Meredith Palmer

Meredith Palmer
Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
First appearance	"Diversity Day"
Created by	Greg Daniels
Portrayed by	Kate Flannery
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Supplier Relations, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton Maid (part-time)
Spouse(s)	two ex-husbands
Children	Jake (son) Wendy (daughter)

Meredith Elizabeth Palmer (born May 12, 1959) is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. She is played by Kate Flannery. She is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.

Overview

Meredith Palmer is the supplier relations representative at fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin. However, during season one, her occupation was accountant. Meredith has been divorced twice, has genital herpes, has a drinking problem and a pornography addiction.

Biography

Meredith is portrayed as physically unattractive, socially inappropriate, and sexually promiscuous. She usually remains a fairly quiet presence in the office. Not much has been revealed about her early or personal life (however, In a deleted scene from "Garden Party", she mentions she's a former boxer^[1]), but Meredith has custody of her son, Jake, who has a history of troublemaking, while her ex-husband has custody of their daughter, Wendy (whom she calls the "good one"). One of her ex-husbands left her for a garbagewoman whom her kids now call "Mom." She possesses a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to dealing with misbehaving children.

Meredith is an alcoholic, and it has been alluded to that she often has hangovers when she arrives at work (she has complained that people talk too loudly and that the office lights are too bright in the morning). Although she says she does not have a problem, there are many things she overlooks that are, in fact, serious signs of addiction, such as keeping a flask under the seat of her mini van,^[2] knowing the names of numerous bars around Scranton,^[3] and even ingesting hand sanitizer for alcohol.

She is allergic to dairy products. She is the winner of the "Grace Under Fire" award at the 7th Annual Dundie Awards.

She has been shown on several occasions to have a crush on co-worker Jim Halpert, which visibly frightens him at times. She has on several occasions made advances, such as asking him to sign her cast for her broken pelvis (which is located on her crotch), much to his chagrin.

Meredith drives a very beatup Ford Aerostar, which she is seen crashing nonchalantly in the parking lot of the Steamtown Mall in "Women's Appreciation".

It is also somewhat of a running gag that whenever there is any physically injuring consequenses to the office's nonsense, Meredith is usually the one who suffers. Among other indignities: her hair has been set on fire, Dwight almost suffocated her by stuffing her head into a garbage bag, she got rabies from a bat that was one of several wild animals to gnaw on her inside a single year, Michael accidentally hit her with his car in the parking lot, Pam threw an erroneous football that smacked her in the face, and a falling supply shelf in the warehouse entrapped her. In the season 8 premiere, she is seen planking on top of a bathroom stall and is knocked down when Dwight uses a fire extinguisher.

Seasons 1–2

In the episode "Health Care", it is revealed she had a hysterectomy; Dwight Schrute is somewhat confused as to what this means, believing her to have no vagina. Michael Scott makes the entire office throw a month-early birthday party for Meredith in "The Alliance", in hopes of boosting morale and relieving the stress from downsizing rumors, although it was not much of a success, especially because Michael makes fun of her age in one of his many unintentionally offensive jokes, which he prepared and wrote down prior to the party. In a note on Meredith's birthday card, Jim refers to her as an accountant, although it is later revealed that she is the supplier relations representative. In a deleted scene, a joke about her hysterectomy doesn't go over well, sending her crying into the arms of co-workers. Her alcohol problems are not revealed in the first season. Also in "The Alliance", Meredith's birthday is said to be in the next month, but in the episode "Survivor Man", her birthday is said to be at the end of the birthday month, which is after multiple people.^[4]

In the second season, the writers gradually introduced Meredith's drinking problem to the viewers, although it is hardly a secret to the rest of the Dunder Mifflin staff, who even take advantage of it to manipulate her. Meredith joins Alcoholics Anonymous and attempts to follow through on her New Year's resolutions to quit drinking, but does not succeed. She has also made another resolution for 2006 that she would stay away from alcohol "during the week." A scene in which a drunk Meredith lifts her top was deleted from "E-mail Surveillance," but the writers were so taken with the idea that they incorporated it into her character.^[5] She exposes her breasts to Michael in the closing moments of "Christmas Party", and in "Booze Cruise" she is briefly seen topless, except for a life preserver, after she had been having sex with the captain of the boat. Her son, Jake, is introduced in "Take Your Daughter To Work Day", where she tells the cameras that it works out perfectly having her son there, because he's suspended from school and this way she doesn't have to hire a babysitter. In "Boys and Girls", she says that in five years she would like to be five years sober, but quickly changes it to four and a half. In a deleted scene from "Casino Night" she confesses to not remembering men with whom she has had sex while drunk.^[6]

Seasons 3–4

In the season 3 premiere, she is caught eating Angela Martin's alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and her excitement over merger-day champagne was quickly quashed by Michael who says the beverages are for "guests only." In the producer's cut of "Branch Closing", she recalls a past agreement with a coworker to have sex together on the last day of work, but can't remember who she made the deal with. During a deleted scene from "Back from Vacation," Meredith implies that her tendency to sleep around was worth it because she's "seen the world." She joins Pam and Karen's party in "A Benihana Christmas" because it has alcohol. She declines the margaritas, saying that they are too sweet, and she takes a bottle of vodka. In "Ben Franklin" she yells "Shut up, Angela!" when Angela says that a male stripper has no business dancing in the office. In "Women's Appreciation," she is seen as a careless driver, with one hand controlling the steering wheel, while the other hand is holding a bag of potato chips over her head, pouring its contents directly into her mouth. Afterwards, she tosses the empty potato chip bag out the window. When Pam, sitting in the passenger seat, cautions her to not be a litterbug, Meredith replies, "My car, my rules." In a later scene at the Steamtown Mall parking lot, she attempts to wedge her minivan into a parking space too small, damaging several cars in the process. In "Beach Games" she accidentally exposes herself to the camera after forgetting she was not wearing her swimsuit underneath her clothes, also in another deleted scene she orders for the bus to stop because she needs to use the bathroom, even though there are no bathrooms in sight, but instead of going behind a bush she instantly squats right in front of the bus which everyone looks away in disgust (except for Creed). In "The Job," she describes Jim's haircut as "sexy-hot" and orders him to turn around so she can see it from all angles. When discussing Jan's breast implants in a talking-head interview, Meredith comments that "in my experience, guys are more interested in the back of you than in the front.".^[7] In "Business School", she is traumatized when a bat lands on her and Dwight encloses a garbage bag over her head in order to catch it.

In the first episode of season four ("Fun Run"), Michael hits Meredith with his car as he drives in to work, cracking her pelvis. The entire staff visits her in the hospital, where tests reveal that she may have rabies, likely on account of the previous season's Bat incident. Michael pesters her to forgive him, and she initially refuses, but later forgives him when she hears about the "Rabies Awareness Fun Run" he put together in her honor (Michael had not known at the time that rabies is in fact an easily curable disease). Upon returning to the office in the third episode of the season, she approaches Jim Halpert and requests that he sign her cast — which is on her crotch — and tells him in a whisper that she especially appreciated him coming to visit her at the hospital, suggesting that she finds him attractive. Jim signs awkwardly while Creed leers on in the background. During the making of Michael's alternative local Dunder Mifflin ad, Meredith notes that she is not used to making videos "with so many people around" and she later gives Jim a ride home from work when Pam stays late to work on the ad. In a deleted scene in "Goodbye, Toby", Meredith is introduced to Holly Flax and seems to like her, until she later interviews that she hates her, and "wants to cut her face."^[8]

Seasons 5–6

In "Business Ethics", Meredith reveals she has been sleeping with a supplier in order to gain discounts on products for the company (and Outback Steakhouse gift certificates). Holly Flax thinks she should be fired, while Michael Scott tries to lead her into giving a non-damning statement (though he calls her a "stupid bag" when she simply restates her unethical behavior). She says she won't quit, but ultimately it turns out Corporate could not care less about her actions and actually seem to find them kind of useful in tough economic times. In deleted scenes, it's revealed Meredith made racist comments that Stanley overheard (though they weren't about him), that she admits she has no skill set to do any kind of useful work, and that she likes working at Dunder Mifflin because she can show up for work at 11AM and leave at 4PM (this last bit of information comes as a shock to Michael).

In the episode "Casual Friday", Meredith wears a highly inappropriate dress that barely covers herself. When Toby confronts her and asks her to pull it down more, she pulls it down too far and reveals her entire body above the waist. When her colleagues complain, she pulls it up too far, exposing her lower body. When Kelly asks "Meredith, where are your panties?" she replies "It's casual day!"

At the office Christmas party in "Moroccan Christmas", Meredith gets drunk and parties too wildly, accidentally setting her hair on fire while bellydancing. Michael stages an intervention, but the staff are unhelpful in getting her to admit her alcoholism. Michael then pretends to take her out for drinks, but instead takes her to a rehab clinic where he forcibly drags her inside and informs the staff that he's "making a deposit". When he finds out that she cannot be admitted against her will, he is determined to help her "hit rock bottom", as he somewhat proudly mentions he was able to do with Jan.^[9]

In the episode "The Promotion" it's revealed that Creed and Meredith have had sex. Creed didn't remember this until he makes another pass at her.^[10] In "Koi Pond", it is also revealed that she has slept with a terrorist.

Season 7

In "Nepotism", when the terrible new office assistant Luke is using her computer, she tells him to scram and calls him a twerp. Later, when the staff finds out Luke neglected to send out packages from the office, and instead kept them in his car, she breaks into his vehicle. She also tells Michael to "Sack up", when Luke is using a laser pointer to point at people during a meeting.

In "Andy's Play", Michael swipes a bottle of wine from the concession table, and during the second act, Michael, Meredith, Darryl, and Kevin are seen drinking the wine Michael stole, though Michael intended to have all the wine to himself.

In the episode "Sex Ed", Meredith tells the office that she has Genital Herpes. When Michael, Jim, and Dwight decide to set up a sting operation to see how rival salesman Danny Cordray is stealing all of their clients and observe his sales techniques in "The Sting", they set up Meredith, as the CEO of Solartech (a fictional company), in Dwight's office (fitted with security cameras), and watch from another room. Danny is then sent in to try to make a sale. All starts well until Meredith attempts to seduce him, forcing Dwight and Jim to send in Oscar and Ryan to save the sting. When Meredith strong-arms both of them, a grossed-out Michael rushes in to call the whole thing off.

In "Costume Contest", Meredith dresses up as Sookie Stackhouse. In "Ultimatum" it is revealed that Meredith is a smoker and her New Year's Resolution is to only smoke 2 cigarettes per day.

In "Michael's Last Dundies", the first glimpse of Meredith's dilapidated house is shown when Michael and Deangelo arrive to give her a Dundie Award nomination. The door is left ajar and when Michael and Deangelo peek in to see if anybody is home, Meredith walks up the driveway behind them looking dishevelled after a night of partying. They decline her offer for breakfast and run away. Later in the episode, Meredith wins the "Best Mom" Dundie to the shock of the entire office, and then kisses Michael when accepting the award. After accepting the award, she gives her acceptance "speech" proclaiming that she's "not going to be a good mom tonight!". She later throws her award on the ground in anger when Erin wins the 'Cutest Redhead' Dundie Award instead of her.

References

1. ^ http://www.nbc.com/the-office/video/garden-party-secret-scenes/1362329
2. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Injury
3. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Christmas
4. ^ The Office - Season 1
5. ^ Flannery, Kate. (Actor). 2005. "Christmas Party" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
6. ^ The Office - Season 2
7. ^ The Office - Season 3
8. ^ The Office - Season 4
9. ^ The Office - Season 5
10. ^ The Office - Season 6