"Miss Alli" from Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A–" rating. Dan Phillips of IGN named "Dwight's First Day Late" as the tenth greatest prank on the show. He noted, "Seeing a disheveled, unshaven Dwight run desperately towards the office in hopes of saving his perfect performance record was enough to land this prank on the list despite its lack of complexity." Diane Holloway of the "Austin American-Statesman" wrote positively of the episode, and cited it as an example of how "The Office", along with "My Name is Earl", has "restored the comedy hour to NBC". Michael Sciannamea of Huffpost TV wrote that he "liked the idea of having a continuation of a storyline" from "The Client", but that the subplot of Dwight mistaking a Thursday for a Friday "really didn't go anywhere." He also noted that "Dwight's behavior was over the top again", a fact which "can really be disconcerting." Matt Zoller Seitz of "Salon" named the entry the ninth best episode of the series, praising the comedic confrontation between Michael and Jan, as well as being a "strong Dwight episode". Furthermore, Seitz praised the cold opening, calling it "a classic Jim prank".