How did Pam become the office administrator?

In episode two of the seventh season, Pam tricks Gabe into believing she was promoted to office administrator previous to Dunder Mifflin's acquisition. Gabe suspects she's lying and confronts her, but after some talking, he ultimately accepts it and she becomes officially the office administrator. How did this happen?

English is not my native language (it's Spanish) but I think I understood everything they said in this scene. I also watched the episode with Spanish subtitles and even with that, I really can't figure out what happened there:

Gabe: Can you just admit?... Admit...
Pam: Admit what?
Gabe: I don't wanna say it.
Pam: (Stares to Gabe with a challenging face)... Say it.
Gabe: Mmm. Mmm uhm... (Saying "no" with his head)
Pam: Say that I'm lying or say I have the job. Make a definitive statement, Gabe.
Gabe: Statements of such nature, while they have their place, are overused in a competitive business environment.
Pam: Great. Well, Let me know if you need a new chair, or anything that an office administrator can handle.
Gabe: I'll do.

I don't understand how he was so easily convinced/tricked into this. Am I listening wrong here? Or there's some slang term I'm missing? Is there a reference to something in American pop culture that I'm not getting?

the-office

Best Answer

He wasn't really 'tricked'; they both knew she was lying. Pam simply recognized a weakness in Gabe and got into a standoff with him, knowing he'll back down. A few of things about Gabe (from Wikia):

A quietly insecure person, [Gabe] seems resigned to being forced to work inhuman hours and have no social life, as a consequence of Sabre CEO Jo Bennett's unpredictable management style. His attempts to be respected by the rest of the office workers end in awkward failure and he seems to be universally ignored by everyone, as he does not have any power to control Scranton as Jan Levenson or David Wallace did.

Consider, for example, Secretary's Day near the end of season 6, where Gabe tried to assert himself and suspended Pam for impersonating Kevin. Pam then found out Gabe has no real authority, and that 'suspension' became a paid vacation.

So Pam knows that Gabe is powerless, somewhat spineless (at least in his early days there), tries not to antagonize everyone (though usually failing) and is afraid of the higher ups. She realizes he's trying to avoid confrontation and leverages that to get what she wants. Gabe simply doesn't want to:

Call Pam a liar and possibly punish her for it, thus antagonizing her and the other workers;
Make this into a whole corporate scandal with him in the middle of it;
Actually be assertive and make a decision, with all the awkwardness involved.

Pam's gamble pays off and Gabe backs down without calling her bluff. Pam also says where she learned this tecnhique:

Pam: One thing I learned from watching Tournament Poker at two in the morning: you don't play your cards, you play your opponent.

Pictures about "How did Pam become the office administrator?"

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When did Pam start working at Dunder Mifflin?

In "Two Weeks", Pam agrees to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Company. When CFO David Wallace makes an offer to buy the company, Michael negotiates in order to get their jobs at Dunder Mifflin back instead, including adding Pam to the sales team.

Does Pam get fired in the office?

In the series pilot, Michael is overtly rude to Pam and at one point fakes her firing, leaving her in tears.

Is Pam still a salesman?

Though she had long served as the office receptionist, Pam gets experience in sales when she quits and joins the Michael Scott Paper Company. She stays on in sales when she rejoins Dunder Mifflin, where she ends up losing a number of clients in the process.

Is Pam in every episode of the office?

Not even core cast member Jenna Fischer appeared in every episode. There were four episodes where Pam was absent \u2014 or seven, depending on how you define "absent." Those super-fans might already know which episodes those were, but the rest of you can keep reading.

Pam becomes Office Administrator

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Images: August de Richelieu, Matthias Zomer, August de Richelieu, August de Richelieu