EPISODE 8.09: MRS. CALIFORNIA
Dwight builds a gym in the office building and calls it “Dwight’s Gym for Muscles.”
As owner of Dunder Mifflin’s office building, Dwight decided to build a gym downstairs. “Obese people in my office building are a drain on resources,” he says. “Chairs wear out faster. It takes more Freon to keep them cool. They flush the toilets more often. Plus, their massive BMs bust the rivets in my pipes. But a gym turns fat into cash.” Dwight goes after Darryl to become the first member of Dwight’s Gym for Muscles.
Darryl had been meaning to join a gym and get into shape. “I used to say I wanted to live long enough to see a black president,” he says. “I never realized how easy that would be. So now I want to live long enough to see a really, really gay president or a supermodel president. I want to see all different kinds of presidents.” We eventually learn that his real goal is not to see a supermodel president but to look good for Val. Not Val Kilmer, but a woman who now works in Dunder Mifflin’s warehouse.
So how is this MY office? We also have a gym… of sorts. Well, we have gym equipment, at least. In our basement, right at the bottom of the stairs, is a collection of exercise machines that may or may not have been used before. We have a treadmill that is currently underneath a pile of cardboard boxes and industrial-sized rolls of bubble wrap. I think one of my bosses used to go downstairs to use the Bowflex that was once assembled there. (The Bowflex is no longer in the basement but probably in a disassembled pile in someone’s house.) In addition to the treadmill, Bowflex, and a few scales, we also have the world’s most awkward piece of exercise equipment: the HealthRider. Click here to see the HealthRider in all its awkward glory.
BONUS: The “Mrs. California” episode starts with the standing desk cold open, another thing my office has in common with Dunder Mifflin. One of my coworkers has been standing at his desk for a while. Another coworker had stopped standing at his desk but recently decided to give it another try, just days before we watched “Mrs. California” during lunch. Perfect timing.
cindy agoncillo 