Michael Gary Scott
was born March 15, 1964 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He came from a
relatively difficult childhood of loneliness. Michael started at
Dunder Mifflin
as a salesman in the 1990s.
In his interactions with other characters, Michael is shallow,
callous, ignorant and
unaware of basic social norms. He tends to overestimate his own
importance in the eyes of his coworkers and cannot understand why they do
not share his enthusiasm. He is loyal to the company and honestly tries to
help his employees when he thinks they are having a problem.
Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often manifests
itself in selfish behavior. His desire to be liked often leads him to make
unwise decisions or unfeasible promises without
considering the consequences, only to back out when they result in an
undesirable comeuppance. Michael appears to emphasize moments of sympathy
or civility directed at him by his coworkers and inflates their importance
in order to compensate for his loneliness.
Jim Halpert
once made a
color graph
of how Michael spends his time: 80% distracting others,
19% procrastination
and 1% critical thinking. Due to his overall lack of common
sense, Michael can withstand significant abuse from his peers and is often
the butt of jokes. He is quick to take offense when wronged and his
response is often disproportionate to the harm suffered. Similarly, when
he unintentionally offends people, he will apologize.