 This episode was the third episode of the series directed by Greg Daniels . Daniels had previously directed the episodes " Basketball " and " The Dundies " . " The Client " was written by Paul Lieberstein , who acts on the show as human resources director Toby Flenderson . The idea for Jan and Michael to have a romantic relationship was conceived by Steve Carell as far back as the filming of the pilot episode . According to writer and producer Greg Daniels " it was like he ( Michael ) was turned on by his teacher . " Writer and actor Paul Lieberstein said that the first idea that anybody came up for the episode was the final shot , where Jim and Michael look at each other and shake their heads , suggesting that they had been through similar experiences . The rest of the episode was written to lead to that scene . The scene where Oscar tells a story about a date getting a background check on him was based on an actual date that Paul Lieberstein went on . 
