| abstract | - Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton (seasons 1-7). File:MichaelScott 6980.jpg
* Aesop Amnesia: Has a mind-boggling ability to completely forget practically every lesson he ever learns almost immediately. This finally starts to turn around when Steve Carell made his decision to leave The Office.
* Bunny Ears Lawyer: He's the single most successful salesman in Dunder-Mifflin history, and every time we see him make a sale, he is incredibly good at pitching and selling the company's service and has a great rapport with almost all of his clients. This is why corporate had him promoted to Regional Manager, a position which he seemed to have been a perfect fit on paper, but is largely incapable of doing properly.
* Due to (or despite) his strange and distracting managerial style, the Scranton branch goes from being the worst performing branch in the company at the beginning of the series, to the most successful branch by season 5.
* But Now I Must Go: He gets engaged with Holly and he moves to Boulder, Colorado to live with her.
* Cannot Tell a Joke: Well, he can tell them reasonably well in the right conditions(as seen in "The Client"), he just can't come up with good ones himself or reliably tell one when put on the spot.
* Chandler's Law: He repeatedly misuses this at improv classes, on the grounds that you can't top pulling out a gun for drama.
* Characterization Marches On: (At the beginning of the series Michael was merely socially unaware and desperate for attention. Starting with season 2 he became progressively moronic and more of an Adult Child.)
* Character Development: Though the recent seasons have finally steered him back in the right direction.
* Comically Missing the Point
* Contemplate Our Navels
* Contractual Immortality
* Crippling Overspecialization: Experience in sales done with a few repeat clients in a highly personal manner doesn't translate into telemarketing very well, as Michael finds out in "Money".
* Also a key part of his character, considering he was promoted to Regional Manager because of his sales skills, which didn't exactly convert to managerial skill in his new position.
* Did Not Do the Research
* Disability as an Excuse For Jerkassery: Falls into this when he suffers from a very mild burn on his foot and ends up using a wheelchair. Throughout the episode, he acts as if it was ten times worse than Dwight getting a concussion from a car accident earlier.
* Don't Explain the Joke
* Double Entendre
* Dude, Not Funny
* Everything Is Racist: Especially when trying to approach Stanley, Darryl, or Oscar.
* Genius Ditz: For all of his incompetence, when Michael is good at something, he's really good at it. Particularly sales, ice skating, and being great with kids.
* I Just Want to Be Loved: He's incompetent as a boss, but this is what drives Micheal do his antics in the office and why he simply can't be a boss.
* If It's You It's Okay: With Ryan.
* If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Is fond of doing this when it's grossly inappropriate. He finally gets it right when he delivers it to Gabe in regards to Erin in "Viewing Party".
* Jerkass / Jerk with a Heart of Gold / Jerkass Woobie: Depends on the story.
* Karma Houdini
* Like a Weasel
* Lord Error-Prone
* Man Child
* Metaphorgotten
* Morality Pet: Erin seems to develop into this.
* No Social Skills: When in a counseling session with Toby, he even claimed to have been raised by wolves at one point. It would have certainly explained a lot.
* Pointy-Haired Boss
* Psychopathic Manchild
* Ted Baxter
* Took a Level In Jerkass: It varies due to Rule of Funny.
* Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist
* Verbal Tic: "That's what she said" veers into this on occasion, especially in "The Deposition", where he does it in response to something he said himself and doesn't even seem to realize he's doing it.
* Wrong Genre Savvy UK counterpart: David Brent
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