The Office

The Slough branch has remained open, and the transferred Swindon employees are due in. Brent meets his new boss, Neil, and hates him instantly. David performs a stand-up routine to impress the new employees, which fails miserably. Worse for Brent, Neil is funny and likeable, and makes a joke at David’s expense. Meanwhile, Tim, who has been persuaded to stay, upsets Dawn by uncharacteristically asking her to return to the reception desk. Gareth does not like Tim’s authority over him. Meanwhile at the meet-and-greet for Swindon employees, David tells a sexually explicit racial joke that proves unpopular with the women of Swindon, despite David’s protests that it did not offend Oliver, who is black. Jennifer, who has been promoted above Neil, reprimands David for offending new employees on their first day. Lee becomes upset with Tim for what he sees as flirting with Dawn, and pushes him against a wall.

It is the day of the staff appraisals, in which we learn that Dawn wants to be a children’s illustrator and Keith has completely lost all motivation for his job. The staff from Swindon indicate that they do not like it in Slough, and that they preferred Neil as a manager. David immediately challenges them to accompany him for a lunchtime drink to prove that he is more fun. A handful of employees agree to join David and are entertained by talk about meat pies and Courage Ales, Slough’s local brewery. Back at Wernham Hogg, Neil effortlessly keeps the staff entertained. David admonishes him for having fun when he should be working, and Neil tells Brent that he cannot talk to him that way. Lee apologises to Tim, who is getting along well with Rachel from Swindon; she asks him out, much to Dawn’s discomfort.

It is Trudy’s birthday, but Brent’s social ineptitude manages to ruin the event. Tim and Gareth compete over Rachel. David is approached to do some outside management training by the consultancy firm Cooper & Webb, and is asked if he would like to work as a motivational speaker for a paying audience. He happily accepts the lucrative offer of work and delights in informing everybody who will listen how much it pays. He is not happy when he learns that Neil was also approached by Cooper & Webb’s representatives to do a stint of motivational speaking, but turned the offer down. Dawn and Tim glue down Gareth’s phone, but Dawn feels left out when he celebrates with Rachel instead. David also learns that Neil and Chris Finch are good friends, which upsets him.

Tim has started seeing Rachel, which upsets Dawn and shocks Gareth, who was trying to flirt with Rachel. Gareth tries to impress the visiting office computer geek, and they discuss Bruce Lee and go-karting. It is the day of Brent’s management presentation. David is told off by Neil for failing to pay an employee, and Dawn agrees to help him with the presentation when he offers her £100; his rambling monologue and use of both a book of Native American wisdom and a boombox playing "The Best" by Tina Turner make it very unorthodox, and he does not get the audience reaction he had hoped for.

It’s Red Nose Day at Wernham Hogg, which Brent treats like a national holiday. Gareth is hopping everywhere, Dawn is selling kisses, Keith is dressed as Ali G, Tim is hiding Gareth’s possessions for charity and Neil is disco-dancing with Rachel—Brent performs a horrendous dance when trying to compete with them. David eagerly awaits a photo opportunity from the local paper, but the pictures cannot be used due to the lack of light. Neil and Jennifer "offer" David, who is dressed in a Bernie Clifton ostrich costume, a redundancy package and inform him that he will soon be fired. Tim, along with Gareth’s friend "Jimmy the Perv", pays for a kiss from Dawn.

Although slightly annoyed that his redundancy does not seem to bother his staff, David’s spirits remain high as he plans his future while also being interviewed for an article in Inside Paper. Tim takes drastic action when he learns that Dawn has resigned in order to move to the USA with her boyfriend Lee: he breaks up with Rachel, removes his wireless microphone and tells her his true feelings; she hugs him, but declines to break up with Lee. When David is told that his services as a motivational speaker are also no longer required in the presence of the interviewer, he begs Neil to reconsider the dismissal.