‘The Office’s “Scott’s Tots” Is a Test of Who You Are as a Person

Fifteen years ago today, NBC unveiled a show that would test the limits of cringe comedy for American audiences. The Office was never flashy or too over-the-top. Most episodes of Greg Daniels’ adaptation of the British sitcom made good on its promise to show the day-to-day annoyances of a group of average white collar workers. But thanks to how painfully relatable it was paired with the man-child manager nightmare that was Michael Scott, The Office consistently basked in uncomfortable humor. And no episode of the beloved comedy is more shocking, more divisive, or more memorable than “Scott’s Tots.”

Written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg and directed by B. J. Novak, Season 6’s “Scott’s Tots” is one of the few Office episodes no fan can forget. Ten years ago Michael (Steve Carell) promised a group of children that if they graduated high school he would pay for their college tuition. Well, 10 years have come and gone and the now graduating seniors have held up their end of the deal. Yet Michael, in his own words, has even less money than he did when he promised them a future.

The resulting episode is one of the most painful forays into cringe comedy to grace television. But the brilliance of “Scott’s Tots” doesn’t have to do with Michael’s mistakes or potential growth. The episode is such a jaw-dropping dive into black comedy it serves as a litmus test for the viewer. Whether you love or hate “Scott’s Tots” says something about you.

Within the episode’s very first moments, “Scott’s Tots” hints at the horrifying devastation that’s to come. Well before Michael sets foot in the high school he’s deceived for years, Jim (John Krasinski) approaches him with the idea for an employee of the month program. Right away Michael takes off with it, citing his hard work and passion for the company as evidence about why he should get the award. And just as quickly Jim shuts Michael down. That, The Office winks, is the type of self-absorbed monster Michael can be if he has no one to check him, a manager who would award himself employee of the month. And Michael created Scott’s Tots without a single check or balance.

The series drops another bread crumb about this alienating episode minutes later. In the break room, Erin (Ellie Kemper) asks Pam (Jenna Fischer) to look over Michael’s schedule for the day. That’s when the whole office learns that today is the day Michael has to tell 15 kids that their dreams won’t come true.

Immediately The Office presents two reactions to this shocking news. While Stanley (Leslie David Baker) cackles in the corner, laughing nearly to the point of tears, Pam strictly and somberly tells Michael that he’s done a terrible, terrible thing. Those are the two reactions “Scott’s Tots” are supposed to elicit: either gleeful disbelief at Michael’s callousness; or abject horror.

If you’re a Stanley, the episode unfolds like a Russian nesting doll of dark disbelief. Just when you wrap your head around how horrible Michael’s actions are, you learn that the school has named a room after him and that he knows every kid by name. This isn’t a one-time empty promise Michael hoped everyone would forget. This has been a continuous lie told over many, many years. And right when you come to terms with that… Bam: there’s the musical number.

For a certain kind of person whose default is to laugh when life gets unbelievably tough, “Scott’s Tots” hits that specific trigger gleefully and unrelentingly. These are the types of people who likely have trouble keeping a straight face during funerals or who cope with a pandemic with horrific memes. They’re not heartless. They’re shocked to the point of hilarity. When confronted with such a degree of sorrow as one man crushing multiple children’s futures, “Hey Mr. Scott, What you gonna do?” rings as a call to find anything humorous in this darkness.

Then there’s the other type of person, the Pams of the world. For the Pams, every minute of “Scott’s Tots” is torture. The Pams can never look past the disgusting severity of the situation to find the clueless irony lurking on its edges. And why should they? When one minute a teenager is declaring that he may be the next President Obama and the next Michael is giving out laptop batteries, from the kids’ perspective there is absolutely nothing funny about Michael’s actions.

“Scott’s Tots” showed us Michael Scott at his worst, a man praising himself for making “the most generous” empty promise before crushing an entire school’s dreams. But really, what this episode gave us is an insight into ourselves. Are you an emotionally distant Stanley, basking in the failures of someone else’s stupidity so you don’t have to face the horror of the world? Or are you a bleeding heart Pam, someone who always puts the victims first and the aggressors second? If you want to learn, take it from this Stanley and revisit “Scott’s Tots.”

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