Shareholder Meeting

"Shareholder Meeting" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of The Office and the show's 111th episode overall. It was written by Justin Spitzer who wrote Michael Scott Paper Company and Moroccan Christmas and directed by Charles McDougall who directed Conflict Resolution and Christmas Party. It originally aired on November 19, 2009. It was viewed by 7.43 million people.

Cold open
Dwight walks into the office in a robot costume as Oscar mutters "not again." Dwight demands that the office members "Bow down before Recyclops!" Jim reveals in a talking head that 5 years ago, corporate had asked the branches to come up with a recycling program for Earth Day. Dwight then took the initiative and appeared as Recyclops, initially appearing as a hipster with a plastic eye on his bandana. He then became more robotic the next year. The year after that Recyclops begins to appear in hockey pads and makes death threats to those who do not recycle. The following year, Dwight reveals Recyclops' home planet was destroyed which caused him to renounce Earth Day and swore to destroy the Earth instead. The office members look on with excitement as the current Recyclops goes on a rampage in the office, while Stanley casually converses with Recyclops about the lore he has created for his character. Andy protests that the aerosol sprays Recyclops currently uses are in fact terrible for the environment, only for Recyclops to declare that humans are terrible for the environment. Dwight then removes his Recyclops helmet, visibly exhausted, to rehydrate himself as Jim and Pam express their appreciation that Recyclops has created a different world for their child, where one can be anything they want. Dwight then triumphantly throws his can into the recycling bin, only to miss.

Synopsis
Having been invited to be honored at the Dunder Mifflin shareholders meeting in New York by CFO David Wallace, Michael is enthusiastic and prepares to present himself in a fashionable manner. When Michael is informed that a limo was sent by corporate, he believes it was a town car sent to pick him up, only to find out it was indeed a limo. Michael is elated, along with the rest of the staff, and decides to bring Andy, Oscar, and Dwight along to the meeting with him. On the way, the group enjoy their time in the limo until reaching New York. Michael meets up with Wallace and several members of corporate, and is then escorted to prepare for the conference. Meanwhile, Andy and Oscar are finding a seat for the conference, as Oscar criticizes corporate's decision of excessively spending money on the meeting. Andy reacts by telling Oscar to express his opinions, only to have Oscar berate him for endangering his job. While Andy and Oscar are discussing what was to be done, Dwight waits in a severely long line to ask a question, only to run into trouble with the people waiting.

As the meeting commences, the audience jeers and heckles each member coming onto the stage, with Michael uncomfortable with the situation. After strongly condemned by the audience and starting a break, Michael counters the company's critics by claiming a 45-day plan is on the way to resolve the crisis, only to make matters more difficult for the executive as there is no plan. Unable to figure out how to resolve the crisis, Michael invites Oscar to join the representatives, only to be embarrassed in front of the members as Oscar becomes nervous and decides to just thank the executives for their work. After Chris O'Keefe, former U.S. Congressman and board member of Dunder Mifflin, insults Michael, he counters the comments made by demanding more praise and insulting O'Keefe. Michael, alarmed when O'Keefe angrily states he and his colleagues can take the bus, makes a run for the limo with Andy, Oscar and Dwight and immediately heads back to Scranton. The camera then focuses on Dunder Mifflin's stock on a ticker tape which has dropped severely. It is later revealed that Dwight was up and able to speak at the microphone in the line, only to criticize about how the line for the microphone was slow and unproductive; this ends up confusing the entire audience who initially assumed he was talking about the future of Dunder Mifflin.

Meanwhile, Jim, being placed in charge during Michael's absence, is frustrated with Ryan and his unwillingness to work. Jim also becomes further annoyed when Ryan, attempting to undermine Jim's position, spreads rumors that Jim is not as much of a boss as Michael, leading to Jim being teased and disrespected by the other employees. After discussing the situation with Pam, who discourages him from yelling at Ryan in front of the others, Jim decides to make an example out of him. After catching Ryan playing games, Jim forces Ryan to relocate to a broom closet furnished with a desk and computer without internet access as the office watches. Ryan, embarrassed, attempts to apologize, but Jim shuts the door on him and walks away.

Connections to other episodes

 * Jim says that Corporate began a recycling program "five years ago", which is confirmed by the presence of recycle bins in front of Jim's desk in "Two Weeks". However, in "WUPHF.com" (one year and one day later), Pam tells Michael "We don't recycle." Perhaps the recycling program was cancelled when Dunder Mifflin was bought by Sabre.

Trivia

 * The environmental theme in the cold open was part of a "green week" promotion by NBC. NBC ran a similar promotion in 2007, resulting in the episode "Survivor Man".
 * Oscar reveals that he owns Dunder Mifflin stock.
 * A deleted scene shows Oscar receiving a text message from Michael to come to the hospitality suite. This proves this episode occurred on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.
 * One of the shareholders was ex-NBA Champ Alonzo Mourning.
 * Each of the previous receptionists that served at Dunder Mifflin Scranton have a minor guest role in the cold open.
 * Pam, 1st appearance (5 years, about November 2004)
 * Ryan, happening sometime during Pam's vacation immediately before "The Carpet". (November 2005)
 * Ronni, happening during "Weight Loss". (November 2006)
 * Pam again, presumably as it doesn't show the receptionist.
 * Michael refers to the shareholder meeting in this episode when he is negotiating the buyout of Michael Scott Paper Company. He tells David that if he doesn't budge, the Scranton branch will continue to bleed until the shareholders eventually oust him at the upcoming shareholder meeting.
 * Oscar's solutions for Dunder Mifflin is to have them dump their long term investments that will not yield results, as well as save money in the short term by cutting on spending such as the limos and hotel bookings.
 * Jim most likely does have the power to fire people in the Scranton branch as he is in charge of the day to day, but firing Ryan would be futile since Michael would most likely hire him back anyway.

Amusing details

 * Stanley is well versed in the lore Dwight created for Recyclops, asking about his nemesis Polluticorn.
 * David sends a limo and calls it a towncar because in "Business Trip", David sends a van and calls it a towncar, much to Michael's upset.
 * Oscar laughs at Michael's Zamboni joke in the limo despite his concern for the Dunder Mifflin stock.
 * Michael nods and greets the former congressman as "your eminence", a greeting usually reserved for religious figures in Catholicism.
 * The new waste processing plant that Alan Brand announces gets noticeably more applause than Michael's recognition does.
 * When Ryan and Jim are talking in the annex, Kelly's desk has multiple gift bags on top.
 * Michael genuinely assumed that the executives had a plan to solve the crisis, and assumed that their main goal was to make the crowd happy.
 * David Wallace implores Michael not to call or text anyone, likely afraid that Michael will make things worse.

Goofs

 * Recyclops appears every Earth Day, but the episode aired in November. Furthermore, the past receptionists are from November of the corresponding years, rather than April. This is most notable in the appearance of Ronni, who was receptionist for only two weeks during the summer of 2006.
 * When the group leaves the shareholder meeting in the limo, all four are seen inside. Yet in the outro where Dwight asks a question and Andy is shown in the crowd, the space to David Wallace's left (where Michael was sitting, and his name tag is shown) is empty. Since outros are generally implied to have happened after the episode (and 'Q&A' sessions generally happen at the end of meetings), Dwight and Andy would have to have returned after the limo left. Note also that the people behind Dwight are different than when he is shown in-line earlier in the episode.
 * Obviously, the outside shots were not of New York City.
 * Continuity: when Oscar checks the Dunder Mifflin (DMI) stock price on his computer, it is trading at $0.27, up $0.01. After the shareholder meeting, they pass a sign that says the stock price is $1.13, down $6–7/8.
 * When Ryan is playing Tetris, each shot of his computer monitor shows a different position of blocks in the game.

Cultural references

 * Recyclops is an invented portmanteau of recycling and Cyclops. Dwight created the character for Earth Day, celebrated on April 22 in the United States.
 * The whole enchilada is slang for the whole thing. Michael, naturally, uses it when talking with Oscar.
 * Jim asks Ryan to transfer information from a Rolodex (a device for business contact information) to Outlook, a computer program for information management.
 * Andy suggests Dwight ask Michael a softball question (a very easy question) that he can hit out of the park (have overwhelming success with).
 * Michael addresses the former Senator as your eminence, an honorific usually reserved for Catholic archbishops or cardinals.
 * Michael asks the bodyguards whether they have guarded Madonna (a singer) or the Obama twins. President Barack Obama has two daughters, but they are not twins. Michael has confused them with the twin daughters of former president George W. Bush. The bodyguard admits to having protected Canadian singer Nelly Furtado.
 * Dwight mentions the holiday Erntedankfest, the German name for Thanksgiving.
 * Dunder Mifflin has a waste processing plant in Milford. There are many towns named Milford, but the best-known one is in Connecticut.
 * There does not appear to be a restaurant named Capello's in the Scranton area.
 * Oscar dismisses the shareholder questions as bush league, slang for low in quality. The term comes from professional baseball.
 * Andy organized a protest over the SATs, a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. Andy's score of 1220 puts him in approximately the 80th percentile nationally, but in the bottom quarter of the students at Cornell.
 * Michael promises the crowd that Dunder Mifflin will become carbon neutral, an environmental position that became popular in 2007.

Main cast

 * Steve Carell as Michael Scott
 * Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
 * John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
 * Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert
 * B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard

Supporting cast

 * Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
 * Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
 * Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
 * Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton
 * Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
 * Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
 * Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon
 * Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
 * Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
 * Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance

Recurring cast

 * Andy Buckley as David Wallace

Guest cast

 * Dale Raoul as Ronni
 * Alan Fudge as Alan Brand
 * Chris Ellis as Chris O'Keefe
 * Amy Cale Peterson as Laurie
 * Gregory A. Schmauss as Angry Shareholder