Throughout the series, The Office had some pretty interesting characters. It has been these unique and diverse characters that have made the show such a hit. We watched with bated breath as Jim, the quiet salesman, tried desperately to get Pam to notice him. We laughed until we cried as Michael Scott tried to be a good boss, but his dimwitted antics usually ended up working against him. We fell in love with Dwight’s character, as we watched the beet farmer show us his “survival skills.” While there are so many characters on this show that fans love, there are also a few that fans just couldn’t stand.

If we were to ask Michael Scott who the worst character on the show was, we know he would probably say: Toby. And while Toby may have not been an instant fan-favorite, the way he would depressingly slink back into his office like a human version of Eeyore every time Michael did something mean to him, made fans start to feel sorry for his character, which quickly made them start to like Toby.

Although there were several characters that fans liked more than others, there was one character that long-time fans of the show instantly hated. So who was the character that fans just couldn’t stand to watch? Here is what we know.

Nobody liked it when Michael Scott left

Many people viewed Michael Scott as the backbone of The Office. It seemed like every single word that came out of his mouth was extremely hilarious. So, in 2011, when Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, left the office for good to go live with his fiancé in Colorado, fans were definitely not happy. 

The creators of the show had a difficult decision to make: Who was going to be able to replace such an iconic character? Whoever they chose was going to have some pretty big shoes to fill, so the writers had to make sure they handled this situation as carefully as possible. At first, the job of Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin at the Scranton branch was awarded to DeAngelo Vickers (Will Ferrell). DeAngelo was funny, but he had a more dry sense of humor than his predecessor and sometime, he was just downright mean. This didn’t make fans necessarily hate him, but it definitely made them miss Michael Scott even more.

Vicker’s character was only on for four episodes. On his fourth episode, he had an accident playing basketball that caused him to go into a coma. This then led to members of the office having to form a search committee to look for a new regional manager. They had interviewed a lot of funny characters for the job. Some had already worked in the office, like Andy and Darrell. There were also some new characters that had shown up for the interview as well, like Jim Carrey, who played a character known as “Finger Lakes Guy,” and James Spader, who played the role of Robert California.

Who was the worst character on ‘The Office’?

Out of all of the characters who have walked through the doors of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch, Robert California was possibly the worst. He had applied for the regional manager position, got the job, and then realized he didn’t want it anymore, so he talked the CEO in to giving him her job and became the CEO of the Dunder Mifflin – Sabre corporation. California represented that one co-worker that everyone hates. You know the one: He’s the guy that makes you not even want to get out of bed in the morning and go to work because you know that you are going to have to see him.

He came into the office with a smug attitude. He would say things that seemed to make all of the other characters feel very uncomfortable. Some of his mannerisms and his tone of voice made him seem like he was crazy. And not in the funny kind of way that we think Dwight is crazy, but in the there-may-actually-be-bodies-hidden-in-his-closet kind of crazy.

While there was a good chance that fans were not going to really like any character that they thought was trying to take Michael Scott’s place, given the awkward way that Robert California acted in each episode, fans would probably still not have liked him even if Michael Scott was there.