Top 10 Worst Things Dwight Has Ever Done on The Office

Whatever else you can say about Dwight Schrute, he’s definitely…let’s call it, enthusiastic. After Roy finds out about Jim kissing Pam and tries to assault him, Dwight acts fast and uses a can of pepper spray to stop Roy. Unfortunately, Dwight is overzealous in his use of the weapon, and also sprays Andy after he returns from his leave of absence due to anger management issues. Dwight at least realizes that he isn’t a hero for doing so; according to Dwight, that title only belongs to Hiro, from the show “Heroes”, and the lead singer of U2.

When Jan asks Michael to pick a healthcare plan for the office, Michael tries to pawn the responsibility off on others. After Jim turns it down, he suggests Dwight do it instead. Naturally the results are disastrous, as Dwight’s devotion to sucking up and advancement leads him to cut coverage for practically everyone to save the company money. He also forces his coworkers to reveal their medical conditions in public, which is quite humiliating for some of them. Granted, Jim doesn’t help matters by mocking Dwight at every opportunity, but Dwight’s heartlessness towards his fellow employees’ lives is pretty low.

After Michael outs Oscar as gay, he schemes with Dwight to find a way to determine if anyone else is gay as well. Although we’ll grant that Dwight shows slightly more tact than Michael, whose planes are even more offensive, he’s still willing to conspire to out other people in the office. And he demonstrates shocking ignorance about what being gay actually means. Always eager to please his boss, Dwight asks Jim about gaydar. Falling once again for Jim’s pranks, he accepts that the metal detector sent to him is a legit “gaydar” tool that he can use to root out other gay people in the office.

After Pam goes into labor, she asks that Dwight pick up her iPod at her house, but that he not touch anything else. When Dwight arrives, he notices the kitchen has mold. Rather than pick up the iPod, go to the hospital with everyone else, and tell Pam and Jim about the mold like a normal person, Dwight decides to drop everything and remodel their kitchen immediately…without telling them. He proceeds to tear their kitchen apart, with obvious results: the new parents return to their wrecked house in shock.

It’s no secret that Jim and Dwight don’t get along. But while Jim’s pranks can sometimes go too far, he’s never actually wanted Dwight to lose his job. The same can’t be said for Dwight, as he’s frequently attempted to report or sabotage Jim in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most blatant example occurs after Jim is made co-manager of the Scranton branch along with Michael, which drives Dwight to sabotage Jim at every turn, even bugging his office and trying to turn everyone else against him - both of which work surprisingly well. We’re just glad he never succeeded completely. And we suspect he secretly is too.

Having grown up on a farm, Dwight has a…complicated relationship with animals. When asked to watch Angela’s chronically sick cat, Sprinkles, Dwight not only murders the cat by putting it in her freezer while it was still alive, which is undoubtedly animal cruelty, but he also lies to Angela about it - making it seems like Sprinkles died of her many illnesses. Naturally, Angela finds out. And even if Dwight claims it was a mercy kill due to the cat’s quality of life, it was still a terrible thing to do and a betrayal of the woman he loves. He was rightfully dumped.

Angela isn’t always the victim when it comes to Dwight’s callousness – she’s also guilty of being a bad influence on him. After Jan expresses frustration with Michael’s management style, Angela urges Dwight to go over Michael’s head to gain his position. Following a “clandestine” meeting with Jan, Michael makes Dwight believe that he’s gotten what he wanted - and is Scranton’s new branch manager. However, when Dwight shows his true colors, and his real opinion about Michael’s choice of vehicle, Michael reveals that Jan told him all about Dwight’s plan. Not cool Dwight!

After Dwight finally achieves his ambition and is made manager of the Scranton Branch, albeit on a provisional basis, he buys a gun to impress his Southern boss, Jo Bennett. Upon receiving a holster from a relative, he begins wearing it around the office. Naturally, Dwight with a gun makes everyone incredibly nervous, particularly Andy. But just when Dwight accedes to everyone’s request that he put it away, he accidentally fires it right next to Andy’s ear. Jo rightfully removes Dwight from his position, though we’re honestly shocked that he didn’t get fired.

That’s right – affairs! Plural! As bad as he’s treated Angela, like marrying her under false pretenses, the things he’s done with her are arguably worse. When Angela was dating Andy, Dwight slept with her behind the back of his coworker for months. Later on, after Angela becomes involved with Senator Robert Lipton, she again cheats with Dwight, creating uncertainty over who’s the real father when she gets pregnant. While we’ll grant that both of Angela’s other relationships were doomed, Dwight bears plenty of responsibility by sticking his, uh, nose where he shouldn’t have.

Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Gatecrashing a Dinner Party
“Dinner Party”

Trapping Meredith in a Bag With a Bat
“Business School”

Abusing His Position as Building Manager
Various

Hiding Weapons Around the Office
“Survivor Man”

The Snowball Scare
“Classy Christmas”

One of the most infamous cold opens in the history of “The Office” sees Dwight, who’s angry that no one takes fire safety seriously, start an actual fire to scare his colleagues into doing so. By trapping them all inside, he ensures maximum chaos, and everyone panics in their own way as they try to find a way out or try to make the most of what time they have left. All the stress gets to Stanley, who has a heart attack. Not only is it shocking that Dwight wasn’t fired, it’s unbelievable he wasn’t sued!