Ashton Park (real name Terrance Park) is 26, Korean, clean cut, wears pastel short sleeved shirts with colorful, bright ties. He is a flaming homosexual.
Ashton innocently flirts with Michael in front of the others, unbeknownst to Michael. Michael’s opinion of Ashton? “He’s like an Orient-… sorry, American-Oriental version of Ty Pennington on Extreme Home Makeover… and he’s popular with the ladies. He’s always telling stories about his girlfriends.”
Ashton sits next to Kelly and they gab ALL DAY, much to Toby’s dismay. Ashton loves his workspace – ‘it always smells like cookies.’
When Ashton meets Oscar his award winning gaydar (no really, he has a trophy) goes off, and Ashton ponders what it would be like to raise biracial children with him, “adopted of course, just like Brangelina.”
Ashton is the new head of the party committee (Michael’s doing – hoping for a male input in the team), but his foible is becoming irrationally obsessed with projects. When things don’t go his way – watch out.
He jokes, “People sometimes suggest I have OCD, I tell them I’m OAD, Obsessive And Disorderly.”

Each day, Jim dreads the moment when he has to eat his same old ham & cheese sandwich in the break room. Now, due to the downsizing of the seventh branch (least successful – Dunder Mifflin ranked 5/7, top 80%), Jan has agreed to hire a gourmet chef for the employees of Dunder Mifflin and Vance Refrigeration.

Chef Yen Soshutsu is a top Japanese cook who ecently moved to Scranton in hopes to live the American dream, like Oscar. Each day, the employees confide their deepest secrets in the Chef, only for him to mistakenly spill the beans and cause more commotion than is already present at Dunder Mifflin.

With his crazy antics, lack of English speaking abilities, and boisterous personality, Chef Soshutsu becomes an integral part of the office family, unifying all aspects of office life and blending a unique drama and comedy for all office staff. Even the warehouse staff begins to form relationships with others in the office.

Occupation: Toby’s new HR assistant

In Michael’s eyes, Deena can do no wrong. After he finds out she had worked at Chili’s, he listens to her every word and expects everybody else to do the same. After Deena says the magic words “that’s what she said” to something Dwight says, her word is law in the office. Deena is stylish, attractive, smart, and quickly realizes Michael is trying to impress her and decides to use it to her advantage. She’s heard alot of stories about Michael from the other people in the office, and witnesses it on her own with his many lame attempts to ask her out on a date. What Michael doesn’t know is even though Deena says she is single, she is secretly dating somebody but keeping it low key because of her position. It seems she and Toby spent alot of time together discussing how to get Michael under control and are now seeing each other. She feels a little guilty about leading Michael on, but since everybody seems happier, she keeps it up so she has job security in case things go wrong with Toby. She is well liked by everybody but Dwight, who accuses her of “changing” Michael Scott.

Becky,

Great News!! There is a new guy here at work. He has been here for two weeks; he is my age and single! His name is Larry West. He is a consultant that was sent to DM to complete an efficiency study on all of the branches. The Scranton branch is his last branch to evaluate. His findings could determine if downsizing is going to take place or if we just need to improve our processes.
He is really smart and has a Master’s Degree with a concentration in Business Process Management. I can tell that he really enjoys his job because he gets excited when he starts talking about business processes and workflows and ways to improve. With the exception of Dwight and Angela, the others cannot seem to fathom enjoying a job. I think they may be a little envious.
He uses a lot of acronyms that I don’t know, but me not knowing them doesn’t seem to bother him. He seems to like me for me. Before meeting Larry, I couldn’t imagine anyone liking me just for me, but now I know that there is hope.

Wish me luck!!

- Meredith

I have recently been hired by corporate Dunder-Mifflin to hold a workshop on leadership development. We will be covering an assortment of topics including motivating others to succeed in a competitive environment, coming out of your comfort shell of mediocrity and leading a winning team by being a “S.T.A.R. example”.
(S.T.A.R. – Show Them A Real-winner)

The Scranton branch is the first of the five branches I will be visiting. Michael Scott, Regional Manager of that branch, has already shown initiative by conveying his interest in helping with these workshops. I love his enthusiasm and cannot wait for him to let me help him help his coworkers help Dunder-Mifflin to help their customer base.

I am an experienced communication specialist and I know I have what it takes to be a vital member of the Dunder Mifflin family. I will work hard to maintain a high level of accountability and I will always complete tasks on time. I would like to apply for a position in the communication, public relations, or human resources department.

I am a team player and also an activist aware of what is going on in the world. I know I will enjoy working for the company because I love trees and the environment. After all, paper does come from trees!

I am a vegan and choose only organic foods. I get along well with human and animal beings and will not be a burden on any living thing. I have a strong work ethic and practice three types of yoga.

Thank you very much.
Cassandra A Mackey

Izzy is a 60 year-old spirited tell-it-like it is sister. Her turbans and bright and orange print dresses that cover her sturdy form can be spotted all the way across the office. Izzy’s shout of “I’m praying for ya’ boss man” echoes through the office at Michael’s crude humor and references to her as a “culture shock”. It is rumored that she has referred to Creed as “hotcakes” and “ol’ foxy” on numerous occasions. She takes the role as kind of a mother hen for the entire office and she is never afraid to voice her opinion. She slaps her hips joyfully at every word serious or funny that comes from Dwight’s mouth and tells Kevin her fears about the state of his heathen soul. She looks at Jan’s love life as a project and when rumors spread of her relationship with Michael-“Hallelujah” Izzy shouted. “It’s about time that skinny white woman got another man, sane or otherwise.”

This very obnoxious employee comes in every once in a while, but when he comes in to stock the “Cold Drinks” machine he tries to be friends with Stanley. Stanley can’t stand Scott Cheney, because he always follows him around, and sings him Dolly Parton’s ealryworks. Scott always lies and brags that he has a million dollars. Everyone knows it’s a lie, because he wears the same leather jacket and Homer Simpson T-shirt everyday.

Heather will be splitting time between Stamford and Scranton’s offices as a salesperson, due to downsizing. She is very competetive and loves all things typically male…football, beer, ribs, guns, etc. She stands medium height with long brunette locks, framing her very attractive face. Friends describe her as klutzy, cluttered and down to earth. She thrives on male attention, often dressing provocatively. She can make any man feel as if he is the center of her world, and usually does to get her way. The men of the office will lavish attention on her, much to the dismay of the women. She will be hard to dislike, with her sympathetic ear and killer brownies.

The IRS caught wind of the $3000 dollars that came up missing from the ledger books. Because of Enron and other corporate scandals, the IRS wants to nip this in the bud. Enter Norman Sprague, the most tightly wound person to walk through the doors of Dunder-Mifflin/Scranton to date. He comes from a strict, Midwestern upbringing. He’s short, wears glasses that would fit in perfectly in the 60’s, knots his tie just a little too tight and rarely smiles. This, of course, catches the attention of one Angela Martin. But Norman, who’s pushing 40, has never had time for women. A painful-to-watch love triangle unfolds among Angela, Norman and the ever-vigilant Dwight Schrute. Norman waves off Angela’s stiff, yet intriguing, advances while Dwight pushes her to tell him what’s going on, all the while watching Sprague like a hawk, just waiting for him to make a mistake. Will Norman stay focused or fall for Angela? Will Angela really pursue Norman or realize Dwight is the one for her? Will Dwight use his expert interrogation skills to uncover even the slightest piece of dirt on Norman? What happens next is anyone’s guess.

Dwight’s friend and fellow paintball teammate, Garth, moves in to fill the vacated sales position at Dunder-Mifflin.

They both delight in spending their lunch breaks and free time planning strategic paintball maneuvers on Dwight’s enormous dry-erase board. Their favorite operation is the “Schrute Schott”: a honed sneak attack where Dwight pretends to be hit, luring the opponent near Garth’s hidden position in a tree.

Garth claims to have been raised “military style”, although no one in his immediate or even extended family has any ties to the armed services. He tries to rally the D-M troops with rousing Army sound-offs, shouting “DUNDER!”, to which only Dwight replies, “MIFFLIN!”. All of the others merely exchange spiteful glances.

The rest of the staff avoids all contact with Garth in fear of being wrangled into a conversation about Garth’s other hobby, movies. Or more specifically, ruining the end of them. Phyllis holds a secret grudge against Garth after he spoiled the ending of “The Lake House”, a film which Phyllis was really looking forward to seeing.

Even though Garth is viciously annoying, he is a respectable salesman, and the Scranton branch has finally started to see some increasing profits.

In comes Casey Jones, just out of college, not completely sure what he wants, but it’s more than what he can get now. He takes the sales position with the sole purpose of using it as work experience before he goes after his MBA.

Casey is enthusiastic when on the phones, but it’s all just a facade, since he really doesn’t care. He shocks Michael with his relative apathy, and Michael tries to be the good boss by getting Casey to try to enjoy his job as more than just a stopgap.

More than anything, Casey serves as an awakening for Ryan, who surprisingly misses Michael’s attention and comes to regret not accepting the position. Ryan views Casey as a rival and gets increasingly frustrated when Casey shrugs him off as “just a temp.”

Lee is a local gridiron hero, first at Lackawanna College then Penn State. Drafted by the Eagles in 2000. He was injured in a freak accident that ended his career after the 2001 season. Jobless, Lee became a motivational speaker and wrote a book, titled “2 Seasons: … and he taketh away.”

Tiring of the touring schedule and armed with a Graphic Arts degree, Lee accepted a job with in the Advertising Department. The department is now closed and Lee’s job is to be a liaison between corporate and the advertising agencies that now handle their work. He occasionally gives speeches at company events. Recently widowed, corporate lets Lee use the Scranton office as a base of operations to be closer to his family.

Lee is fun and witty, but doesn’t suffer fools gladly. With no actual ties to the daily ongoings in the office, he is able to stay in the background. Always available to give advice on life or fantasy football, Lee and his secretary Robert are welcomed additions. Michael’s Bo Jackson jokes are endless. Lee is rumored to have made Todd Packer cry, but no one knows how.