the most hilarious episodes of The Office where he carried and discharged a loaded handgun while acting as manager.
3. Angela hires a hitman
Angela (Angela Kinsey) becomes furious when she discovers that her closeted gay husband, Rob Lipton (Jack Coleman), secretly has an affair with Oscar. With help from Dwight, she comes up with the only revenge plan she can think of at the moment by hiring an incompetent hitman named Trevor (Chris Gethard) to break his knees.
This criminal act is even more absurd because Angela originally wanted to have Trevor commit an assassination, and he was even willing to do so. It’s also hilarious that Angela is so quick to commit murder for being cheated on despite cheating herself when she was with Andy (Ed Helms). Thankfully the plan was thwarted in the end when Dwight realized how terrible the plan was.
2. Everything Creed does
There are no limits to how many crimes Creed (Creed Bratton) has committed during his stint as Dunder Mifflin’s terrible quality assurance manager. He enjoys breaking the law on a daily basis, showing a complete lack of remorse, and always manages to avoid trouble. That is, until he was eventually arrested in the series finale.
Theft, extortion, identity theft, and possibly even murder are just a few examples of Creed’s many criminal acts shown on camera. However, it’s his mysterious personal life when the spotlight isn’t on him that fans continue to wonder what else he has committed, and he may be an actual criminal mastermind.
1. The fire safety drill
In one brilliant cold opener, Dwight decides to take matters into his own hands to teach the importance of fire safety in the office by simulating a realistic fire scenario in the break room. The resulting incident causes panic around the room as chaos ensues, leading Stanley (Leslie David Baker) to suffer a mild heart attack.
It’s impressive that Dwight somehow managed to keep his job and stay out of prison despite committing all sorts of crimes, including arson, property damage, and inciting a panic, all in one day. This opener perfectly sums up how chaotic and hilarious each character in The Office is and how their actions created some of the show’s most hilarious moments.
