The Office Fan Theory That Explains Why Andy Was A Bad Employee

NBC's mockumentary comedy hit "The Office" had an outstanding run from 2005-2013 (IMDb), turning actors like Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling, and John Krasinski into household names almost overnight.

While the American version closely follows the first two seasons of the classic British original brought to life by Ricky Gervais, the stateside production expands big time in the third season, introducing characters who become core cast members (for a time, at least), like Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) and Andrew "Andy" Bernard (Ed Helms).

While Andy is striving to be the perfect employee from the moment we meet him, his efforts seem to always be a bit over the top, and it takes a while before he finds himself in the top seat in Scranton (before losing it). However, there's a fan theory about "The Office" going around that explains why Andy was a bad employee despite having earned a pretty serious title while at the Stamford branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

When we first meet Andy, he makes sure everyone knows he's the "Regional Director in Charge of Sales." The notion of why Andy's such a bad employee in "The Office" is discussed in a Reddit thread titled "How is Andy the 'Regional Director in charge of Sales' when he arrives in Scranton, but after that, he's notoriously the worst salesman there?"

In the thread, several fans argue that Andy probably made up his super important-sounding title of "Regional Director in charge of Sales," or that it was given to him to placate him — "False Bravado," as one Reddit fan put it. For example, one Redditor wrote, "I always assumed he just made the title up on the spot to try and sound more important than Dwight," and another wrote, "Maybe Josh gave him a fake title to shut him up, like Michael did with Dwight.."

Still, it doesn't completely explain why Andy's such a bad employee.

As Redditor VZ-Faith points out, there's a fan theory that links Andy trying to control his explosive bouts of anger — he's famous for his freakouts — with a lower drive as a salesman over time. As VZ-Faith wrote, "There's a theory ... that he lost a lot of his drive and ruthlessness after his anger management. This caused him to be terrible at sales. If you notice pre anger management no one seems to point out how bad he is."

There seems to be something to this theory. While Andy is a braggadocious, career-driven suck-up when we first meet him, his pent-up anger eventually drives him to punch a wall in the Scranton office, which earns him a stint in anger management therapy. As Studio Binder notes, Andy comes back to work a much more subdued version of himself, and it's noticeable how hard he's trying to keep his true nature at bay. However, as the fan theory notes, this level of self-control makes the already mediocre employee all that more lackluster when it comes to performing his job.