The Office Fans Fully Support Stanley For Calling Out Phyllis On Pretzel Day
"The Office"'s Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) spends most of the show's nine seasons at the Dunder Mifflin paper company filling out crossword puzzles and calling out his boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell). And much like Jim's (John Krasinski) affinity for playing pranks on Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Angela's (Angela Kinsey) devotion to cats, or Kevin's (Brian Baumgartner) love of chili, Stanley has his own passion, and it's for pretzel day.
Season 3, Episode 5's "Initiation" introduces something that makes Stanley smile: Soft pretzels. As soon as the intercom announces that pretzels are being served, Stanley scoops up his newspaper, races from the office, and gets in line for the warm, salty goodness. Michael Scott secures a spot right behind him, and the fans of the sitcom are definitely on Stanley's side when Stanley starts booing Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) who tries to cut in line. "We need more public shaming," Redditor u/pewterbullet wrote.
"Stanley really wanted his pretzel," u/Johnpecan posted. "He was looking forward to it all morning year." Phyllis' attempt to sneak in line with her husband, Bob Vance (Robert R. Shafer), doesn't play out the way she hopes it will, as both boobirds Stanley and Michael lay into her. "Phyllis pulled that classic that you see at theme parks," u/BowTie1989 commented. "Just show up and cut in front of everyone, 'Excuse me, my party is up ahead. Excuse me, please excuse me.'" Stanley has no intention of letting Phyllis come between him and his pretzel, and fans side with the salesman for booing her.
Fans empathize with Stanley
Stanley is a man not to be trifled with on pretzel day. While he waits excitedly in line for the salty snack, Phyllis has the nerve to try and cut in line ahead of him. And in the comment section underneath the YouTube video of "The Office" pretzel day scene, which has been viewed over 3 million times, most of the fans side with Stanley for booing his impetuous colleague. "I love how Stanley and Michael team up to stop Phyllis from cutting in line," YouTube commenter liltiger3 wrote. "Stanley is the only one here who I can fully 100% relate to," marie commented.
"The way Stanley says 'boo' is hilarious," YouTuber Montaro XYX wrote. "[That] always gets me." Another YouTuber tweaked some of Stanley's dialogue to match it up more accurately with how the salesman was feeling when Phyllis tried to cheat her way into the line. "Stanley stood in a line that's too long, walked over for the pretzel that's too cheap, didn't let Phyllis cut the line on pretzel day," Sg posted. "Well, he likes pretzel day."
During the exchange, Phyllis' husband chastises the men for picking on his wife, but they refuse to back down. "I love how Michael and Stanley stood up to Bob Vance in this scene," Sgtturtle posted. "As long as pretzel day exists, Stanley lives a great life," silhouette commented.
In the end, Stanley gets his pretzel, thanks the vendor, and leaves Michael to choose which of the 18 toppings he'd like on his sweet pretzel.