"Well, when you get hungry enough, you're gonna figure it out"
The pilot episode of Girls speaks volumes about the lives of twenty-somethings who just haven't quite got everything in order just yet, and please give us some time, thank you very much. Case in point, the scene in the office of Hannah's (Lena Dunham's) unpaid internship at a publishing company, where she must ask for payment now that her parents have cut off their support of her, two years after she's finished college. Scene:
Boss: Hannah.
Hannah: Hello, Alister.
[Silence as he goes back to his work]
Hannah again: Hello.
Boss: You seem eager.
Hannah: As you know, I have been working here for over a year.
Boss: Has it been that long? Well, you are an invaluable part of our operation.
Hannah: Which, I recently learned, means very valuable, as opposed to not at all valuable. And I wanted to let you know that my circumstances have changed, and I can no longer afford to work for free.
Boss: Oh Hannah, I'm so sorry to lose you. I was just going to start you manning our Twitter--you have just the quippy voice for that.
Hannah: Oh, no no, I'm not quitting, I just um, I know that Joy Lin got hired after interning, so I thought that maybe--
Boss: Hannah, Joy Lin knows Photoshop. Now, in this economy, do you know how many internship requests I get everyday?
Hannah: I would assume, a lot.
Boss: Fifty. It's about fifty. I practically route them into my spam folder, so if you think you have just nothing left to learn from us--
Hannah: No, it is not that. Really. I just, you know, gotta eat.
Boss: Well... when you get hungry enough, you're gonna figure it out.
Hannah: Do you mean like physically hungry or like hungry for the job?
Boss: [with enthusiasm] I am really gonna miss your energy. I think this is going to be really good for you.
[He hugs her.]
Hannah: Uh, you mentioned that when I was finished with my book I could send it to you?
Boss: Uh, well, we wouldn't have you here to read it for us, would we?