This was a very shocking episode when it first aired. Really? Shocking? Well, okay, it was more jarring when Stanley was being insubordinate toward Michael in front of the entire Office when he uttered those imortal words "Did I stutter"? with a lot of anger behind it. Hey, Michael may be a goof all the time and just downright clueless, but you just can't do that to your boss....even if he does deserve to be dressed down. But when Stanley once again challenges him later in the episode when he was being "fake fired", he should have been fired right then and there. No question. But Michael being Michael is always willing to bend the rules or whatever just so that he can be liked. Personally, I would have fired his ass the first time around. It undermines a Boss' authority with the rest of the Office if you let it slide like he did.

FYI, Ryan is a douche. Calling Jim out to give him a verbal warning just for the sake of doing so makes him a douche. About the only funny thing in the episode was the cold opening when Michael plants his face in wet cement to leave his mark.