She Probably Didn't Say That

Before I begin, it should be noted that my friend Anna is on a roll today. She has been making me laugh all morning and even came up with the subject matter for this post. So let's all raise our Friday glasses to Anna!

Now, I believe that I have mentioned before that I am a fan of The Office. I find it charming and hilarious and I roll my eyes at it weekly. I see so much of my working life in that show. But its less funny when it happens in real life. And come on, if Michael Scott really were your boss, you would never leave. Low standards, almost no work ethic, lively debates about the hotness (or notness) of Hilary Swank (where do you stand? Me: she doesn't do it for me) --whats not to love?

But this love for a fictitious office environment has had wholly unforseen consequences.

Turns out that Veronica is herself a big fan of the show (literally and figuratively, god I'm mean). It gets better.

She thinks she is Michael Scott.

Now those of you that have been faithfully reading my blog (and I thank you for that) will be familiar with Veronica's antics and know that in no way is she Michael Scott. She is not even close to Michael Scott. But she persists in thinking that she is. And when I say that I am a fan of the show, I mean that I watch it week to week, store away funny quotes and story lines and use them with friends.

Veronica spent last weekend watching all 5 seasons again. Back-to-back. While her boyfriend was out partying for his birthday at a strip club (a whole other story). So she is up on her Office quotes.

And even with all of this knowledge, there is one quote, one phrase that she cannot (or will not) stop saying:

"That's what she said".

Every day, without fail, there is at least one moment Veronica deems appropriate to use her pet phrase. I think it probably started innocently enough. She had watched an episode where they used it (it was an ongoing joke on the show), an opportunity came for her to flex her pop culture know-how and she jumped all over it. People laughed. She got a positive reaction for something that she did.

She was hooked.

For awhile, I will admit, we played along. I mean, its a funny joke. Someone says something vaguely insinuating something sexual and another person jumps all over it with "that's what she said!". Its funny.

But a big part of comedy is timing. And at some point, the greats know when to stop. Veronica is not one of the great ones. She has problems with limits and boundaries. I don't even know if she notices that the reaction has dwindled to a barely audible snort from one person. And its not a snort of laughter at the joke, its a snort of derision at Veronica, still using this joke.

Even The Office has kind of retired the line. Last night, in an attempt to patch things up Michael Scott uses it on Jim and it doesn't work. Jim is not impressed.

Anna and I are over it as well. And as a supervisor, Veronica should realize how inappropriate it is for her to be leading the "that's what she said" charge. But she doesn't.

And in that way, she truly is our very own Michael Scott.