The Negotiation

The Negotiation
Season	3
Episode	19
Production Code	3019
Airdate	April 5, 2007
Length	29 minutes
Written by	Michael Schur
Directed by	Jeffrey Blitz
Episodes timeline
Previous	Cocktails
Previous	Cocktails
Next	Safety Training
Next	Safety Training

"The Negotiation" (also referred to as "Labor Negotiation") is the 19th episode of the third season of The Office and the 47th overall. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Jeffrey Blitz. It first aired on April 5, 2007. It was viewed by 6.7 million people.

Synopsis

An infuriated Roy makes his way up to the office, and advances on Jim with his fist raised. Dwight uses pepper spray to subdue Roy, incidentally affecting the rest of the office staff as well.

A week later, Michael and Toby tell Jan over the speaker phone that Roy has been fired, and that Darryl has been wanting a raise for months. Jim thanks Dwight, but Dwight will not accept the thanks. Jim bought Dwight a gift, but Dwight will not accept it, considering stopping Roy to be simply good citizenship. Oscar tells Angela, who was not present during Roy's attack, about Dwight's brave efforts. Angela appears enthralled, but claims to be merely proud of Dwight.

Michael asks Jim to role-play as Darryl, asking for a raise. Michael is equipped with a list of negotiation tactics that he acquired from Wikipedia. In Michael's first tactic, he lowers his voice to create a position of power. Jim is impressed. Michael's second tactic is leaving the room unexpectedly. When Michael tries to leave the room in their role-play, Jim says "Sex: Steve Martin, Teri Hatcher.", intriguing Michael enough to stay.

Dwight recites the attack on Jim to Toby while evading Toby's probe into the location of his weapons stash. After Dwight leaves, Kelly and Ryan begin arguing and then making out in the next cubicle. Toby, in an interview, dismisses the idea that Michael moved Ryan in with Kelly as a way to punish him, well aware that the relationship between Ryan and Kelly is rather unpleasant.

Darryl enters Michael's office, and Michael changes the location at the last second to gain a position of power. In the conference room, it slowly becomes apparent that both Michael and Darryl are declining to speak first, so they abandon the tactic and discuss Darryl's request for a raise. Darryl notices that Michael is wearing a woman's power-suit. Michael tries to prove Darryl wrong by getting Pam to look at his suit. Pam agrees that it is a woman's suit. Michael says in an interview that he got it out of a clothing bin. The jacket is lined with pink silk, the label on the inside reads "MISSterious", the back of the pants use thin elastic, and the pants don't have any pockets. Michael reads this as a mistake in his negotiation.

Angela gets Karen to retell the attack on Jim, and experiences a euphoric interest in Dwight's bravery. Pam apologizes to Jim for Roy's attack and informs him that she has ended her relationship with Roy. He comments that Pam and Roy will "find your way back to one another someday".

Michael uses his tactic of lowering his voice, but this fails because he uses the statement "You make a very compelling argument." Michael says he cannot give Darryl a 10% raise because that would make his salary higher than Michael. Darryl finds Michael's salary unbelievably low, considering Michael has been with the company fourteen years.

Jim offers to buy Dwight a beer, but Dwight refuses this gesture, as well. Jim confides in Karen his frustration at Dwight's unwillingness to accept gratitude from him and his guilt over all the pranks he played on him. Karen suggests that Jim forget about this sidebar and focus on doing his job.

Kevin and Creed repay their debts to Michael after finding out about his salary. Darryl convinces Michael to ask Jan for a raise for himself so that they can approve a raise for Darryl as well. Jan says that Michael should come to Corporate Headquarters to negotiate a raise and bring Toby. Michael eventually agrees. Creed tells his version of the attack on Jim to Angela, but confuses events, and Angela aborts his narrative.

Toby is grateful to get away from Ryan and Kelly's bickering, and Michael, Darryl and Toby head to Corporate HQ in Darryl's cramped truck. Darryl says that his cousin has a big place in New York, and that Toby could stay with them. Michael says that he might stay. Darryl replies "it's not that big". Kelly describes the attack on Jim to Angela, and says that Angela should look at Toby's report, since he noted everyone's stories. Angela takes the report from Toby's desk.

Roy returns to the office with a security guard to get his last paycheck, and apologizes to Jim. Dwight tenses, stands up, and discreetly takes out his nun-chuks. Roy convinces Pam to meet him for coffee after work to talk things through. As Roy leaves, Kevin warns Jim of Roy's presence in the office.

At Corporate HQ, Michael enters Jan's office, with some encouragement from Darryl. Michael meets Jan's new assistant, a young man. After specifically being told not to bring their relationship into the negotiation, Michael, disappointed at Jan's six percent raise offer, threatens to withhold sex. Toby notes down the exchange.

While getting coffee, Pam and Roy talk openly. Roy is puzzled when Pam says she isn't going to try to win Jim over, having mistakenly thought Pam called off their wedding because of Jim. They hug, Pam wipes a tear from her face, and they part ways. Jim leaves a fake certificate of bravery on Dwight's desk, but Dwight sees through Jim's ploy.

At HQ, Jan asks Toby to leave the room and Michael tells Jan about his stressful day: "I accidentally cross-dressed...and then Darryl made me feel bad for not making any money...and then I had to ride up here with stupid Toby...and then your assistant was all young and hot...". Jan eventually offers Michael a twelve percent raise and Darryl his requested ten percent raise.

Michael reflects in an interview that "Life isn't about salary; it's about perks, like having sex with Jan." Angela tells Dwight she has been reading Toby's report, and they begin to make out. Jim emerges from the washroom and sees this from the window. He runs back inside the washroom, and says that he and Dwight are now even, because he won't tell anybody what he saw.

Andy returns from anger management and Dwight hits him with the pepper spray without provocation. Toby confiscates all of Dwight's weapons. In an interview Dwight claims that unlike Hiro from Heroes and Bono, he is "not a hero".

Connections to other episodes

• Dwight also confused heroes and superheroes in "Diversity Day".
• Michael also showed admiration for Bono in the "Pilot".
• Michael previously role-played with Jim in "Halloween".
• Kevin previously had Jim's back in case Roy gets violent in "Boys and Girls".
• Darryl previously taught Michael slang in "Casino Night".
• Creed previously returned money that Michael "gave" him in "Casino Night".
• To get Michael's attention, Jim mutters "sex, Steve Martin, Teri Hatcher." Michael had expressed admiration for Teri Hatcher in "Michael's Birthday".
• Michael declares his negotiation a "win-win-win". He learned about win-win-win in "Conflict Resolution".
• Roy calls Pam "Pammy", which he also did in "Cocktails" and "Hot Girl".
• In the episode "Boys and Girls", Darryl says to Michael regarding his wage "... but we get compensated very differently." And in the episode "Email Surveillance", Michael states "There are certain things a boss does not share with his employees. His salary, that would depress them." However, in this episode, Darryl was more amazed than depressed to learn that Michael earns little more than he does.
• Spoiler: This episode starts a running joke about Dwight's hidden weapons. He will later have his weapons confiscated in "The Duel" and again in a deleted scene from "Spooked".
• Dwight first mentioned bringing weapons to the office in "Drug Testing" where he decides to bring in a bo staff after learning security does not carry guns.

Trivia

• As of this episode, Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) is credited as part of the main cast.
• In this episode, Michael claims to have obtained his list of negotiation tactics from Wikipedia. These tactics did not actually come from Wikipedia. After the episode aired, Wikipedia administrators had to protect the "Negotiation" page because Office fans were adding Michael's fake negotiation tactics to it.
• Ryan's middle name is revealed to be "Bailey."
• When Kelly answers the phone she deals with a customer that received an order of 12,000 reams of paper instead of the 12 reams that was ordered.
• Writer Michael Schur was nominated for an Emmy Award for this episode. He lost to Greg Daniels for writing "Gay Witch Hunt".
• This episode is the final one with David Denman (Roy) as a regular cast member, although the character would return as a guest in three episodes.
• Ryan and Kelly argue off camera when Michael enters the annex. This allowed B.J. Novak and Mindy Kalling to work on their scripts while still fulfilling their roles as the plot requires.
• As of this episode only Jim and Pam are aware of the relationship between Dwight and Angela.
• Michael is jealous of Jan's new assistant Hunter. As revealed in "The Job" and "Dinner Party", Michael's jealousy is well founded.

Amusing details

• When Jim and Karen discuss their weekend plans, Creed is playing Spider Solitaire.
• Dwight genuinely does not expect thanks from Jim for saving him, having a look of bewilderment when Jim does thank him.
• Dwight summarizes the incident for Toby in the same manner one would write a police report, possibly a reference to when he was a volunteer sheriff's deputy.
• When Darryl points out that Michael is wearing a woman's suit, Michael says that he "would not make that mistake again," implying that he has made this mistake at least once before. Spoiler: He would, in fact, arguably make that mistake twice again. First in "Launch Party," when he calls Pam, Kelly, Meredith, Angela, and Oscar into the conference room to ask if his shirt is too tight (the consensus is that it is too tight and it seems that it could be a woman's shirt), and second in the episode "Nepotism", when Erin mentions the pants that Michael wanted to return to Talbot's, a chain of high-end women's clothing stores. In the Season 5 Super Bowl promo, when Michael asks if anybody notices something different, Dwight says, "You're wearing a man's suit."
• Darryl is seen laughing in a phone call as Michael asks the office for their opinion on his suit.
• Angela is visibly aroused by hearing the different office members recount Dwight's heroism.
• While waiting to speak to Jan, Michael is seated next to a woman wearing the same suit as he is.
• At the end of the episode, Michael goes home with Jan because Darryl is spending the night in New York and did not let Michael stay with him.
• Michael tells Toby to come with him because he wants to smack him in the head with a hammer. Toby looks at Kelly and Ryan arguing and then decides "alright" opting to go with Michael without knowing what he wants.
• Both times Roy comes into the office in this episode, Kevin is not around. He previously promised Jim to watch his back around Roy in "Boys and Girls". As Roy leaves the office Kevin shouts to warn Jim the second he sees Roy while coming out of the pantry area.
• Toby notes this is the first time a male subordinate threatened to withhold sex from a female superior in order to get a modest scheduled pay raise, referencing the stereotypical scenario of a male superior soliciting sex from a female subordinate in exchange for a large unscheduled pay raise.
• Jan doesn't need to finish her sentence for Toby to willingly leave the room.
• Pam replies "I know" after Roy says he doesn't understand her, acknowledging that throughout their relationship Roy doesn't seem to understand Pam's needs.
• When Toby is confiscating Dwight's weapons he does not take his pepper spray, suggesting that he already took it from him immediately following his attack on Andy.
• When Dwight uses pepper spray on Roy, he accidentally also sprays himself, Pam and Jim. While using it on Andy, no one else is caught in the spray.

Behind the scenes

• There were about a dozen takes of the attack in the cold open, but only a few of them included the spraying with pepper spray (actually, just water).
• Pam smirks at the end of her talking head where she says that "it sucked." Some fans interpret this to mean that Pam secretly enjoyed it, but Jenna Fischer (Pam) says that was not her intention. It was meant to be an expression of nervous embarrassment.
• Michael's suit was a genuine woman's suit. Wardrobe designer Carey Bennett did not have time to sew two suits from scratch, so she went to stores looking for a suit that would fit Steve Carell (Michael), look masculine enough that it would fool Michael Scott, and have two copies, one for Carell and one for an actress playing the woman in the lobby. She brought Carell in for a fitting to try on several candidates, and that was when Carell learned of the plot element that Michael would accidentally wear women's clothing.
• Angela is eating grapes when she asks Karen to describe what happened. This fruit was chosen because it has an elegant, Renaissance association.
• The diner scene between Pam and Roy was filmed at the Hungry Fox Diner in North Hollywood. This was a popular dining spot for Greg Daniels and other cast and crew.
• Having Dwight sit on Angela's desk before they kiss was a practical choice: Rainn Wilson is so much taller than Angela Kinsey that he needs to be seated in order to bring their heads to roughly the same level. In one take, Wilson swept everything off the desk and lay Kinsey on the desk to kiss. It was hilarious, but the director felt it was too over-the-top.

Cultural references

• The Philadelphia Phillies are a professional baseball team.
• Even Steven is an informal term meaning that a situation has been resolved equitably. Coincidentally, on The Daily Show, actor Steve Carell participated in a debate against Stephen Colbert in a regular sketch called Even Stevphen.
• Dwight's concept of "real heroes" comes from superheroes Superman and Batman.
• Roy picks up his last paycheck. Payment in the form of a paper check is still common in the United States. Michael shows Darryl his pay stub, which is the portion of the check that is not deposited. The pay stub summarizes earnings and deductions for the pay period.
• Wikipedia is a collaborative Web site. It is open to editing by anyone.
• Steve Martin is a comedian and actor. Teri Hatcher is an actress.
• Hillary Clinton is a prominent female politician known for wearing pantsuits.
• A gas card is a gift card which can be used to purchase gasoline. They are a form of scrip.
• The story of Han Solo comes from the first Star Wars movie.
• James Van Der Beek is an actor best known for his role on the teen drama Dawson's Creek, which went off the air four years before this episode takes place.
• Ross is a chain of discount clothing stores.
• Missy Elliott is a female rap artist.
• Trenton, New Jersey is the capital of the state of New Jersey, about two and a half hours' drive from Scranton.

Quotes

See: The Negotiation Quotes

Cast

Main cast

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

Supporting cast

• David Denman as Roy Anderson
• Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson
• Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
• Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
• Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
• Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
• Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
• Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
• Paul Lieberstein as Toby Flenderson
• Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
• Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance

Recurring cast

• Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin
• Rashida Jones as Karen Filippelli
• Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton
• Nicholas D'Agosto as Hunter

Guest cast

• Liz Ross as Woman in Waiting Room