Creed Bratton (character) - Character History

Character History

A product of the '60s, Creed is older than all of the other employees at the office. Prior to joining Dunder Mifflin, he was most notably a member of the rock band The Grass Roots in the late '60s (as was the real-life Creed Bratton). Still a drug user (primarily marijuana), Creed suffers from its effects; he admits to having poor concentration. He correctly identifies the strain of marijuana ("Northern Lights" Cannabis indica) in a picture Dwight shows him. He also showed a detailed knowledge of different types of pain medications when he sees Meredith in the hospital, naming several different brands (Codeine, Vicodin, Percocet, Fentanyl, Oxycontin, Palladone).

Creed was originally hired by then-regional manager Ed Truck. He now serves as the quality assurance manager. Creed can be counted on to shirk nearly all responsibility, ranging from informal office duties such as spring cleaning to his primary job responsibilities.

Outside of work, Creed teeters on the edge of homelessness and has professed his willingness to do whatever it takes to avoid becoming homeless again. He lives in Toronto, spending three nights a week there in order to milk the welfare state, and surreptitiously sleeps under his desk the remainder of the week. In another episode, he reveals to Jim that he lives in Scranton near "the quarry" and invites Jim to "throw things down there" with him, to which Jim answers, in a somewhat sarcastic way, "Definitely we should".

Creed appears not to be bound by moral guidelines, exhibited most notably by his kleptomania. The episode "Casino Night" provides the first glimpse into this side of Creed's personality. He steals gambling chips in order to win the evening's prize and admits in a talking head interview, "I love stealing things" and "Oh, I steal things all the time. It's just something I do. I stopped caring a long time ago." Once revealed, his kleptomania returns in subsequent episodes, either explicitly or implicitly. For example, he takes a toy from a toy drive drop box and returns $40 to Michael; when Michael says that he didn't give Creed the money, Creed tells him, "In a way, you did," implying that he stole it from Michael. He has been caught stealing at least twice by Jim. In the episode titled "Local Ad," Jim buys breakfast for Pam because she slept at her desk all night. When she wakes, Jim explains that Creed snatched her hash browns while she was asleep on her keyboard.

Creed's lack of shame or morals extends beyond mere kleptomania. He places his wedding card on another guest's gift, and continues to stare at Pam's chest when she wears a low-cut sweater. When she asks him to stop, he serenely says, "In a minute." He even submits a formal complaint to Toby that says that he is sick of looking at the redhead all day and wants a seat facing the receptionist. In a deleted scene, Creed says that he has a friend named Jorge who will hook Toby up with anything he wants, including "this amazing coffee that you snort".

Creed has likely been arrested multiple times, as he assumed he needed a profile shot for his ID photo.

Creed believes that his blog URL is www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts, but his "blog" is actually a Word document set up by Ryan Howard, wanting to "protect the world from being exposed to Creed's brain". Describing the content of the blog, Ryan says, "Even for the Internet, it's pretty shocking." NBC provides the character with an actual blog at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/creed-thoughts/.