If Dwight Schrute met Kristan Gillis, he’d probably call her “an impressive specimen.”
After all, she might be the only specimen with 23 tattoos related to “The Office.”
Rainn Wilson, the actor who portrayed Schrute on the show, met Gillis on Saturday at “The Reunion” in Chicago. Gillis, a 30-year-old from New Jersey, approached Wilson and asked if she could show him the two tattoos she has of Schrute.
She rounded the table to show him, saying “I have 23 ‘Office’ tattoos so far …”
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“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Wilson said, putting his hand up to stop her. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and began recording.
“Start again,” he told her.
She then began showing him each of the “Office” tattoos on her legs, starting with the first she got three years ago above her ankle: Pumpkin Head Dwight.
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She then showed him CPR Dwight, Kelly’s business b***h, Angela’s Voodoo Mama Juju, Casual Day Meredith, Fluffy Fingers, Dinkin Flicka, Prison Mike, Toby’s rock, Hidetoshi’s energy drink, Nard Dog, Troy’s “Threat Level Midnight” arrow, Kevin’s pot of chili, Oscar’s scarecrow, Paul Faust’s Disaster Kit, Bob Vance Refrigeration, Isabel’s Whack-a-Mole, Glenn’s Holy Grail prank, David Wallace’s “Suck It” hoodie, Elizabeth the Stripper’s hat, a Stanley nickel and Creed’s B.O.B.O.D.D.Y.
“That’s amazing,” Wilson told Gillis before giving her a hug. “You’ve devoted your body to ‘The Office.’”
The following day, Wilson followed Gillis’ Instagram account @the.office.tattoos.and.trivia and posted the video he recorded with a caption about her “TWENTY-THREE Office themed tattoos on her body’s skin.”
“Does this make her the biggest fan? Maybe. Does it also make her insane? Perhaps. (But she seemed quite nice),” Wilson wrote, tagging singer and “The Office” superfan Billie Eilish in the post.
“When I saw that Rainn followed me,” Gillis said, “I instantly started crying and double-checking that it was real. I’ve never felt so blessed in my life.”
Four-and-a-half years ago, when she had not yet seen an episode of “The Office” and her legs were still ink free, Gillis made a Facebook post asking if the show was worth watching. She was quickly convinced.
“I started watching it and couldn’t stop,” she said. “I still haven’t stopped.”
Many people binge watch shows, few permanently immortalize its characters on their body. But for Gillis, the show instantly became her greatest passion, helping her to overcome anxiety and depression.
“It brought me comfort and peace and I found a way to connect with each person,” Gillis said. “Especially Michael, because I’ve had a hard time with friendship, kind of like him when he tries too hard in search of love. I connected with that. It was comforting to me. It calmed my anxiety. The show has done everything for me.”
The deep connection she felt led to the inspiration for the Pumpkin Head Dwight tattoo, an easy choice for her first “Office” tattoo because it incorporated horror, her other passion. But she couldn’t have Dwight without Michael Scott, so she soon added the Prison Mike tattoo.
“And it just kind of escalated from there,” Gillis said.
A quest began to have a tattoo representing every character. Gillis started reaching out to cast members on Cameo, asking what kind of tattoo they’d like her to get. Kate Flannery requested Casual Day Meredith, along with her quote, “Talk Classy, Act Nasty.”
She mostly gets characters she either has met or plans to meet, so nothing yet for Jim and Pam, although she does have something picked out for each.
All but two of the cast members whose characters Gillis has added have seen their character’s tattoos (Ed Helms, who plays Andy, and Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly, are yet to see theirs). Gillis said Steve Carrell saw the Michael Scott tattoo when his wife Nancy received a text with a photo of it from cast member Wayne Wilderson (Martin from the Prison Mike episode).
Brian Baumgartner (Kevin), Andy Buckley (David Wallace) and other cast members have taken photos with Gillis’ tattoo of their character. Leslie David Baker (Stanley) met Gillis for the first time this weekend and asked to take a picture with her.
“I’m on body parts now,” Baker told NBC on Sunday. “She’s the second person I’ve met that had a tattoo of me on their leg. The first person I met had a calf twice the size of mine, and it had my face on it. Then I met [Gillis], and her leg was smaller, but it was still very much my face. I’m hoping that these people don’t get old any time soon because if their leg wrinkles then so will my face. So, you don’t want that.”
Nor would the many other Dunder Mifflin employees who are forever a part of Gillis. Or those who will soon join. Exactly how many more “Office” tattoos does Gillis want to get?
“Essentially my answer would be both of my legs would be filled,” she said, adding that Todd Packer is next. “They’d be full leg sleeves of only ‘The Office,’ 100 percent covered.”
Gillis said she is stopped often by people asking to take photos of her tattoos, particularly this weekend while she worked as a volunteer at “The Reunion” – a two-day fan convention for “The Office.”
“When people ask for a picture of me or with me, I feel like I’m one of the cast members at that point,” she said. “It makes me feel like I’ve done good by doing this, I’m not regretting putting all of these on my body because I get so much positivity from it.”
There may come a day when the show is not as popular as it is now, when the faces of the characters are not as familiar, when the tattoos have outlived “The Office.” But to Gillis, the show and the tattoos will always have the same meaning to her.
“I’m a human scrapbook of my memories,” she said. “These people have meant everything to me and I’ve met most of them. So, to me, it’s a moment in time that I get to capture on my body and remember forever.”
Her best memory was provided this weekend by Wilson. He added a little more ink to “The Office” shrine on her legs, taking a black marker and signing his autograph above the tattoo of Dwight Schrute.
“That,” Gillis said, “will probably be my next tattoo.”
