- For the webisode, see The Accountants: Stanley
Stanley James Hudson is a fictional character played by Leslie David Baker in the television series The Office. He was a salesman sitting across from Phyllis Lapin-Vance at Dunder Mifflin Scranton.
Season 1
Stanley works hard at crossword puzzles. Stanley is a long-time worker at Dunder Mifflin; he's been divorced and has a daughter from his first marriage. There is a picture of his daughter hanging over his desk that Michael tends to stare at, despite the fact she's in Catholic school and only in the 8th grade. He later takes down the picture, because Michael makes a comment about it that Stanley finds very offensive. He hates Michael with a passion and even saying that he would not piss on Michael if he were on fire, and was very happy to hear he was getting laid off, even though the rumor was false.
Season 2
Stanley works hard at crossword puzzles. Teri (or Terry) is the name of his new wife. When he brings his daughter to work, she tries to flirt with Ryan. Kelly sees this and tells Stanley out of jealousy. Stanley takes Ryan into the break room and yells at him for flirting.
Season 3
A notable line of his is: "I wake up every morning in a bed that’s too small, drive my daughter to a school that’s too expensive, and then I go to work to a job for which I get paid too little, but on pretzel day? Well, I like pretzel day..." "Pretzel day" refers to the annual day on which the employees are given complementary baked pretzels, which he greatly enjoys. It is the only time Stanley gets along with Michael, who shares his love for Pretzel Day.
Season 4
Stanley is known as the sassy man at the office. Also, the manager of Utica branch, Karen, tries to get Stanley to join her. Michael, Dwight, and Jim go there to stop her and succeed to get Stanley to stay. During one of Michael's poorly timed conference room meetings, Stanley is busying himself with crossword and not working. Michael tries to get Stanley's attention, to which Stanley replies "Leave me alone, dammit". Michael persists in getting his attention. Stanley yells at Michael, saying "Did I Stutter?!" in the self-titled episode Did I Stutter? Michael fake fires Stanley, who immediately threatens to sue Michael and tells him that he does not respect him, and once he learns it is fake he becomes even more furious. Michael kicks everyone out of the office for the day, and in the end Michael and Stanley argue. In the end Stanley stays and continues to scribble on crossword puzzles at work.
Season 5
Stanley continues with 'work' until Stress Relief. Dwight fakes a fire and causes a general panic at the office. As a result, Stanley has a mild heart attack. When he returns to the office, his doctor has told him that if he continues to live in a stressful environment, he will die. Stanley is issued a stress monitor by his doctor. In Stress Relief Part 2, Stanley is wearing his stress monitor. It consistently goes off when Michael approaches him. Later in the season, the "New Boss" stops letting him do crossword puzzles at his desk instead of work.
Season 6
Stanley starts having an affair with another woman, Cynthia, revealed by him to be his nurse when he was in rehabilitation. He is caught by the three summer interns; Megan, Mori, and Eric. Later he brings Cynthia to the wedding at Niagara Falls instead of his wife, Teri.
Season 8
In "The List", Stanley was put on what was considered the "bad side" of Robert California's (the new CEO's) list. Later in that episode, Andy (the new boss replacing Michael) defends him to Robert's face saying "Did you know that he [Stanley] has the most consistent high sales numbers in this office? And you may think that he's hard to love, but did you know that he is in not one, but two long term romantic relationships?" Stanley has also started doing this thing, where it sounds like he's giving advice, but then says "and shove it up your butt."
With much of his own pleading and bargaining, Stanley ends up on Dwight's special project team on its way to Talahassee, Florida. He makes statements about how "Florida Stanley" is a different, more adventerous and more easy-going person, and even dresses differently (a white suit and hat with a hot pink shirt). This is not unlike his change in personality on Pretzel Day.
Season 9
Stanley retires from Dunder-Mifflin and moves to Florida. He later returns for the reunion, where he reveals that he now carves wooden birds as a hobby. He also carved a Phyllis one with flamingo legs.
Trivia
- Stanley has worked at Dunder-Mifflin for 26 years.
- A line in "Survivor Man" seems to indicate that Stanley may be diabetic. This is later confirmed when Stanley talks of taking shots of insulin.
- In the episode Gay Witch Hunt, Stanley implies he has 2 toasters at his house, one of which was intended to be a wedding gift to Pam and Roy, but the wedding was canceled. He states he tried to return the toaster, but was unable to do so because the store claimed they "no longer sold that kind of toaster". He even tries to give the same toaster to Bob and Phyllis in Phyllis' Wedding, only to find that Jim had gotten the marrying couple a toaster as well. In Niagara his wedding gift to Jim and Pam was also a toaster.
- Hired in 1989, Stanley was Dunder Mifflin's first urban employee, according to the timeline on DunderMifflin.com.
Quotes
- "I got them [Pam and Roy] a toaster. I tried to return the toaster, but the store said they no longer sold that kind of toaster, so my house now has two toasters."
- "I wake up every morning in a bed that’s too small, drive my daughter to a school that’s too expensive, and then I go to work to a job for which I get paid too little, but on pretzel day? Well, I like pretzel day..."
- "Yes, I have a dream, and it's not an MLK dream for equality. I want to own a decommisioned lighthouse. And I live at the top, and no one knows that I live there. And there's a button that I can press, that shoots the lighthouse... into space."
- "Boy, have you lost your mind, 'cause I will help you find it!"
- "Are you out of your damn little pea-sized mind?"
- "It's like I used to tell my wife: I do not apologize unless I think I'm wrong, and if you don't like it, you can leave. I say the same thing to my current wife, and I'll say it to my next one too."
- "I'll give a million Stanley Nickels if you never speak to me again." (Dwight: What's the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks?) "The same ratio of unicorns to leprechauns."
- "Did I stutter!?"
- "Does anyone wanna trade for a toaster?"
- "...and shove it up your butt!"
- "(Stanley laughing)"
- "You've been meatballed!"(Stanley laughing)
- "It's called 'Hentai,' and it's art."
Recurring jokes
Stanley gives toasters as wedding gifts:
- In Gay Witch Hunt he complains about not being able to return a toaster he got for Pam and Roy;
- In Phyllis' Wedding he gets them a toaster (possibly the same from Gay Witch Hunt) and is annoyed at the fact that Jim and Karen got the same thing;
- In Niagara he gets Jim and Pam a toaster and gets angry at the prospect of having to take it back once again.
Appearances
Stanley appears and has lines in every episode, with the following exceptions:
- The Client - speaks only in a deleted scene
- Valentine's Day - has no lines
- Cocktails - speaks only in a deleted scene
- Women's Appreciation - speaks only in a deleted scene
- The Deposition - speaks only in a deleted scene
- The Banker - replaced by a more attractive employee
- Viewing Party - has no lines
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