from last night's The Office, episode "Ultimatum":
"I Know Sue, she's not that great. Her husband's in a wheelchair, you know?"
That one line says so much about Phyllis Lapin-Vance. The Sue she is referring to is the office manager at Vance refrigeration. Pam thinks Sue is great because Sue has a fun employee activity board full of colors and mingling, which Pam is trying to emulate with her New Year's Resolution board. Phyllis knows better. Being the wife of the great Bob Vance, she knows his employees. She knows that Sue is basically a failed elementary school teacher who balled up all that resentment into an art project that is a 2 x 2 foot square of cork board on a wall.
Phyllis still remains vulnerable and gossipy (as later evidenced by her intervening with Holly). In this case, she let's us know that Sue has all this time freed up for her employee square because her husband is in a wheelchair. Now, Phyllis is not insinuating that Sue's life is less meaningful. She's just saying that she has extra emotions she has to deal with, and that maybe certain emotions make her put on that brave, chipper office managerial face.
Phyllis speaks her mind and doesn't hold back. When wondering what people like about her, Phyllis stated that it was ''probably my jugs''. The quote about Sue is a testament to the writers. It's one line, but we get backstory and some character depth out of Phyllis, a reveal on who Sue is, a counter point to Pam's go-get 'em attitude, and most importantly- a fleshed out world in which these characters live.
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