Jim and Pam are widely regarded as one of the most relatable, lovable, and perfect couples to come out of a television series. While the two of them definitely have some really adorable moments, the truth is they weren’t always good together as things appear.
While most might think The Office was actually a jerk.
Updated January 25th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: The Office continues to be a popular show as fans continue to watch and rewatch the show over and over again. One of the most popular characters is Jim Halpert, who was introduced as a romantic, cool, and lovable character. His love story with Pam is his main character arc in the early seasons and when the two finally get together and are married about halfway through the series and both of their arcs suffered after that. Although Jim did questionable things and was arguably a jerk earlier in the series, he did most of his worst actions later in the series.
TELLING EVERYONE PAM IS PREGNANT
Pam wants to keep the fact that she's pregnant a secret from her family at their wedding so both Jim and Pam make everyone in the office promise not to say anything at the wedding. The obvious choice would be that Michael would have slipped at the wedding, but instead, it was Jim who accidentally told everyone that Pam was pregnant. It was an accident as it's clear that Jim didn't mean to tell everyone, but he still did and it caused a lot of problems in Pam's family.
LETTING MICHAEL FALL INTO THE KOI POND
Michael and Jim were co-managers for part of the series and Jim quickly became frustrated that no one in the office respected that he was on the same level as Michael and was technically their boss. He took out his frustration when the two went on a sales call at an office that had a koi pond around the floor of their lobby. The office finds the security cam footage and see Michael getting off-balance, reaching for Jim's help, and Jim takes a step back allowing Michael to fall.
NOT AS ROMANTIC AFTER HE AND PAM WERE MARRIED
This is subjective, but Jim began the series as a hopeful romantic who was helplessly in love with Pam who was already engaged to Roy. The two become close friends while working together and Jim constantly did romantic things for her even when they were friends. Jim continued his romantic ways, but he lost it somewhere after the two were married and the show didn't continue to focus on much romance between the two.
BEING A TERRIBLE ROOMMATE
Darryl and Jim room together for a while as they're working at Athlead and Darryl complains that Jim is a terrible roommate. Their apartment is messy all the time and Jim is a complete slob who doesn't clean up after himself. Darryl only had to live with him for a short amount of time, but this makes the audience wonder how he is on a daily basis with Pam and Cece at home.
INVESTING IN ATHLEAD WHEN HE DIDN'T HAVE TO
Jim finally began to communicate with Pam about what he was doing with the Athlead job, but he still ended up making bad decisions that didn't take Pam's feelings into . Jim meets with the other founders of Athlead and they all say they're fine on investments, Jim feels left out and he decides to offer the entire amount he and Pam had previously agreed on. Pam is understandably upset because he didn't have to invest anything and certainly not the entire amount.
WHEN HE BROKE UP WITH KATY ON THE BOOZE CRUISE
In the first season of The Office, Jim is clearly in love with Pam, but Pam is still engaged to Roy. Jim starts dating Katy in an effort to get over Pam, but this doesn’t work very well. When he takes Katy on the booze cruise, he ends up breaking up with her after getting upset that Pam and Roy set a date for their wedding. Now, clearly, Jim shouldn’t have been dating Katy in the first place, but there was no excuse for treating her so poorly. He showed her no respect or care for the way he broke up with her. Even if he didn’t want to date her, he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it.
HIS WHOLE RELATIONSHIP WITH KAREN
Karen was definitely a character on the show who deserved better. She was mostly just used as a foil to show how much Jim still loved Pam. Overall, Jim used her and their relationship as a rebound and bandaid.
While the two actually got along well, he broke up with her only to immediately ask Pam on a date. That’s definitely not irable behavior. Plus, Jim seemed to think Karen did something wrong by going to hang out with her friends in NYC while he finished his interview. Karen was more independent than Pam, and this seemed to be something Jim couldn't quite understand.
WHEN HE TRIED TO DITCH PAM AT THE DINNER PARTY
While Jim is generally thought of as being a ive boyfriend, there were definitely times where he was willing to leave Pam behind if it would get him out of an uncomfortable situation. In the “Dinner Party” episode, Jim claims that his apartment has been flooded so he has an excuse to leave. He is then willing to leave Pam behind in a situation she also clearly doesn’t want to be in if it means he can bail. While this isn’t too serious of an offense, it does seem to point to the fact that Jim might put himself first a bit too much.
HIS TREATMENT OF DWIGHT
This might be a bit of a controversial opinion, and it can definitely be argued either way. Dwight is definitely not a nice person or innocent here. He is rather sexist and just rude overall, and so it’s rewarding to see Dwight get pranked by Jim. However, there is a lot of indication that Dwight does actually care about and respect Jim, and it often feels like Jim uses this to his advantage.
BUYING HIS PARENTS' HOUSE WITHOUT TELLING PAM
This is another moment that can be debated. While some people might find this romantic as Jim was trying to plan their future together, other people find this pretty problematic. Jim didn’t really take Pam’s opinion into consideration, and it’s just one of many examples where he seems to ignore her distinct personhood in order to create a life for them that he thinks is best. He was definitely trying to be romantic here, but it was a risky move.
