6teen/Take This Job and Squeeze It

Take This Job and Squeeze It
Season 1, Episode 1
Airdate	November 7, 2004
Written by	Jennifer Pertsch
Directed by	Karen Lessmann
— N/A	1x02 → The Big Sickie
6teen — Season One

Take This Job and Squeeze It is the first episode of the first season of 6teen.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Two wealthy best friends, Caitlin and Tricia, arrive at The Galleria for a day of shopping and hanging out, while Jonesy, Jen, Nikki, Jude and Wyatt plan on getting part-time jobs at the mall so they can all work and hang at the same place together during summer vacation. Jen, the only one of the then-gang of five currently with a job, has worked at the Big Squeeze lemonade stand at the food court for a year so she can get the work experience needed to land her dream job at the Penalty Box sporting goods store, where she has a job interview lined up later. The rest of the gang also have interviews lined up—Jonesy at the Gigantoplex Cinemas, Nikki at a travel agency, Jude at the North Shore Surf & Skate shop and Wyatt at the Grind Me coffee house—and Jen recommends to them that they practice their interviews so they'll be ready for them, but her advice goes unheeded by her friends, who seem confident that they'll ace their interviews and get the jobs they want.

While shopping at the Khaki Barn, Caitlin discovers after a purchase is denied that her credit card has reached its limit, so she phones her father for help with the card, and he recommends that she get a job in order to pay off the debt she has incurred and to teach her the value of a dollar, causing her to freak out before her card gets clipped in half.

The gang and Caitlin then go to their job interviews, where each deals with the interviews in different manners. Not long after, the gang meets back at the food court, where Jonesy, Wyatt, Jude and Nikki are moping because none of them got their hoped-for jobs, and Caitlin shows up with an ice cream sundae and sits at a separate table, also dejected that she did not get hired where she applied for work. Jen appears a moment later, wearing the Penalty Box's referee-style uniform, and announces that she got the job after breezing through her interview, meaning that her last day at the Big Squeeze is drawing near and she needs to find and train someone new to take over her old job. After hearing that none of the gang got hired, Jen offers to hire any of her friends on the spot, without an interview, to take over for her at the lemon stand, but they walk off laughing while going off to try their luck at other stores.

Moments later, Jen overhears Caitlin crying at her table. Jen asks what is wrong and Caitlin explains her plight, so Jen (after sorting through a number of job applications, including one from a Goth girl and one from a very scary-looking character) takes pity on her and offers to hire and train her to take over the Big Squeeze. Caitlin accepts and Jen then gives her a Big Squeeze uniform (a lemon hat and apron), but when Caitlin refuses to wear the hat, Jen tells her that she has to wear it if she wants to work at the lemon, so Cait concedes and puts on the hat. Caitlin explains that she can't start training right away because she has a manicure appointment, but she changes her mind when Jen asks how she plans to pay for her manicure without a credit card.

Jonesy, Nikki, Jude and Wyatt later return to the food court, all having landed new jobs, but none are what most of them had hoped for—Jonesy is hired at the Soda Hop, a 1950s-themed restaurant (only to get fired 10 minutes later when he made a pass at the hostess, who was also the boss's daughter), Wyatt lands a job at the Spin This record store and is immediately placed in the country music section (where, he explains, they always put new employees) and Nikki refuses to discuss her new job. Only Jude has landed a job where he actually wanted to work—at a food court kiosk called Stick It, where he was automatically hired to manage the stand after giving an embellished interview (at Jonesy's encouragement) where he claimed to already run two shops. When Nikki reminds him that he's never worked before and that he is now responsible, as the Stick It's new manager, for the kiosk and all its food, Jude realizes the gravity of his situation.

Jen is in the middle of training Caitlin at the Big Squeeze when Cait spots Tricia walking by and calls her over. Tricia initially thinks that her friend is joking her, but Caitlin explains that she's going to be in charge of the lemon, then accidentally spills some lemonade on Tricia, who decides on a whim to end her friendship with Caitlin and walks off, pointing out that she can't be seen with someone who works for a living. Jonesy and Jude excuse themselves for lunch and head to Wonder Taco, where they get served by Julie, a skinny and nerdy girl with huge braces, who, after thinking that the guys are making fun of her for working at the eatery, fills their orders, then empties a dustpan into the tacos and spits on them for good measure before handing them over to Jonesy and Jude, then watches and sneers at the guys as they walk away.

Later, while Jen cleans up and Caitlin is about to answer her cell phone, she accidentally drops the phone in a blender and shreds it when the blender activates. A frustrated Jen loses her patience and comes down hard on Caitlin for her irresponsibility and lack of work ethic, putting her on the verge of firing Cait when Coach Halder, Jen's new boss, comes by the food court, witnesses what is going on at the lemon and berates Jen, telling her that he's now having second thoughts about hiring her over what he saw. Caitlin, not wanting to be the reason for Jen potentially losing her Penalty Box job, then steps up and pleads Jen's case to Halder, explaining that Jen has been nothing but kind and patient with her while training her to take over the Big Squeeze and that she should be given a chance, making Halder reconsider and allow Jen to keep her new job.

Nikki, who initially was not fond of Caitlin because of her being a rich girl, witnesses her saving Jen's Penalty Box job and expresses her admiration over Cait's resourcefulness, but when Caitlin tells everyone just how much she spent using her credit card, Nikki tells her that she's going to be working at the Big Squeeze for quite a while. While the rest of the gang welcome Caitlin into their inner circle, Nikki announces that she has to get ready for work, but not before telling Jonesy about what Wonder Taco Julie does to the orders of those she doesn't like. Jen asks where Nikki is working, but she still won't say where her new job is, so the gang follows her and they find out—Nikki is now employed at the Khaki Barn, where The Clones all greet her, and she is revolted about having to work there because the store stands for all that she is against (including conformity and mass consumerism).

Trivia

The Show

• This is 6teen's pilot episode, setting the stage for the characters and how they first came to work at The Galleria

Memorable Moments

• Caitlin standing up for Jen to Coach Halder in saving her job at the Penalty Box
• Nikki steps into her new job at the Khaki Barn and encountering The Clones for the first time

Quotes

• Jonesy (to Nikki): Okay, I know it's just a part-time summer job, but today, I feel like more of a man.
  Nikki: Oh yeah, nothing says maturity like the phrase, "Do you want to gargantu-size that, sir?"

• Jude (on getting his new job): Awesome! The dude made me the manager of Stick It!
  Jen (surprised): Get out! How did you do that?
  Jude: I told him I ran two shops already and he just gave me the job. Jonesy's advice totally worked!
  Jonesy: What'd I say, always trust the Jonesmeister!
  Jude (as he and Jonesy pound their fists together): Dude!
  Jonesy: Jude!
  Nikki: But you've never even worked in a store before. You're gonna be responsible for all that food and all those sticks?
  Jude (reflecting a moment): Whoa. I'm in trouble, bro.
  Nikki: Uh, that's ‘bra’ when you're addressing a girl, remember?

• Wyatt (to Nikki): Did you get a job?
  Nikki: Yes. I don't wanna talk about it.
  Caitlin: Your first job! Aren't you excited?
  Nikki (sarcastically): I'm bursting with fruit flavor.

• Nikki (to Jude and Jonesy): By the way, I can't believe you guys actually eat at Wonder Taco. You know that girl horks in the food.
  Jonesy (gulps): What, you mean in everyone's food?
  Nikki: No, only to the people she doesn't like. (Jonesy becomes nauseated, while Jude finishes up his taco, no worse for wear)

• The Clones (simultaneously): Welcome to the Khaki Barn team!
  Nikki (groaning): This is going to be a loooong summer!