'The Office' Ryan Warns Against Pre-Valentine's Day Hookups

Today is February 13, also known as the day before Valentine’s Day, also known as Galentine’s Day, also known as Stockard Channing and Peter Gabriel’s birthday. (That last item has nothing to do with anything; it’s just a fun fact.) If you’re thinking about finally hooking up with that special someone at your office — someone who you don’t see a long-term relationship with, but still think would be “fun,” so speak — tonight is not the night to do it.

Learn from Ryan’s mistake.

In the season two episode of The Office, “Valentine’s Day,” Kelly excitedly tells a typically disinterested Jim that “last night, Ryan and I totally, finally hooked up. It was awesome.” She continues, “And it was so funny ’cause we were at this bar with his friends and I was sitting next to him the whole night and he wasn’t making a move, so in my head I was like, ‘Ryan, what’s taking you so long?’ And then he kissed me. And I didn’t know what to say… But now, now I have a boyfriend.” Ryan doesn’t see it that way, though. He wants to keep things casual, which, of course, he doesn’t tell Kelly, who wants to get married and have children. Ryan doesn’t even realize the significance of sleeping with someone the day before Valentine’s Day. Then it dawns on him.

As B.J. Novak wrote on Twitter, “Be careful out there.”