Ryan Koh, who wrote this week's episode "Business Ethics," is taking your questions! Submit your questions below about the episode, the characters, and/or the writing process. All questions must be submitted before 8 PM PT/11 PM ET Friday, Oct. 10th. The sooner you post your question, the better chance you have of getting it answered. The best questions will be answered by Ryan in an exclusive video to be posted on "The Office" website next week!

My question is related to Meredith's: I too have been sleeping with a vendor to get a discount on supplies. My question is this - is it wrong to do this if the discount is reduced from 15% to 5%? I felt okay when I was getting 15% off but now that it's only 5%, I feel cheap. Am I also unethical? Also, I've been dreaming up ways to "spark" things up with my supplier, in hopes of increasing the discount to even 20% again - is this wrong? Help!

^^^Roy, is that you?!

Ryan:

Is it considered "unethical" to wish that a falling object, such as frozen waste dropped from an airplane, would hit my boss directly on her large head and render her unconscious for several weeks?

Sincerely:

Amelia E.

My question is: How is it possible that Meredith has been sleeping with the guy from Hammermill for six years? I mean, Michael and Dunder Mifflin didn't win that company over until the beginning of Season Three, in The Convention. "That's impossible, they're exclusive with Staples." "No, not anymore. Dunder Mifflin now can sell Hammermill products."
Was this just an overslight?

- Helen

After Jim timed Dwight's 19-minute absence from his desk, did he put 2 and 2 together and figure Dwight out? Or not? If he does know, does he even care that Dwight is romping with Angela at work? Will he use this to his advantage somehow?

I was thinking the same thing as Jamislove but I do have another ethics question. I was hopong this would be explained more in the Ethics episode; if Ryan was arrested for pretty much stealing from Dunder Mifflin, why would the company allow him to come back as a temp? There has to be a conflict of interest there.

Will a ringtone of "Let's Get Ethical" be released?

I second (or would it be third) this question

Fourth.

Weren't Meredith's dealings with the Hammermill guy unofficial...therefore any official policies Hammermill had would have been disregarded unless the discount was officially on the books. I would think if you're trading sex for discounts on office supplies a little thing like who you're actually selling it to can be fixed on the books just like the discount...or at least that's my take on it...but it's a fair question I suppose.


What I'd like to know is how much of the Holly/Michael storyline was yours(I realize that the writers write as a group so were you merely following an outline or did you come up with it yourself. Particularly, Michael ordering everyone into the conference room at the end of the episode as a sign of how much he cares for Holly)?


Also, how did the stopwatch...time thief...Battlestar Glactica bit come into existence?

Also maybe this explains how Michael was able to perform this coup in The Convention...they were already selling to DM(maybe Michael and Meredith were dealing with the same person.)


....I shoulda been in politics

My question: Why was the theme song cut out this week, but the episode wasn't any longer than usual? The theme is one of the things that makes this show great!

Where was Pam in this episode? Was she not written into the episode in the first place or were all her scenes (save for her voice in the cold open) cut? If so, why were they cut? (I liked this episode quite a bit but I found Pam's absence glaring.)

We know that the writers of The Office are talented at keeping some of our favorite T.V. couples in (perpetual) ups and downs. But having Holly say to Michael "It's not a family. It's a workplace." was a potentially fatal blow to the very foundation of our newest favorite couple.

Did you plan to strike so deep when you started writing "Business Ethics," or did that line just "sort of fit" once you got into it? And do you think that Michael handling the situation "gently with a rose" by making the office complete Holly's "reading from the binder" seminar is a sign of growth that he can forgive what was said, or do you think it merely put a band aid on a fundamental problem for the budding Scott-Flax romance?

Did the idea for this episode come from the possibly unethical behaviour of the cast and crew? If so, you're more than welcome to share some of those confessions.

Great episode, by the way!

Thanks,
Nicole

First and foremost, what a classic, excellent episode! I laughed my head off! There's a fun site called That's What She Said that measures the company's liability/legal exposure of each episode. Their attorneys agreed with Kendall's take on Dunder Mifflin's stance in regard to Meredith's behavior, so good job doing your HR home work!
The Battlestar Galactica conversation could not have been funnier. How many takes did it take the actors to get through that? And how many different movies did Jim reference? Hilarious!

Yay! Congrats on your first episode, Ryan.

Having been to Coopers' (when I went for the Convention), what made you decide to use Coopers' instead of the Chili's? For the locations of the shows, are you all trying to do more Scranton-specific spots based on what you saw from your visit last October?

This was such a funny episode! The second time I watched it I realized something. At the end, when they're all eating steak, is Angela eating meat? Because I thought she was a vegetarian. Or was she purposefully eating something different?

Hey I have two questions, When is Pam coming back and why wasn't Pam hardly in "Business Ethics"?
I miss JAM...

Hey! Congrats on a really funny episode.

When Michael threw away Holly's lunch and happened to knock a binder and some papers onto the floor, was that in the script/direction, or a complete accident by Steve Carell? It looked completely natural.

Are we going to get more of a Holly/Michael relationship this season (or at least for the next 3 episodes) besides him and her just screwing up every chance they get? I loved the Holly and Michael dynamic this week because well they are both such amazing characters but... I would love to see Michael do something more than constantly compliment her and applaud her and congratulate her and everything? Is there any hope in my future? Please be my ray of hope Mr. Koh!

My question is how early on did you guys get the idea for this episode? Also at any point was the story line for this episode very different from what it turned out to be?

thank you for taking questions

First off, let me say that this was a wonderful episode. The writing was superb, especially the conference room scene. I wish Dwight could say "cuckolded" in every episode.

My question relates to Michael's line "you are a thief of joy" to Dwight. While it was hilarious, it felt more like something Michael would say to Toby. Is Michael trying to fill the void left by Toby by making Dwight his new punching bag? Or am I reading too much into that.

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"You can't fire me. I don't work in this van!"

how did the youtube video of cookie monster singing chocolate rain beat out other famous videos as the one to be mentioned in michael's ethical dilemma?

In the past seasons, Chili's and Hooters have essentially been the go-to places for all of Michael's dining needs and events. Aside from the brief mention by Kevin in Branch Closing, why did you decide to choose Cooper's Seafood House as the location for Michael's business-romantic luncheon instead of the traditional choices?

Are the writers going to putting anything in about Joe Biden being from Scranton? Im sure there are hundreds of jokes and witty little things that can be put in the show about Biden and the fact that hes from a little town like Scranton.

Can't say I like this explanation, seems like it was more of an oversight. What would have been really genious though from an advertising perspective is if it was an intentional oversight to get more people talking about Hammermill, a sort of devious form of product placement.

The questions are answered here.

Thanks. I was looking forward to this.

Regards,
Louise