The Stanley Detail That Has The Office Fans Scratching Their Heads

Across its nine seasons, "The Office" follows the professional lives of employees at Dunder Mifflin, a struggling paper supply company branch located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The workers range in personality, from the industrious to the sluggish, most of whom fall into the latter category.

Throughout the series, viewers watch Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) do the absolute minimum as a salesman at Dunder Mifflin. His top priorities include working on crossword puzzles while he runs out the clock on his eight-hour workday. Stanley is rather lazy and doesn't offer up too much in branch meetings, even when his boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) calls on him. 

Easily the most unmotivated character on "The Office," Stanley is also one of the most tenured, working at the Scranton branch longer than most of his colleagues. Despite serving as a salesperson for quite some time, however, his choice to be in that role has "Office" fans scratching their heads.

A career in sales seems like quite the odd choice for a person like Stanley, who would rather keep to himself and not work than be social and get the job done, so why he chose it before the show even begins remains a mystery. This is the question many "Office" fans have had over the years, and it's discussed frequently on Reddit to this day. 

"It never really made sense to me that the writers decided to make Stanley a salesman. His 'run out the clock'- work attitude would make much more sense if he did not work on commission," one user wrote on Reddit. "After all, he wants to retire as soon as possible."

However, there could be an explanation for all this: Stanley might have worked hard as salesman in the past, and now that he's established himself, he doesn't have to put in as much effort, resulting in the lax attitude he has throughout "The Office." Some fans have noted that Stanley has a big pool of customers who have purchased from him for years, meaning he doesn't have to do much other than re-fill some orders from time to time. With a loyal clientele in his books, Stanley simply doesn't have to put on a show for potential clients and can slack off while still making commission.

Everything considered, based on what we've seen in "The Office," it doesn't make a ton of sense for Stanley to be a salesman — but it definitely makes for great television.