Glengarry Glen Ross (2 page)

Williamson:
What are we going to say?

Levene:
No. You’re right. That’s for later. We’ll talk in a month. What have you got? I want two sits. Tonight.

Williamson:
I’m not sure I have two.

Levene:
I saw the board. You’ve got
four
. . .

Williamson
(Snaps):
I’ve got
Roma.
Then I’ve got Moss . . .

Levene:
Bullshit.
They ain’t been in the office yet. Give ‘em some stiff. We have a deal or not? Eh? Two sits. The Des Plaines. Both of ‘em, six and ten, you can do it . . . six and ten . . . eight and eleven, I don’t give a shit, you set ‘em up? Alright? The two sits in Des Plaines.

Williamson:
Alright.

Levene:
Good. Now we’re talking.
(Pause.)

Williamson:
A hundred bucks.
(Pause.)

Levene:
Now?
(Pause.) Now?

Williamson:
Now.
(Pause.) Yes
. . .
When?

Levene:
Ah,
shit,
John.
(Pause.)

Williamson:
I wish I could.

Levene:
You fucking asshole.
(Pause.)
I haven’t got it.
(Pause.)
I haven’t got it, John.
(Pause.)
I’ll pay you tomorrow.
(Pause.)
I’m coming in here with the sales, I’ll pay you
tomorrow. (Pause.)
I haven’t
got
it, when I pay, the
gas
. . . I get back the hotel, I’ll bring it in tomorrow.

Williamson:
Can’t do it.

Levene:
I’ll give you thirty on them now, I’ll bring the rest tomorrow. I’ve got it at the hotel.
(Pause.)
John?
(Pause.)
We do that, for chrissake?

Williamson:
No.

Levene:
I’m asking you. As a favor to me?
(Pause.)
John.
(Long pause.)
John: my
daughter
. . .

Williamson:
I can’t do it, Shelly.

Levene:
Well, I want to tell you something, fella, wasn’t long I could pick up the phone, call
Murray
and I’d have your job. You know that? Not too
long
ago. For what? For
nothing.
“Mur, this new kid burns my ass.” “Shelly, he’s out.” You’re gone before I’m back from lunch. I bought him a trip to Bermuda once . . .

Williamson:
I have to go . . .
(Gets up.)

Levene:
Wait. Alright. Fine.
(Starts going in pocket for money.)
The one. Give me the lead. Give me the one lead. The best one you have.

Williamson:
I can’t split them.
(Pause.)

Levene:
Why?

Williamson:
Because I say so.

Levene
(Pause):
Is that it? Is that
it
? You want to do business that way . . . ?

Williamson
gets up, leaves money on the table.

Levene:
You want to do business that way . . . ? Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright. What is there on the other list . . . ?

Williamson:
You want something off the B list?

Levene:
Yeah.
Yeah.

Williamson:
Is that what you’re saying?

Levene:
That’s what I’m saying. Yeah.
(Pause.)
I’d like something off the other list. Which, very least, that I’m entitled to. If I’m still
working
here, which for the moment I guess that I am.
(Pause.)
What? I’m sorry I spoke harshly to you.

Williamson:
That’s alright.

Levene:
The deal still stands, our other thing.

Williamson
shrugs. Starts out of the booth.

Levene:
Good. Mmm. I, you know, I left my wallet back at the hotel.

SCENE TWO

A booth at the restaurant.
Moss
and
Aaronow
seated. After the meal.

Moss:
Polacks and deadbeats.

Aaronow:
. . . Polacks . . .

Moss:
Deadbeats
all.

Aaronow:
. . . they hold on to their money . . .

Moss:
All of ‘em. They,
hey:
it happens to us all.

Aaronow:
Where am I going to work?

Moss:
You have to cheer up, George, you aren’t out yet.

Aaronow:
I’m not?

Moss:
You missed a fucking sale. Big deal. A deadbeat Polack. Big deal. How you going to sell ‘em in the
first
place . . . ? Your mistake, you shoun’a took the lead.

Aaronow:
I had to.

Moss:
You had to, yeah. Why?

Aaronow:
To get on the . . .

Moss:
To get on the board. Yeah. How you goan’a get on the board sell’n a Polack? And I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you what
else.
You listening? I’ll tell you what else: don’t ever try to sell an Indian.

Aaronow:
I’d never try to sell an Indian.

Moss:
You get those names come up, you ever get ‘em, “Patel"?

Aaronow:
Mmm . . .

Moss:
You ever get ‘em?

Aaronow:
Well, I think I had one once.

Moss:
You did?

Aaronow:
I . . . I don’t know.

Moss:
You had one you’d know it.
Patel.
They keep coming up. I don’t know. They like to talk to salesmen.
(Pause.)
They’re
lonely,
something.
(Pause.)
They like to feel
superior,
I don’t know. Never bought a fucking thing. You’re sitting down “The Rio Rancho
this,
the blah blah blah,” “The Mountain View—” “Oh yes. My brother told me that. . . .” They got a grapevine. Fuckin’ Indians, George. Not my cup of tea. Speaking of which I want to tell you something:
(Pause)
I never got a cup of tea with them. You see them in the restaurants. A supercilious race. What is this
look
on their
face all the time? I don’t know.
(Pause.)
I don’t know. Their broads all look like they just got fucked with a dead
cat, I
don’t know.
(Pause.)
I don’t know. I don’t like it. Christ . . .

Aaronow:
What?

Moss:
The whole fuckin’ thing . . . The pressure’s just too great. You’re ab . . . you’re absolu . . . they’re too important. All of them. You go in the door. I . . . “I got to
close
this fucker, or I don’t eat lunch,” “or I don’t win the
Cadillac
. . . .” We fuckin’ work too hard. You work too hard. We all, I remember when we were at Platt . . . huh? Glen Ross Farms . . .
didn’t
we sell a bunch of that . . . ?

Aaronow:
They came in and they, you know . . .

Moss:
Well, they fucked it up.

Aaronow:
They did.

Moss:
They killed the goose.

Aaronow:
They did.

Moss:
And now . . .

Aaronow:
We’re stuck with
this
. . .

Moss:
We’re stuck with
this
fucking shit . . .

Aaronow:
. . .
this
shit . . .

Moss:
It’s too . .

Aaronow:
It is.

Moss:
Eh?

Aaronow:
It’s too . . .

Moss:
You get a bad month, all of a . . .

Aaronow:
You’re on this . . .

Moss:
All of, they got you on this “board . . . ”

Aaronow:
I, I . . . I . . .

Moss:
Some
contest
board . . .

Aaronow:
I . . .

Moss:
It’s not right.

Aaronow:
It’s not.

Moss:
No.
(Pause.)

Aaronow:
And it’s not right to the
customers.

Moss:
I know it’s not. I’ll tell you, you got, you know, you got . . . what did I learn as a kid on Western? Don’t sell a guy one car. Sell him
five
cars over fifteen years.

Aaronow:
That’s right?

Moss:
Eh . . . ?

Aaronow:
That’s right?

Moss:
Goddamn right, that’s right. Guys come on: “Oh, the blah blah blah,
I
know what I’ll do: I’ll go in and rob everyone blind and go to Argentina cause nobody ever
thought
of this before.”

Aaronow:
. . . that’s right . . .

Moss:
Eh?

Aaronow:
No. That’s absolutely right.

Moss:
And so they kill the goose. I, I, I’ll . . . and a fuckin’
man,
worked all his
life
has got to . . .

Aaronow:
. . . that’s right . . .

Moss:
. . . cower in his boots . . .

Aaronow
(simultaneously with “boots”):
Shoes, boots, yes . . .

Moss:
For some fuckin’ “Sell ten thousand and you win the steak knives . . . ”

Aaronow:
For some
sales
pro . . .

Moss:
. . . sales promotion, “You
lose,
then we fire your . . .” No. It’s
medieval
. . . it’s wrong. “Or we’re going to fire your ass.” It’s wrong.

Aaronow:
Yes.

Moss:
Yes, it is. And you know who’s responsible?

Aaronow:
Who?

Moss:
You know who it is. It’s Mitch. And Murray. ‘Cause it doesn’t have to be this way.

Aaronow:
No.

Moss:
Look at Jerry Graff. He’s
clean,
he’s doing business for
himself,
he’s got his, that
list
of his with the
nurses
. . . see? You see? That’s
thinking.
Why take ten percent? A ten percent comm . . . why are we giving the rest away? What are we giving ninety per . . . for
nothing.
For some jerk sit in the office tell you “Get out there and close.” “Go win the Cadillac.” Graff. He goes out and
buys.
He pays top dollar for the . . . you see?

Aaronow:
Yes.

Moss:
That’s
thinking.
Now, he’s got the leads, he goes in business for
himself
. He’s . . . that’s what I . . . that’s
thinking
! ‘’Who? Who’s got a steady
job,
a couple bucks nobody’s touched, who?”

Aaronow:
Nurses.

Moss:
So Graff buys a fucking list of nurses, one grand—if he paid two I’ll eat my hat—four, five thousand nurses, and he’s going
wild
. . .

Aaronow:
He is?

Moss:
He’s doing
very
well.

Aaronow:
I heard that they were running cold.

Moss:
The nurses?

Aaronow:
Yes.

Moss:
You hear a
lot
of things . . . . He’s doing very well. He’s doing
very
well.

Aaronow:
With River Oaks?

Moss:
River Oaks, Brook Farms.
All
of that shit. Somebody told me, you know what he’s clearing
himself
? Fourteen, fifteen grand a
week.

Aaronow:
Himself?

Moss:
That’s what I’m
saying.
Why? The
leads.
He’s got the good leads . . . what are we, we’re sitting in the shit here. Why? We have to go to
them
to
get
them. Huh. Ninety percent our sale, we’re
paying
to the
office
for the
leads.

Aaronow:
The leads, the overhead, the telephones, there’s
lots
of things.

Moss:
What do you need? A
telephone,
some broad to say “Good morning,” nothing . . . nothing . . .

Aaronow:
No, it’s not that simple, Dave . . .

Moss:
Yes.
It
is.
It
is
simple, and you know what the hard part is?

Aaronow:
What?

Moss:
Starting up.

Aaronow:
What hard part?

Moss:
Of doing the thing. The dif . . . the difference. Between me and Jerry Graff. Going to business for yourself. The hard part is . . . you know what it is?

Aaronow:
What?

Moss:
Just the
act.

Aaronow:
What act?

Moss:
To say “I’m going on my own.” ‘Cause what you do, George, let me tell you what you do: you find yourself in
thrall
to someone else. And we
enslave
ourselves. To
please.
To win some fucking
toaster
. . . to . . . to . . . and the guy who got there first made
up
those . . .

Aaronow:
That’s right . . .