Opinion: I’m 18 and addicted to ‘The Office’

Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students, a two-week intensive course in journalism. Students in the program report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.

My name is Cuitlahuac, I am 18 years old, and I have an addiction. My addiction is not a common one, I am not ashamed of it, and I am prepared to make my confession.

I have watched the American television show, “The Office” nine times.

You read that right: 201 episodes, the equivalent of about three days or 74 hours of viewing time, nine times. Put together without sleeping, that would be  nearly a month (27.8 days) of watching “The Office.”

For some diehard fans, a measly nine renditions of one of the best television sitcoms of all time may sound like rookie numbers, but to the average Jim, nine times is quite the feat.

For those of you leaving your house for the first time in the 21st century from under what must be the world’s largest rock, “The Office” is an American television show that follows the workplace antics of the employees of the fictional paper company, Dunder Mifflin Inc. The show is made in a documentary style, aptly called a mockumentary, and was an adaptation of the British television series by the same name.

For eight years, the characters Michael Scott, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly, and Dwight Schrute, played by Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and Rainn Wilson respectively, along with their office co-workers, entertained American audiences in some 22 million homes at its peak popularity.

Despite the show having ended over a decade ago, I have continued to watch it up till recently when NBC removed it from Netflix and placed the show on its own streaming service, Peacock. And me being cheaper than Creed was with his Christmas gift for Jim, I haven’t watched it since.

I’ve seen Jim pull countless pranks on Dwight, Michael make hundreds of over-sexualized jokes, and Meredith get a little too tipsy at work a little too often. I’ve seen Jim and Pam fall in love over and over again through their “will they,” “won’t they” romance, Stanley obsess over Pretzel Day for nine consecutive years, and Dwight never become assistant regional manager.

Despite only being a month old when “The Office” aired its first episode in March of 2005, I somehow became infatuated by the overtly sarcastic mockumentary relic that knows not of a third wall; and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why.

I’ve never even worked in an office!

It might have been something in the water, or something in the Kool-Aid as Ryan would say, during my time in middle school that pointed my uneven teenage mind in the direction of this show and stuck with it.

Don’t wonder whether or not I could have been doing something better with my time than sitting down and mindlessly watching episode after episode of subpar jokes and office humor, I’m sure I could have. But something about the lovability and quirkiness of the employees at the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. captured and retained my attention for episode after episode.

Despite becoming so familiar with the show in the two years or so I spent continuously watching it that I could recite characters’ lines in real-time, I was somehow always entertained by Jim putting Dwight’s stapler in Jell-O in the first episode as I was disheartened with the finale of the series.

Maybe it was the cycle of emotions the show brought forth from its audience or the capturing storyline filled with the rich backstory and personality of each character that made “The Office” as addicting as it was for me.

Regardless of what it was though, whenever I think of this show and the time I spent watching it, I have nothing but positive memories of it. The bottom line is I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience watching “The Office,” and I liked it so much, I kept watching it. Over and over and over again.

Not every show is going to be a study of the characteristics of American society or a deep reflection of the inner machinations of the human psyche. Some shows are just fun to watch, and for me, “The Office” is one of them.

And yes, if “The Office” ever returns to Netflix, I will watch it for the 10th time.

Cuitlahuac Ramirez Borrego is a 2023 graduate of Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High School in San Jose.