Killing time at/with The Office

Last night's episode of The Office was outstanding. Jim and Dwight on the road and Stanley's uncontrollable laughter made my night.

I had low expectations for this series. In fact, after seeing some early clips in February 2005, I posted an entry titled "The train, one month before the wreck." I wrote, "If the original [British series] was Dickens' Great Expectations, the Americanized NBC version is Jimmy Carter Elementary School's spring play."

But the show was far better than those promos. Through the first half of the second season, I was working in a Dunder-Mifflin-esque environment, and The Office helped us get through it (and get out). So let's celebrate with some light Friday trivia:

  • The Scranton footage in the open sequence was filmed by John Krasinski (who plays Jim Halpert) and his friends out of the sunroof of their Jeep.
  • Three of the show's writers appear regularly on the show -- B.J. Novak (Ryan, the temp), Paul Lieberstein (Toby, HR Director), and Mindy Kaling (Kelly, Ryan's enthusiastic girlfriend). Four if you count Steve Carell, who wrote the season two finale.
  • NBC execs originally wanted Paul Giamatti to play the role of Michael Scott. Giamatti was not interested.
  • Rainin Wilson (Dwight Schrute) originally auditioned to play Michael Scott.
  • Dwight has a John Kruk bobblehead on his desk.
  • The computers on the Dunder-Mifflin office set are wired for the internet. Cast members have admitted that when they're in the background of scenes they are often checking email and surfing the net.
  • Several characters have MySpace pages.

Earlier this week, you guys shared some absolutely amazing (and sometimes horrifying) stories of the worst office perks. Here's today's question, and it's a broad one:

What's your funniest workplace story? Let me think about this and get back to you in the comments.