Movie: Glengarry Glen Ross // Said by Blake (Alec Baldwin) to Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon)

WHAT IT MEANS
You have to earn the right to benefit from the business and/or reap rewards. In the movie, coffee was provided by the office and was seemingly taken for granted; this line made it clear that the salesmen didn’t “deserve” anything until they actually made the company money by closing deals.

IT MAY COME IN HANDY WHEN…

  • Somebody is taking a benefit for granted and you want to remind them that they have to earn it
  • You want to push somebody to be more assertive and/or goal oriented – that’s the only way they’ll only get the reward (whatever it is that they want)
  • Taking it a more positive route than originally intended, you could use it when giving somebody a reward for closing/succeeding

MOVIE SUMMARY
See the full Glengarry Glen Ross summary here.