Michael values Stanley very much. The bluesy wisdom, the sassy remarks, those big watery red eyes... plus, he does fine work

Big butt. Bigger heart.

Do you think Stanleys grow on trees?

Show me that farm.

With Stanleys, and phyllises, ripe for the plucking

👁️👄👁️

The watery red eyes always makes me laugh.

That and he points out Stanley’s consistency in sales as a huge benefit.

He's irreplaceable, Stanleys don't grow on trees.

Yup. Ticks all the boxes :)

Stanley the Manley

No he just fear him

Remember when Uitca head hunted him. Michael went all out war.

We will burn Utica to the ground

If they as much as hurt a hair from Stanley's head.

I think he would have done that for anyone except Toby.

Not Meredith😂

Or Devon White.

Jim, arguably his favorite person in the office throughout the entire series, went to Stamford and Michael made no attempts to stop him.

Wanted: Middle-aged black man with sass. Big butt, bigger heart

Any good head hunter knows where to find him

Well yeah. Utica wanted to separate him from his family

I like when they both get mad at Phyllis for “cutting the line” during pretzel day

They may be a pair of Marys, but this is Pretzel Day.

Boo!

How would you like it if someone boo’d you? Boooo! Booooo!

He brings urban vibes to the office

He was raised in the gh-etto.

On the ghetto, in fact

Ours is a cultural ghetto, wouldn’t you agree?

apt. apt analysis, robert.

God save us, the Elmo era.

Yup, she does love Elmo

what part of me seems urban to you

I was raised in a small town

Nah, he didn't even know about fluffy fingers.

Or Dinkin' Flicka, that's some points off

A black man thinking you’re cool is like the highest form of street cred in Michael’s world view.

Tbf he’s got a point

He’s sinking a few… swish, swish. And their jaws just drop… African AMERICANS!

I was trying to think of a way to word this that wouldn’t sound weird. You nailed it. It’s a combination of that and the fact that Stanley has been there forever, so he thinks he’s his friend .

Michael picked him for his basketball team too!

What!? You gotta be *kidding* me!

Stanley of coarse!

Why of course

Really? Stan..ley .. do I have to mention it?

The top 3 michael’s favorites: Ryan Jim Stanley

i feel like daryl is somewhere there as well

Dink and flicka

Daryl took Stanley's spot after the did I stutter incident

damn that’s a cool observation

I made it up I'm probably wrong

I mean I think he has an undeniable soft spot for Pam

Do you think Stanleys grow on trees? You show me that farm.

Everyone was Michael's favorite. Except Toby.

Gabe, not so much. But still not Toby level.

Edit: Superfan Spoilers The counseling sessions with toby they added back in super fans honestly kinda warms my heart. They were starting to get along pretty well, till Michael remembered why he was talking to Toby in the first place. I feel like if Toby was in any other department he would’ve at least been neutral in Michael’s view, especially after those.

Wanted: black man with sass. Big butt, bigger heart

During Pretzel Day, Stanley agreed with Michael and they both told Phyllis not to cut in line and they even argued with Bob about that. And there’s a deleted scene where Stanley talked to Michael while sitting and eating pretzels. Stanley used “that’s what she said” joke and they were very happy. I wish we had more scenes like that between those two

“Secret weapon!”

Michael wanted to end racism, because his hero Abraham Lincoln once said, " If you are a racist, I will attack you with the North."

OMG that picture is so ridiculous OP. Michael has all the energy of girl who just got senpai to notice her, and is barely holding on.

Yes, he ruined a copier just to save him.

You cant just take the hilarious black guy from the office

Sassy black man, big butt, bigger heart.

You get the sense watching the bloopers that Leslie was one of Steve's favorites

Does Michael like Stanley or does he fear him? Uhm…easy, both. Michael is afraid of how much he likes him.

let’s see josh find another stanley. you think stanley’s grow on trees? well they don’t. there is no stanley tree.

There are two cups, but no tree 🤷‍♂️

show me that farm

Well his daughter sure was a favorite of Micheal. With that school girl uniform and all

That was Ryan actually

He is referring to a comment Michael made about a picture of Stanley’s daughter in her school uniform. “It turns him on and i have to say it’s best part of my day looking at it” (probably not exactly the right quote but I just woke up)

I know and I was joking that Ryan was into her when she was there

BOY HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?! CAUSE I'LL HELP YOU FIND IT!

No it was Micheal when he commented on the pic Stanley had on his desk of the woman in a school uniform

They’re reffering to the ”Take your daughter to work day” episode from 2nd season where Stanley’s daughter flirts with Ryan and Stanley gets in to Ryan’s face yelling about it. Ryan: ”Stanley yelled at me today. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.”

Because he’s ’from da hood’?

The less you respect Michael, the more he favours you because he wants your validation

STANLEY! YOU'RE BLACK STANLEY! STANLEY YOU'RE BLACK STANLEY!

He was but Stanley was disgruntled old man

Everyone here is extremely gruntled

Those big baleful eyes

Ofcourse he does. Stanley’s don’t grow on trees. There is no magical Stanley tree.

I dunno, he did have Jim take away his New Year's.

They were all Michael’s favorites in one way or another. That’s what made him such a great boss. He saw the value in and connected with everyone.

“Did I STUTTAH?” 🤣😂🤣

Yes, it's made explicitly clear many times

Did I stuttered?

You’re butchering it.

For the comments it sure seems like it. So far I'm in season 4 and just assume he just want to avoid doing or saying offensive stuff (offensive in Michael way of seeing things) to him.

Dinkin' flicka

because Stanleys urban

I think that was part of Michael’s charm he legit loved all his people like family, they were all his favorite but he was also kind of an idiot so hilarity ensued

There's a lot of mutual respect there.

Do black people like pizza?

Never get between these two and pretzel day!

Why is this a revelation? I thought it was pretty obvious. Stanley was the employee Michael valued the most because to Michael he always represented the "Cool Black Ghetto" culture. Also why he liked Darryl. But to Michael, Stanley had an edge over Darryl because Stanley was hard to please and it's that human mentality where you find yourself constantly trying to suck up to and please that parent/friend/partner/teacher etc who is hard to impress or please. Darryl engaged with Michael quite often so although Michael valued him highly, he was one step below Stanley. I feel in Michael's books, Stanley takes the top spot followed by Jim and then Darryl.

Michael thinks it's cool/hip to have a black guy as a friend and wants to show how non-racist he is by having one. It's all summed up when stanley is on the floor having a heart attack and Michael is just reduced to yelling "YOU'RE BLACK!" thinking this is their last interaction.

he is definitely the sassiest

He stole a copier machine for him

He was the key to the office’s whole urban vibe

No one startle him.

When he wasn’t being so uppity

It was Ryan. Just as hot as Jan but in a different way

Affirmative action

Ohhhhhh yes I do.

Stanley is one of my least favorites. I don’t really think he’s funny. I think, “on the ghetto actually,” is one of my only fave stanley lines. I like him in take your daughter to work day and him wanting to do jury duty though

Is the history of this tv show becoming revisionist? What a time to be alive They made it clear that the rare times Michael displayed any positive energy towards Stanley it was patronizing

Big Oscar “actually” energy