The office is eager to welcome Sabre CEO Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) 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 (Steve Carell) or Jim (John Krasinski) must go back to being a salesman. Both are initially reluctant to be demoted, but Pam (Jenna Fischer) points out in the Sabre manual that since Sabre has no capstone on sales commissions and multiple incentive programs, a salesperson could potentially make more than a manager. Since Jim would rather make more money, he tells Michael that he will go back to sales, and Michael is delighted. However, when Michael learns about the sales commission benefit from Oscar (Oscar Nuñez), he sweet talks Jo into demoting him instead and she complies.

Meanwhile, Andy’s (Ed Helms) decides to give Erin (Ellie Kemper) a Valentine’s Day card as a way to getting her to ask him out. However, to avoid suspicion, he gives one to everyone in the office. Erin receives a friendly one from him, but Kelly (Mindy Kaling) accidentally gets a much more romantic one. Kelly is touched and shows Erin, who is surprised and visibly disappointed. When Andy learns of this, he sends out an email to everyone in the office claiming that he does not like any of them more than a friend. When an angered Kelly confronts him, he admits that there is one person whom he likes, but does not admit who. Erin is slightly relieved that he doesn’t like Kelly in that way.

As Michael sets up his desk at the sales section, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) calls a meeting with Ryan (B. J. Novak) to think of ways to take Jim down, where Ryan angers Dwight with his terrible ideas. They ultimately try getting Nick, the new IT worker, to align with them to no avail. Meanwhile, Michael has a difficult time adjusting back to sales, particularly since he does not enjoy the environment where he is sitting. He tells Jim that he wants the manager job back and they both tell Jo, who allows them to do so. When Dwight taunts Jim about his demotion, Jim puts Dwight’s tie in his coffee mug as Pam grins. At the end of the episode, Dwight and Ryan decide to go out for drinks to celebrate Jim’s demotion, but they end up arguing about where to go.

“Manager and Salesman” is the 16th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show’s 116th episode overall and aired February 11, 2010 on NBC. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb.

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