Daily Dialogue — April 14, 2014

Chris Gardner: So the truth is, I was arrested for failure to pay parking tickets.
Jay Twistle [incredulous]: Parking tickets?
Chris: I ran all the way here from Polk Station, the police station.
Martin Frohm: What were you doing before you were arrested?
Chris: I was… uh… painting my apartment.
Martin: Is it dry now?
Chris: I hope so.
Martin: Jay says you’re pretty determined.
Jay: Oh, he’s been waiting outside the front of the building with some forty pound gizmo for over a month.
Martin: He said you’re smart.
Chris: I’d like to think so.
Martin: And you want to learn this business?
Chris: Yes sir, I want to learn this business.
Martin: Have you already started learning on your own?
Chris: Absolutely.
Martin: Jay.
Jay: Yes sir.
Martin: How many times have you seen Chris?
Jay: I don’t know. One too many apparently.
Martin: Has he ever dressed like this?
Jay: No. Jacket and tie. 
Martin: First in your class in school? High school?
Chris: Yes sir.
Martin: How many in the class?
Chris: Uh, twelve. It was a small town.
Martin: I’ll say.
Chris: But I was also first in my radar class in the Navy, and that was a class of twenty.

Silence.

Chris: Can I say something? I’m the type of person that if you ask me a question and I don’t know the answer, I’m gonna tell you, I don’t know. But I bet you what. I know how to find the answer. And I will find the answer. Is that fair enough?

Silence.

Martin: What would you say if a guy walked in for an interview without a shirt on? And I hired him. What would you say?

Silence.

Chris: He musta had on some really nice pants.

— The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), written by Steve Conrad

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Job Interview, suggested by blueneumann.

Trivia: Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson on The Simpsons (1989), co-stars in the film as one of Gardner’s superiors and requests a donut from Gardener. This is a nod to Casellaneta’s animated counterpart who shares a similar taste for donuts.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Everything leads up to that last line as it demonstrates Chris’s quick mind. Moreover it’s just a flat-out great line.

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