Working Girl (1988)

Melanie Griffith: Tess McGill

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Quotes 

• Tess McGill : [to Katherine]  Look, you, maybe you've got everyone around here fooled with this saint act you have going, but do not ever speak to me again like we don't know what really happened, you got me?

  Katherine Parker : Tess, this is business. Let's just bury the hatchet, okay?

  Tess McGill : You know where you can bury your hatchet? Now get your bony ass outta my sight!

• Mick : Tess, will you marry me?

  Tess McGill : Maybe.

  Mick : Ya call that an answer?

  Tess McGill : You want another answer, ask another girl.

• Tess McGill : Uhm... when I saw you in here on the phone with your feet up, I figured this was your office.

  Alice Baxter : [slightly embarrassed]  I'm sorry about that, Ms. McGill. It won't happen again... ever.

  Tess McGill : It's O.K..

  Alice Baxter : Maybe now would be a good time to go over what you expect of me.

  Tess McGill : [clears her throat]  I, uh, I expect you to call me Tess. I don't expect you to fetch me coffee unless you're getting some for yourself. And, um, the rest we'll just make up as we go along. O.K.?

  Alice Baxter : [smiling]  O.K.. I'll be right outside if you need anything.

  [leaves Tess's office] 

• [in the bar] 

  Tess McGill : I have a head for business and a body for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?

  Jack Trainer : Uh, no. No.

• Tess McGill : You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not while you're trying to get there. And if you're someone like me, you can't get there without bending the rules.

  Oren Trask : You've got a real fire in your belly, or was this just a one-time stunt that you pulled?

  Tess McGill : I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir. I've got something in my belly, but I think it's nervous knots.

• Jack Trainer : You're the first woman I've seen at one of these things that dresses like a woman, not like a woman thinks a man would dress if he was a woman.

  Tess McGill : Thank you I guess.

• Tess McGill : I am not steak. You can't just order me.

• [about Jack's chin scar] 

  Tess McGill : How did you get the scar?

  Jack Trainer : Some guy pulled a knife in Detroit.

  Tess McGill : Really?

  Jack Trainer : No. No. I was nineteen and I thought it'd be cool to have a pierced ear. My girlfriend stuck the needle through and I heard this pop and fainted and hit my chin on the toilet.

• Katherine Parker : Ugh! What a slob.

  Tess McGill : You were so smooth with him.

  Katherine Parker : Never burn bridges. Today's junior *prick*, tomorrow's senior partner.

• Oren Trask : Now get your - what was that you called it?

  Tess McGill , Jack Trainer : Bony ass.

  Oren Trask : Yes - your bony ass out of my sight!

• Katherine Parker : I think he's going to "pop the question."

  Tess McGill : You do?

  Katherine Parker : I think so. We're in the same city now, I've indicated that I'm receptive to an offer, I've cleared the month of June. And I am, after all, me.

  Tess McGill : Well, what if he doesn't... pop the question?

  Katherine Parker : I really don't think that's a variable. Tess, you know you don't get anywhere in this world by waiting for what you want to come to you. You make it happen. Watch me, Tess. Learn from me

• Tess McGill : [pretending to be her boss]  I know what I'm doing.

  Cynthia : Yeah, screwing up your life.

  Tess McGill : No, I'm trying to make it better! I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life working my ass off and getting nowhere just because I followed rules that I had nothing to do with setting up, OK?

• Tess McGill : [on the phone]  Cyn! Guess where I am...

  [giggles] 

  Cyn : [stands up, screams to secretaries]  She got out! Oh my god! I can't believe it, she's out - she made it out! She got out! She has her own office!

• Tess McGill : You know, maybe I just don't like you.

  Jack Trainer : Me? Naaah!

• Alice Baxter : Uhm, Ms. McGill?

  Tess McGill : Yes.

  Alice Baxter : [pointing to private office]  That's your desk... in there...

  Tess McGill : I don't think so.

  Alice Baxter : Oh, yes. I sit out here.

  Tess McGill : Sorry, I thought the secretary would sit out here...

  Alice Baxter : That's right, I'm the secretary. If it's O.K., I prefer "assistant".

• Personnel Director : Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess. You don't get ahead in this world by calling your boss a pimp.

  Tess McGill : Well, he is.

• [the morning after Tess passed out from drinking] 

  Tess McGill : What did happen, exactly?

  Jack Trainer : The earth moved. The angels wept. The Polaroids are, are, uh...

  [gropes about in his coat pockets] 

  Jack Trainer : are in my other coat.

  [Grins] 

  Jack Trainer : Nothing happened. Nothing happened!

• Cyn : [trailer]  How 'bout you?

  Tess McGill : I'm flat broke, I'm crazy about a man that I will probably never see again...

  Cyn : Well, *besides* that!

  [Tess laughs sadly] 

• Tess McGill : Oh god - and last night!

  Cyn : Yeah, I shouldda checked the milligrams. Live and learn.

• Tess McGill : I read a lot of things. You never know where the big ideas could come from.

• Tess McGill : [from her new, private office]  Hey, Cyn. Guess where I am.

• Cynthia : Why does it do that?

  Tess McGill : Cleaning...

  Cynthia : Are you kiddin' me?

• Tess McGill : [Mick has bought Tess some lingerie for her birthday]  Y'know, Mick, just once I could go for like a sweater or some earrings... something that I could actually wear outside of this apartment?

• Personnel Director : Been lookin at your file here. This the third time in six months I had to place you.

  Tess McGill : Wasn't my fault.

  Personnel Director : Where've I heard THAT before?

  Tess McGill : Ruth, lookit - I'm thirty years old. Took me five years of night school, but I got my degree and I got it with honors; I *know* I could do a job. I mean, you ask any of my bosses - even, even Lutz! - if Tess McGill hasn't called a few.

  Personnel Director : YOU ask 'em. I don't think they're gonna sing your praises, Tess.

• Katherine Parker : My name is Katherine Parker, and I'm an associate partner in mergers and acquisitions at Petty Marsh, and this woman is my secretary.

  Jack Trainer : She's not!

  Katherine Parker : Oh, no? Ask her.

  Jack Trainer : You're not her secretary.

  Tess McGill : I can explain, Jack.

  Jack Trainer : [realizing it's true]  Jesus. You are her secretary.

• Tess McGill : Shoot me, shoot me.

  Cyn : Will you cut that out, they didn't throw you out did they?

  Tess McGill : They don't exactly have bouncers at these things, they're a little more subtle than that.

• Tess McGill : [after taking several shots of tequila, on top of Diazepam/Valium recommended by Cynthia]  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... mmm...

  Jack Trainer : You ok?

  Tess McGill : Mmm... fine... I took an "antihistamine" before and it makes for a nice little buzz.

• Tess McGill : Bob, you're not seriously looking for a new assistant, are you?

  Bob Speck : Well, not exactly at this moment, but I'm always on the lookout for new blood.

  Tess McGill : I'm hungry, Bob, but I am not that hungry!

• Tess McGill : [her entry in the scrolling office marquee]  DAVID LUTZ IS A SLEAZOID PIMP WITH A TINY LITTLE DICK