:42:02
After that a full week went by
and I didn't see her once.
:42:06
I tried to keep my mind off her
and off the whole idea.
:42:09
I kept telling myself that maybe those fates...
:42:11
they say watch over you had gotten together
:42:13
and broken his leg to give me a way out.
:42:16
Then it was the 15th of June.
:42:19
You may remember that date, Keyes.
:42:21
You came into my office around 3
in the afternoon...
:42:25
Hello, Keyes.
:42:27
I just came from Norton's office.
:42:28
The semi-annual sales records are out.
You're high man, Walter.
:42:31
- That's twice in a row. Congratulations.
- Thanks.
:42:34
How would you like a cheap drink?
:42:35
How would you like a $50 cut in salary?
:42:38
Do I laugh now,
or wait until it gets funny?
:42:40
I'm serious, Walter.
I've been talking to Norton.
:42:42
There's too much stuff piling up on my desk.
Too much pressure on my nerves.
:42:45
I spend half the night walking up and down in my bed.
I've got to have an assistant.
:42:48
- I thought that you...
- Me? Why pick on me?
:42:51
Because I've got a crazy idea
you might be good at the job.
:42:53
That's crazy all right.
I'm a salesman.
:42:55
Yeah. A peddler,
a glad-hander, a back-slapper.
:42:58
- You're too good to be a salesman.
- Nobody's too good to be a salesman.
:43:01
Phooey. All you guys do is ring doorbells
and dish out a smooth line of monkey talk.
:43:06
- What's troubling you is that 50 buck cut, isn't it?
- That'd trouble anybody!
:43:09
Look, Walter. The job I'm talking about
takes brains and integrity.
:43:12
It takes more guts
than there is in 50 salesman.
:43:14
It's the hottest job in the business.
:43:16
It's still a desk job.
I don't want to be nailed to a desk.
:43:18
A desk job. Is that all you can see in it?
:43:21
Just a hard chair to park your pants on
from nine to five.
:43:24
Just a pile of papers to shuffle around...
:43:25
and five sharp pencils
and a scratch pad to make figures on
:43:29
maybe a little doodling on the side.
:43:31
That's not the way I see it, Walter.
:43:33
To me a claims man is a surgeon
:43:36
and that desk is an operating table,
and those pencils are scalpels and bone chisels.
:43:40
And those papers are not just forms
and statistics and claims for compensation.
:43:44
They're alive!
:43:46
They're packed with drama!
With twisted hopes and crooked dreams.
:43:50
A claims man, Walter,
is a doctor and a blood-hound and a....
:43:55
Who?
:43:56
Okay, hold on a minute.
:43:58
A claims man is a doctor and
a blood-hound and a cop and a judge