163 Quiz Answer

The answer to this week’s quiz is “Glengarry Glen Ross,” the famous Pulitzer Prize-winning David Mamet play that also became a famous motion picture.

(Also submitted to Three-Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "M" is for "Martin")

Here’s this week’s Berownial quiz question.  I wrote the following little scenelet which is based, loosely, on a famous play that was made into a famous movie.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is: name the play. 

“Quite a resume you got, Martin.  We may have a spot for you here.”

“That’s wonderful, Mr Collins.  I’ve got a couple of letters of recommendation too.  Here, let me give them to you.”

“Not necessary.  Fact is, I’m not interested in what others have to say about you.  I’m just a facts and figures guy.  In other words, since this is a sales job all I want to know is how successful you’ve been as a salesman – in dollars and cents.”

“Well, I basked in the title of top salesman for my company, got a raise every year.  As you may know, the firm came to grief because of government over-regulation, among other reasons…”

“No need to go into all that.  We’re going to give you a shot.  We’ll find out if you’re sharp enough to handle the type of work we do around here.”

“Well, if you’re looking for a dedicated, hard-working employee who knows what the word loyal means, you’ll find…”

“Yeah, yeah; keep in mind I’m interested in only two things: can you sell and can you close?  Ever sell real estate?”

“Uh – not actually, no.”

“It’s not all that important.  A good salesman can sell a plot of land as well as a used Toyota.  We’ll find out.”

“Good.  And I certainly appreciate the opportunity.  I’ll be selling tracts of land?”

“Right.  You, my friend, are now an officially-appointed real estate agent and you’ll be selling your prospects, your potential buyers, on what we claim is one of the finest real estate developments in the country, located in the golden paradise of Arizona.”

“Sounds great.  That’s quite a distance from here.  Do we fly them out there to view the property?”

“Ha.  We’d be broke in a week if we ever did that.  No, they’ll ‘view the property’ by listening to what you say about it and the way you say it.  And we have a beautiful video you can show them – it’s not exactly of the property but it is of Arizona.”

“I see.”

“When we send you a prospect it will be someone who has already expressed interest, so all you have to do is close.  If you can’t do that, if you can’t close the deal, you’ll be out of here and maybe you should move on to a different profession.  I hear Taco Bell is hiring.”

(Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings)