Why do michael hate toby

Buckle up for this fan-theory because it goes deep! This fan theory touches on the fact that Michael hates Toby because, basically, Toby is the opposite of the American dream. Then we have Toby, who lives relentlessly in the real world - a divorced father who has a firm grip on reality.

Toby angers Michael because he's a living example that everything Michael strives for could be in vain. Toby had it all, a wife who loved him, and a daughter he adored. Toby represented everything that Michael wanted in life, and Toby threw it all away when he got a divorce. While Toby may not have the wife and kids at home anymore, Michael is still envious that Toby has a child who loves him.

All Michael wants is a happy family to come home to and it angers him that Toby had this and let it go. This fan-theory could even be tied into Michael's daddy issues, where he sees divorced fathers as nothing but deadbeats, stemming from his own absent father. Michael is always trying to create fun and a sense of chaos in the office. For an HR rep, this is not an ideal situation, and Toby always has to imply the rules and shut down the fun. One fan theory touches on something that happened in Michael and Toby's recent past.

One thing we know about the office before the show started is that Michael was best friends with Todd Packer. Packer was one of those jerks who pulls awkward and annoying pranks. Michael and Packer got along so well due to the fact they were the two social outcasts of the office.

Eventually, Michael was promoted to Branch Manager, and Packer became the traveling salesman. Packer pulled a prank or made a comment so outrageous that he got in trouble with HR, and Toby reprimanded him.

This forced Packer to become a traveling salesman and no longer work in the office due to his behavior being too disruptive. Consequently, Michael never forgave Toby for this because Packer was his only friend in the office. One Reddit user has a pretty compelling explanation for all the hatred Michael has towards Toby. Michael is scared he'll become Toby in the future. If you've obsessed over The Office as we have, then you're aware of Michael's worst fear of being alone and unloved.

To Michael, Toby is the manifestation of everything he fears. He's divorced, balding, pathetic, and miserable. Michael isn't exactly the most emotionally intelligent being, so to combat his fears, he lashes out against Toby. Thus, Toby is outside of Michael's direct chain-of-command, but is a presence in the office, which functions partly as Michael's personal social club.

If you pay attention to his actions however, you'll find that Toby is actually a horrible, petty person. He's one of those "nice" guys that seems shy but is actually very selfish. He wants to blow off going to his daughter's play to go to Pam's art show.

Also when he wins a stuffed animal and wants to give it to Pam, and Pam has to remind him that he has a daughter he could give it to, it becomes clear that he makes selfish choices. When Jim and Pam are together for the first time he is also really rude about it with the memo about PDA at the office and saying they don't have to disclose their relationship because it's not serious enough.

What Anthony Grist said plus you have to remember that the 1st decade of the 21st century was the painfully PC Policing of the workplace. And the HR person was the one who always had to make everybody watch the PC videos everytime a non-PC event happened in the workplace. Everyone hated having to watch those stupid, boring videos and blamed the HR rep for making them do it.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why does everyone hate Toby so much? Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 9 months ago. Active 1 year, 8 months ago. Viewed 76k times. Improve this question. Shevliaskovic Shevliaskovic 5, 8 8 gold badges 34 34 silver badges 73 73 bronze badges.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Anthony Grist Anthony Grist 2, 22 22 silver badges 22 22 bronze badges. About the other employees: while we initially register Michael as the unprovoked bully in this relationship, Toby himself isn't the best person either. But we know that he comes from a broken family.

His parents divorced when he was young. Michael still seems to face the feelings of abandonment and anger, which he clearly channels towards Toby. Toby is a divorced father. To Michael, he sees Toby as his father and believes that he is not taking care of his daughter just like his father who did not take care of him after divorcing his mother. Michael believes that Toby cannot be anything better than his father when it comes to parenting.

So the hatred he has towards Toby is because Toby reminds him of his own father. Taking this further, we can say that Michael hates Toby even more because Toby is trying to be a good father even after divorcing his wife.

This makes him believe that his father just abandoned him. This could also drive the thought that he was the reason why his father left and never wanted to associate himself with Michael.