As most fans know, The Office is a mockumentary television show that depicts the daily lives of workers at a paper company called Dunder Mifflin.
The original version of the show aired on the BBC for two years. The Office was created by Ricky Gervais, who also stars in the show as David Brent-the equivalent of Michael Scott.
Martin Freeman, who had started his acting career only three years prior to the show's premiere, also stars as the British version of Jim named Tim Canterbury.
The show eventually got a remake with actors from the US, starring Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and several other talented and hilarious actors. The US version of The Office ran much longer than the original series for a total of nine seasons.
While the beginning of the series closely followed the UK version, the later seasons delved into unique storylines that hadn’t been previously explored.
However, since the show became longer, this opened the door for more continuity errors and other mistakes that most people are willing to ignore because of how small they are.
In many ways, the US version grew bigger than the British Office had ever hoped to have gotten. While many people enjoy Gervais’ show, others prefer the US version.
The Office has been off the air for five years now, but the show is none the less loved by fans.
Despite the show having a wide fan base, there are some mistakes that the casual viewer would never catch, especially since some are nit-picky details.
With that said, here are the 25 Mistakes In The Office Only True Fans Noticed.
25. Michael Has A Brother?
In the pilot for The Office, Michael makes an iconic joke when he explains that he has a special file designated for Jan’s memos - the trash.
Michael elaborates that he learned the joke from his brother, who had the same system for filing his taxes.
Michael’s brother is never again talked about and it’s later revealed that he only had a half-sister named Marnie Cooper.
The episode was taking the scene directly from the U.K. version of The Office and Michael’s character hadn’t yet been completely developed.
That being said, as obnoxious as Michael and his best friend Todd Packer can be, it’s probably for the best that they never developed a brother for his character.
24. Angela’s Relationship With Her Sister
The story behind Angela’s siblings is one aspect of the show that changes constantly during the series.
Initially, Angela explains that she only has one sister whom she hasn’t spoken to in years because of a fight that she doesn’t .
Later, at Schrute Farms, Andy mentions that Angela has more than one sister, however. Then, at her wedding with Dwight, she goes back to only having one sister.
To make things even stranger, Angela is shown to be very close with her sister, which contradicts her previous statement about her sibling.
23. John Krasinski Signs Meredith’s Cast
Usually, if someone breaks a bone and they have to wear a cast, and their friends and coworkers will jump at the opportunity to sign their name on it.
After Michael accidentally hits Meredith with his car, she has to get a cast for her fractured pelvis.
Jim is one of the people who signs it for her, but he doesn’t sign his name as Jim Halpert.
Instead, he signs his real name - John Krasinski. Only eagle eye viewers will catch the mistake, but the name is clearly his real name since he dots two eyes and a big “K” can be seen in his last name.
22. Michael Can’t Ride A Bike
It’s often said that once someone learns how to ride a bike, they never forget the skill. Apparently, this doesn’t apply to Michael Scott.
In the fifth episode of season seven titled “The Sting”, Michael apparently doesn’t know to ride a bike.
While people just never learn how to ride a bicycle, Michael had already demonstrated that he could do this in the episode titled “A Benihana Christmas” from season 3.
Though it’s not a huge mistake that derails part of the surrounding story, the writers definitely forgot that they had already written a scene with Michael riding a bicycle into the show.
21. David Wallace’s Daughter
In the episode “Secret Santa” in season 6, Michael attempts to call David Wallace at his corporate office.
In order to get transferred to his office, Michael says that he often uses his little girl voice in order to trick David into accepting the call.
The only problem is that David doesn’t have a daughter.
Some may argue that the receptionist transferring the call wouldn’t know this, but in the episode, David even answers the phone and says “Hey sweetie, what is it?”
It looks like the writers forgot the gender of David’s child.
20. Pam’s Volleyball Skills
Pam is often seen as a quiet and shy person, so many people wouldn’t expect her to be athletic.
Pam surprised both her co-workers and her fans when she showed some impressive volleyball skills in the episode “Company Picnic".
She explains, “Maybe I played a little in junior high. And in high school. Maybe a little in college. And went to volleyball camp most summers!”
That being said, in the episode “Job Fair”, Pam contradicts herself when she says that she used to fake having PMS so that she could get out of playing the sport.
19. Palm Trees In Pennsylvania
Even though The Office is supposed to be based in the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, it was actually filmed in Los Angeles.
There are many things that LA has that Pennsylvania does not, including palm trees.
While the cinematographers on the show did their best to avoid areas with palm trees, viewers can often see them appear in the show.
People who keep an eye out can often see the trees in the background while characters are driving or when Michael Scott is riding around in his shiny red Sebring.
Even though they can often be spotted, the cinematographers did do a decent job of hiding them, since palm trees are seemingly everywhere in California.
18. Pam’s Mom
TV shows and movies can choose to recast a role even after one actor has already played the part.
Usually, this doesn’t go over well with fans, unless the actor was misrepresenting a character.
When it came to Helene Beasley, Shannon Cochran didn’t really do anything wrong in the role. However, she was still replaced by Linda Purl in season six.
Granted, Cochran didn’t have a huge role at the beginning of the series, but it was still odd when Purl replaced her, especially since they look nothing alike.
17. The Jim And Pam Debate
Jim and Pam are two of the most beloved characters on The Office, especially when they are together.
They both work at Dunder Mifflin, but there is a long debate between them about who actually started at the company first.
Throughout the series, Jim and Pam both say lines that would lead fans to believe that one started at the company sooner than the other.
That being said, the truth behind mystery was never really revealed and the show continued to make contradicting statements.
So which is it, NBC? Who started first?
16. Nick Works In Graphic Design And IT
While The Office has a memorable main group of cast , the show also has a long list of minor characters.
One of these characters is Nick, who works as a graphic designer... or an IT guy... or both.
Nick, who is played by Nelson Franklin, first appeared in the episode titled “Job Fair” as a professional graphic designer.
Later on in the series, he becomes the IT guy at Dunder Mifflin. Graphic design and Information Technology are two completely different professions, however, though Nick seems to have mastered them both.
Either that, or the writers didn’t care that their new IT person had previously been on the show.
