If there was one recurring theme throughout the run of NBC’s The Office, it was that everyone was simply trying their best to make it to the end of the day. While Michael Scott (Steve Carell) was the manager and de facto leader, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) was really the heart of Dunder Mifflin-Scranton, first as the receptionist, then as a sales associate, then later as an office administrator. Whatever her job title, Pam approached each day with a soft-spoken good nature while she quietly waited out the clock like everyone else. For all of us that are just trying to make it through our day, here are some of Pam Beesly’s most inspiring quotes.
“An impression, then.”
Pam brings this up in this very episode, but there really was no telling how a day at Dunder Mifflin would end up going when you set foot in the door every morning. This particular day involved Michael hearing about the death of his old boss, Ed Truck (Ken Howard), in a car accident, causing his grief to get transferred to a dead bird outside their building’s front door. Pam, without missing a beat, crafts a little coffin and even adjusts her eulogy on the fly after Dwight (Rainn Wilson) corrects her assumption about what kind of bird it was. No matter how futile the effort might seem, simply going through these motions will bring you that much closer to quitting time. Don’t forget that.
“Michael tends to procrastinate a bit whenever he has to do work. Time cards, he has to sign these every Friday. Purchase orders have to be approved at the end of every month. And expense reports, all he has to do is initial these at the end of every quarter. But once every year, it all falls on the same Friday. That’s today. I call it the perfect storm.”
The regular 9-to-5 schedule has a tendency to take its toll on your spirit. But nothing’s going to be worse than those days when you have to end up sticking around an extra two hours just because your boss is procrastinating and has yet to sign a handful of forms. No matter how easy Pam tries to make it, Michael finds a way to do literally anything but the task at hand. Here’s the thing: not all your days are going to be good ones. The more you’ll be able to spot them ahead of time, the easier it’ll be to deal with them when they arrive.
“There’s nothing better than a beautiful day at the beach filled with sun, surf, and uh, diligent note-taking.”
You’d think at least having a whole day at work spent on the beach would be a bright spot for Pam, and under normal circumstances, you’d be right. But when Michael reveals his plan to have a series of physical challenges to decide his replacement, he gives Pam a notebook and makes her document everything that happens. While it seems extra cruel to pull everyone out of the office only to assign one a menial task, just think of it as peaceful repetition. If you have the chance to speak your mind after walking on a path of burning coals afterward, then consider it a bonus.
“I don’t care what they say about me. I just want to eat. Which I realize is a lot to ask for… at a dinner party.”
Another one of those workdays that doesn’t get to end at 5. Here, Pam and Jim (at last, a couple) are tricked into attending a dinner party at Michael and Jan’s, along with Angela (Angela Kinsey) and Andy (Ed Helms). When they arrive, Jan’s osso bucco is hours away from being cooked and the night slowly becomes more and more uncomfortable; to the point where Pam wonders if Jan is trying to poison her, and whether or not that’d stop her from eating the food anyway. It’s bad enough when you’re forced to hang out with your co-workers, but drawing the evening out should qualify as torture.
“But instead you found something to distract you to prevent you from finding a new chair.”
With Michael looking to upgrade his office furniture, Pam’s in line to get his old chair. The problem, of course, is that Michael can’t seem to focus long enough, and due to his heartbreak over Jan (Melora Hardin), he becomes obsessed with a chair model in the catalogue. This not only thwarts Pam’s new chair plan but also disappoints Creed (William Charles Schneider), because this would mean he would get two chairs, one short of his final goal. When life’s little bright spots seem to be just out of reach, all you can do is take the advice of Dwight, and simply “wait for next year’s chair catalogue to come out and try again.”
“Michael, do you remember, you specifically told me to only bring one sheet of paper? You said it only takes one sheet to make a difference. And I said ‘Are you sure Michael?’ And you said ‘Pam! Pam! Pam!’ And then you sneezed in my tea, and then you said ‘Don’t worry, it’s just allergies. Do you remember that?”
Honestly, it’s amazing the stuff that Pam managed to put up with for so many years. Still, she was never afraid of calling anyone out for their behavior, or in this case, sneezing in her tea. Even if it doesn’t really solve the problem, you’ve got to call it like you see it or it’s just gonna make the hands on the clock turn that much slower.
“Things are a little slow here. And there’s only so much cold-calling you can do in a day. Turns out there’s no limit to the number of cheese puffs you can throw at someone’s face.”
After abandoning her post as receptionist for Dunder Mifflin, Pam follows Michael when he starts his own business, The Michael Scott Paper Company, in an effort to tackle a new career in sales. Of course, it’s hard to get clients for a new company, and as a result, her, Michael, and Ryan (B.J. Novak) have to get inventive in order to pass the time. Here’s the thing, though, tossing cheese puffs into each other’s mouths may seem like a menial task (and it is), but it also teaches hand/eye coordination, and reinforces teamwork and camaraderie. And don’t forget, each cheese puff brings you that much closer to 5 o’clock… and a retirement-causing heart attack.
“I have this little vacuum cleaner that’s broken. If Dwight doesn’t work out, maybe that can be manager.”
If you could summarize Pam Beesly’s attitude about work, this quote would have to be it. After Dwight tries to take Michael’s job out from under him there’s an entire episode dedicated to all the lying, betrayal, and trickery that Michael and Dwight unleash on one another, leaving the rest of the employees wondering who will be their manager. Pam, ever the pragmatist, seems to have the most workable solution. And therein lies the true secret to Pam’s success: quietly roll your eyes while you realize that everything around you is basically meaningless. Think of it as living in the matrix, but with more fluorescent lighting and significantly less kung fu.
