Jo Bennett

Joleen MaryAnn "Jo" Bennett is a fictional character from the US comedy television series The Office, who first appeared in Season 6. She is the CEO of Sabre, who purchased Dunder Mifflin, and is played by Kathy Bates.

Biography

Jo is stubborn and demanding, because she's used to always getting her way. She happens to be a licensed pilot, owns two Harlequin Great Danes, and is a friend of the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. In addition, she has also written an autobiography and notes that she and Truman Capote separately slept with three of the same men. Her image is very clearly shown with her choice of vehicle: a white Cadillac Escalade Hybrid.

Season 6

In "Sabre", when Michael expresses concerns about the change in these policies and requests a meeting with Gabe's superiors, he engages in a video chat with Jo and expresses concerns about the new policies. Bennett replies that those policies came under a mismanaged company and that Michael would have "until the end of the day" to decide what he wants, and when he resists she says bluntly "I would take until the end of the day if I were you".^[1]

In her first physical appearance ("The Manager and the Salesman"), The office is eager to welcome Jo to Scranton, and are dazzled by her Southern ways. Jo announces that in addition to paper, the Dunder Mifflin branches will now sell Sabre printers. When Jo finds out about the two branch managers, she says either Michael or Jim must go back to being a salesman. Both are initially reluctant to be demoted, but Pam points out to Jim in the Sabre manual that since Sabre has multiple incentive programs and no cap on sales commissions, a salesperson could potentially make more than a manager. She even states that she went over his numbers, and that he would definitely make much more money being demoted back to salesman. Jim tells Michael that he will go back to sales and Michael can keep his sole manager spot, and Michael becomes delighted. However, when Michael learns about the sales commission benefit from Oscar, he sweet talks Jo into demoting him instead. She complies to his demands due to his vast experience, and Michael gloats to Jim immediately after. Later, however, Michael has a difficult time adjusting back to sales, particularly since he does not enjoy the environment where he is sitting and Dwight has to do a little advising for Michael to adjust. He confides to Jim that he wants the manager job back and they both tell Jo, who allows them to switch.^[2]

In "St. Patrick's Day", Jo spends her last day at the Scranton office and Michael thinks he's earned her favor after some small talk. However, when Jo opens up the floor to suggestions on how to improve business, Darryl offers an idea of how to improve shipping for both paper and printers, and Jo allows Darryl to take Jim's old office as a result. Michael tries once again to earn Jo's favor with some small talk, but Jo berates him for wasting time. The rest of the office gets frustrated when Jo forces them to stay late as she has an unpredictable work schedule. The employees try to make multiple breaks for it but fail. Michael is finally direct with Jo and tells her he's allowing his employees to leave and she complies, showing the first hint of respect for Michael.^[3]

In "Whistleblower", The press finds out that Sabre's printers catch on fire, and Jo shows up to the office in hopes of finding out who the whistleblower is. Jo has Nick, the IT guy, check everyone's computer to find evidence for a potential leak. Jo, along with Gabe, interview everyone as well to find the potential leak, starting with Michael. Although Michael suggests some very harsh treatment of the offender, which proves his innocence to Jo, he insists that no one in the office would have leaked the information. Later, however, when Michael finds out that Darryl, Pam, and Kelly all individually leaked the information about the faulty printers, he tries to convince Jo to let the offenders off lightly which causes her to suspect that he knows the identity of the leak. Michael refuses to say anything, so Jo takes him to the hangar with her private jet to talk with him about his problems. Michael admits many of the stresses he's had throughout the year, namely missing Holly. Jo counters that she doesn't want to be remembered as someone who made a mistake, even though she will have to do a recall on the printers. Michael offers to "fall on his sword" and announce the public apology for her, which he does. A grateful Jo thanks Michael and when asking him if there's anything she can do, he jokingly asks her to bring Holly back, prompting Jo to say "I'll see what I can do." before leaving, leaving Michael stunned..^[4]

Season 7

Jo appears again in the Season 7 premiere "Nepotism". When Michael hires a terrible new office assistant and refuses to fire him because he's his nephew, Gabe sends a heads-up on the situation to Jo, who sternly tells Michael to deal with the situation.^[5]

In "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager", with Deangelo Vickers in a coma, Jo Bennett makes Dwight the interim regional manager before they find a proper replacement. In order to impress Jo, Dwight buys a gun, but accidentally fires the gun right by Andy. When Jo comes to visit the branch, Dwight admits to the gun incident. He attempts to divert the blame to his employees, saying that blackmail is a bigger crime than firing a gun accidentally, but Jo takes the position away from him. Jo later puts Creed, who has the most experience and seniority in the office, in charge until a committee composed of Jim, Toby, and Gabe, find a replacement.^[6]

She briefly stops by the office in "Search Committee", assisting with the interview process and lamenting Dwight yet again. When she finds out about Gabe's current personal issues concerning Erin and Andy, she decides to transfer him back to the Florida headquarters. Before she leaves, she instructs Jim and Toby that they should choose soon. It is also revealed that she and Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate), one of the prospective managers, are old friends.

Season 8

The eighth season premiere, "The List", establishes that Jo gives up her job as CEO to Robert California (James Spader), after he manages to convince her to give him the job. However, it is revealed off screen that Jo remains Chairman of the Board at Sabre, leaving the door open for future appearances.^[7][8] Bates left The Office due to her commitment to Harry's Law.

In "Lotto", when Darryl is arguing with Andy over the fact that he got the Regional Manager Position over him, Andy mentions to Darryl that Jo saw something in him when she promoted him, but that she noticed that after his promotion, Darryl was un-movitated and not taking work seriously enough, which led to him not getting the job Andy earned.

References