Less than Perfect

Claude's dream comes true when she moves up from temp to a permanent position as the assistant to news anchor Will Butler. But all is not quite as she had imagined when she realizes that new co-workers Kipp and Lydia will stop at nothing to sabotage her. Meanwhile Claude's trusty friends Ramona and Owen begrudgingly help her transition from the comfort and safety of the fourth floor to the battlefield that is the 22nd floor, while Claude tries to hide her crush on Will Butler, who is just less than perfect.

When Claude is unexpectedly asked out for dinner with Will, she quickly cancels her double-date plan with Ramona. But when the ""date"" turns out to be less of one than she anticipated, Claude finds solace in the company of Lydia -- who assumes that Claude slept with him. Meanwhile, Owen tries to assert authority over Kipp and the two feud over an expensive pen.

Claude sees herself struggling with her moral values when she is forced to lie for Will. She feels bad about covering up one of Will's escapades and lying to Ramona and his wife about it, but it's all good after Claude talks to Ramona. Meanwhile, the employees attend a companywide meeting where they have to pick a "floor buddy", someone from another floor for them to bond with. Lydia is at first annoyed by Owen but later misses him after she realizes he treated her like no one else did. And Ramona and Kipp pretend to dislike each other after having a great time in the Hamptons.

Feeling jealous over Claude being showered by gifts for being Will Butler's assistant, Kipp and Lydia try to break Claude, Ramona and Owen's friendship. Kipp tells Claude that Will doesn't like her having her 4th floor friends around his office, which Claude believes. She politely asks them to stay on their floor, which they take offensively. Now Claude feels bad for sending her friends away, and tries to work her way back into their friendship circle. Meanwhile, Lydia struggles with her (lack of) good sense after she feels guilty for switching Ramona's original Prada hangbag for a cheap imitation. She was trying o save the purse from being ""killed"" by Ramona's exquisite fashion taste and personal alterations on the wonderful Italian leather.

Ramona tells Claude she has to use her vacation days in the next few days or else she'll lose them. Claude refuses to leave Will even for a week, and Ramona (trying to be a good friend and give Claude a break from her overbearing work) sends a memo to Will about Claude's vacation. Forced to take a break, Claude pretends to go to Niagra Falls and sneaks around the office when she meets her temporary replacement – who she thinks might take her job. Ultimately, Will reassures her she doesn't have to worry about her job; he wouldn't trade her for the world. As for Kipp's dream job of becoming an associate producer, well, that will have to wait a little longer. Torturing Claude with lies about Luke's resume might have given Luke a promotion he never expected in such short notice.

Tired of living in constant competition with Lydia over Will's attention, Claude decides to attend Ramona's ""strippercize"" class to develop her ""uh-uh"". Claude quickly gains the self-confidence that she's been lacking, so she and Ramona go out for drinks, where Claude finds herself competing for men -- against Lydia. Meanwhile, Kipp asks for Owen to help him take a good picture for his id card, and Owen obliges... but Kipp soon discovers that Owen is too much of a perfectionist.

At Will's urging, Claude takes a job as Mr. Elliot's assistant, leaving her position to be filled by Kipp -- who Will can't stand. Meanwhile, Lydia unsuccessfully tries to impress Mr. Elliot; Ramona and Owen fight over a lunchroom meal plan; and Carl hangs around the office because he locked himself out of his apartment.

When the videostore that Carl works for goes out of business, Claude agrees to turn in an application for him at GNB. She types his resume on stationary that reads, ""From the Office of Will Butler,"" so his application is rushed through and Carl recieves a job as the cafeteria manager -- but Claude fears his performance will reflect badly on her. Meanwhile, Kipp's plan to climb up the corporative pyramid backfires when his elderly target ends up wanting him for sexual purposes.

Claude's apartment is robbed and she decides to call a neighbor meeting and organize her building into a more friendly community. Her good intentions soon turn into an excuse for all neighbors to use her to run them errands. Finally Claude decides that the building doesn't have to function as a small town and stands up for her freedom, even if it means telling Ramona and Owen that she doesn't want them living there anymore. Meanwhile, Lydia has another unsuccessful attempt of flirting with a superior.

Claude finds an invitation for a Vogue retrospective at the Guggenheim museum in Will's junk mail and decides to take Ramona and Owen with her to a glamorous New York evening. But their plans hit a snag when Claude makes the last-minute decision to invite Carl. Meanwhile, Kipp makes a list of his ideal mate's qualities, which he leaves on Lydia's desk -- but Jeb finds it and assumes it's Lydia's.

Claude uses her high school's website to hook up with a down-on-his-luck former classmate and the sparks instantly fly -- until Claude discovers that he's better off than she realized. Meanwhile, Kipp and Lydia fight to get a $100 bottle of shampoo, and Carl gets his feelings hurt when he implements a suggestion box in the cafeteria.

Claude meets a man in the elevator, but refuses to give him her number, so she takes his instead. She is trying out some new dating rules and decides not to call him until the initial 48 hours are over. There's a Halloween party coming up and Claude decides to take Trevor, but unfortunately his number was in the pocket of the jacket she traded in for a party dress. They track down the new owner, but he washed away Trevor's number. Despite her lack of luck, she manages to meet another guy at the party. Meanwhile, Kipp and Lydia smuggle an illegal cheese in order to impress their superiors and earn promotions, but the cheese is eaten by Ramona, Owen and Carl.

Will is looking for a way to boost his image, so Claude suggests that GNB becomes a paper-free office, not realizing that it will make Owen's job obsolete. Meanwhile, Jeb becomes enchanted by Ramona's rants, inciting jealousy in Lydia, and Kipp drops Will's car key down the elevator shaft and recruits Carl to help retrieve it.

After Claude is told by her date that he's "not ready for a relationship," she catches him at a houseware store with his new girlfriend... so Claude tries to get him to reveal what he doesn't like about her. Meanwhile, Will gets an earring, and Jeb spends an inordinate amount of time Roll-O-Boarding with Owen and Carl, which causes friction with Kipp and Lydia.

When a new guy starts at the office, Claude is oblivious to the fact that he has a crush on her, so she tries to set him up with Ramona. Meanwhile, Jeb and Lydia sneak off to have plastic surgery, but a misunderstanding leads Kipp to believe that Jeb's been kidnapped; and Carl has aspirations of becoming a spy.

Jeb pays Claude to be Lydia's best friend, but when Claude finds out Lydia really likes her she is reluctant to continue taking Jeb's money. Meanwhile, Owen and Carl have a new hobby, walkie talkies, which they can only discuss things over them. Will writes a book, while his ex-girlfriend is his editor.

Mr. Henry a worker at GNB dies in his office, and Claude tries to return his stuff to a family member in Queens. Ramona tries to take Mr. Henry's office but Owen rigs it with special effects to scare her so she wont leave him. And Lydia and Jeb fight over their Halloween costumes.

When Will makes an on-air flub, he attributes it to a wobbly chair and refuses to do the news again until the chair is fixed to his liking. Claude innocently calls him ""a diva"" and suffers Will's wrath: an hour on his psychiatrist's couch. Meanwhile, Lydia schemes to get Jeb on the air in Will's absence; Owen develops an obsession with bubble-wrap; Carl focuses his anger on Ramona when they add a self-checkout to the cafeteria; and Kipp fears that he will literally be shot by the girl who he just broke up with.

Upon returning from vacation, Claude learns that her boss, network anchor Will Butler, has resigned, leaving her jobless. Luckily her trusty friends, Owen and Ramona, have secured her a position as a temp on the 4th floor, right back where she started three years ago. Jeb Denton, the new anchorman, has promoted his wife, Lydia, to producer, and Claude's worst nightmare comes true when she's offered a job as Lydia's assistant. She hesitantly accepts the job on condition that she be given more responsibility, but working for Lydia proves to be a dangerous bargain. Meanwhile, Owen becomes addicted to Carl's new soft serve ice cream machine.

After quitting as Lydia’s assistant, Claude is back to “floater” status. However, the only spot available is working with Lydia, so Claude reluctantly agrees to work for her, but with conditions. Lydia’s first major assignment is to produce a complicated segment for the news. She pretends to have everything under control, but ends up breaking down and begging Claude for her help. Claude saves her only after she’s given a raise, a promotion and an apology. Meanwhile, Ramona gets a call that she may need to quit and return to the National Guard, leaving Owen and Carl freaking out.

After a long week, Claude, Carl, Ramona and Owen enjoy a night out for happy hour at their favorite bar. A little tipsy, Claude and Carl head home and, when one thing leads to another, they end up in bed together. They decide to keep it a secret from everyone at work to protect their friendship, but their attraction to each other makes it difficult. Meanwhile, Jeb incites a power struggle between Lydia and Kipp to keep them both

Claude reveals to Ramona that she and Carl are having sex with each other. Unfortunatley, Owen also finds out about this on his own.

Claude is concerned when Carl doesn't seem to be affected by her flirting with Ethan (Joey McIntyre), the copy repairman. Meanwhile, Ramona finds out that Kipp is making money on the side as a foot model, and she demands to get involved. Owen takes the photos of their feet together, but when they find them online, it turns out that someone has turned their shoot into a bizarre sexual scene.

Claude has owls living on her apartment roof and does her best to protect them, but gets distracted by Lydias dog, who ends up scaring them away. Meanwhile Owen tries to get someone to be his emergency contact, but no one wants the responsibility since he's so accident prone.