Template:Character Infobox Mrs. Janine Davis is the Human Resources Administrator (HRA) at Caltech and first appeared in "The Egg Salad Equivalency".
Series overview
Before the Show
Before Mrs. Davis made an appearance on the show, she constantly had to put up with the Caltech faculty and staff sending Howard Wolowitz to her because of his erotic behavior. The visits occurred every other day, up to the point where they're both on a first name basis. This eventually stopped when Leonard and Penny introduced him to Bernadette.
Season 6
In "The Egg Salad Equivalency" (S06E12), after Sheldon's assistant Alex Jensen files a sexual harassment complaint against Sheldon, Sheldon reports to the HRA with his usual knock as Janine Davis looks perplexed sitting at her desk. She smiles and greets him and tells him about Alex's complaint. Sheldon doesn't see a problem since she has a front row seat as he makes scientific history, string cheese is in his refrigerator and he led his assistant away from a life of promiscuity by showing her pictures of diseased sexual organs. After hearing this, Mrs. Davis nods her head, then calls her secretary and tells her to cancel her next appointment, wisely anticipating that the case with Sheldon "is gonna take a while". The administrator tells Sheldon that he had said things that he shouldn't say in the workplace like calling Alex a slave to her sexual desires and comparing her to an egg salad sandwich. She doesn't know what the egg salad comment means and she just goes with her instincts that that can't be said to another employee. Sheldon replies that he sees the confusion, adding that he was not trying to single her out; he said that all women are slaves to their desires. "Even you. You’re a slave," he says to the black woman. She gives him a look of incredulous disbelief. Sheldon continues that during certain points of her menstrual cycle... The HRA, getting agitated, tells him to shut up. Sheldon is feeling persecuted and throws Howard, Raj, and Leonard under the bus in an attempt to direct her anger away from him. He explains, "Dr. Hofstadter, he was bragging about his sexual desirability to anyone who would listen. You know, and Howard Wolowitz, he spent two years using university resources building a six-breasted sex robot. Oh, and at the office Christmas party, I heard Rajesh Koothrappali refer to you several times as Brown Sugar." Each of his friends receives a call to report to Human Resources. They are sitting outside the HRA's office as Raj is adding alcohol to his coffee in order to speak to her. Howard points out that in years past he and the HRA are on a first-name basis. Sheldon shows up to assist his friends and announces that he is filing a complaint against her because the explicit language she used during his interview made him uncomfortable. She then has all four of them come into the office.
In "The Tenure Turbulence", she shows up again as a member of the tenure committee and finds all the potential candidates trying to get in her good graces, at one point causing her to exclaim "Oh God, they're everywhere!"; Sheldon tries to give her presents, which are too racist for her, Raj sends her a video explaining himself, and Leonard and Kripke go to the gym and work out next to her. Though, Leonard has an asthma attack right after that and Kripke replaces him.
Season 7
Janine and Raj
In "The Hofstadter Insufficiency", Raj goes to a work social to finally try and meet women and runs into the recently separated Janine Davis. Raj mentions that he has recently read an article on infidelity among penguins. She just nods and says OK. Raj adds that, "So if the fact that your husband left and your husband makes you feel unattractive, just remember penguins get cheated on and they’re still adorable". She then just walks away, at which Howard remarks to Raj, "You know, it was better when you couldn't talk to women." Later, Raj approaches Ms. Davis and offers a rough apology. They sit down and have an adult conversation as friends, something new for Raj. She does ask if he is hitting on her and Raj denies it. They seem to depart as friends.
Season 8
Sheldon has a meeting with Janine Davis of Human Resources in "The Junior Professor Solution". Sheldon assumes that she wants to reopen their dialogue on him changing his field of study. Janine interrupts more as: "Please. No. Please. No. Please. No." While he was away, the university worked on his problem and came up with a solution. Sheldon is please that his pouting and running away did work. His current grant is for researching string theory; however, promoting him to junior professor he would be able to work on anything he chooses, though Sheldon would have to teach a class as a professor. Sheldon describes their solution as giving him a promotion and paying him more money so he can impart his knowledge to the next generation. He then calls the university just plain sick.
Trivia
- She has at least one child. (Probably at least two children, since Howard asks "How are Tom and the kids?" when Howard, Leonard, and Raj are all called into the Human Resources office.)
- She knew Howard very well since he was constantly called to the Human Resources office for inappropriate behavior toward women before he got married.
- Her husband, Tom, left her for an attractive undergraduate sometime between seasons six and seven.
