Clerks - Plot

Plot

On April 10, 1993, Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran), 22, a retail clerk at a local Quick Stop Market convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, is called into work on his day off by his boss to cover a few hours for another employee who is sick. Arriving at the store, he finds that the locks to the security shutters are jammed closed with chewing gum, so he hangs a sheet over them with a message written in shoe polish: "I ASSURE YOU; WE'RE OPEN."

Dante's day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while bemoaning the fact that he's "not even supposed to be here today." Interspersed with the demands of his job, Dante passes time in wide-ranging conversations with his friend, Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). Randal works at the neighboring video store, although he spends almost the entire day at the Quick Stop. They converse about many things to pass time, such as whether the contractors working on the second Death Star when it was destroyed at the end of Return of the Jedi were innocent victims or not. Dante's current girlfriend, Veronica Loughran (Marilyn Ghigliotti), also stops in and the two talk about Dante's current disposition—in a rut with no motivation to change. Further contributing to Dante's misery is an announcement in the local newspaper that his unfaithful ex-girlfriend Caitlin Bree is engaged to be married.

Learning that he is stuck working the store all day, Dante convinces his friends to play hockey on the store roof. The game is short. 12 minutes in, an irate customer shoots their only ball off the roof and into a sewer. Reopening the store, Dante finds out one of his ex-girlfriends has died and her memorial service is today. Randal talks him into closing the store again and going to the wake. The visit is disastrous, with Randal and Dante running out to escape in their car. The audience does not see what transpires during the memorial service. However, a later conversation between the two reveals that Randal accidentally knocked over the casket by leaning on it.

That night Caitlin Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer) surprises Dante with a visit. After she assures Dante that the engagement announcement was premature and arranged by her mother, the two trade banter and Dante becomes torn between her and Veronica. He finally decides to take Caitlin on a date and slips home to change. He returns to discover that Caitlin had sex with a dead man in the unlit bathroom, having mistaken the man for Dante (the man had earlier entered the bathroom with a pornographic magazine and had suffered a fatal heart attack while masturbating). An ambulance takes Caitlin away in shock along with the corpse.

Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith), a pair of stoners who have spent all day hanging out (and dealing marijuana) outside the Quick Stop, enter the store to shoplift. Dante turns down Jay’s offer to party with them. Knowing Dante's predicament, Silent Bob pauses before following Jay outside and offers the following wisdom: "You know, there's a million fine-looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you." Dante then realizes that he loves Veronica. When she returns to the Quick Stop, though, Randal complicates things by revealing that Dante asked Caitlin out. Veronica angrily breaks up with Dante, telling him that Randal informed her of the planned date with Caitlin.

When Randal enters the Quick Stop after closing the RST video, Dante loses his temper and fights with him. After the fight, they lie on the floor worn out. Dante claims that Randal does nothing for him but make his life miserable by getting him fined, offending his customers, and ruining his relationship. Randal explodes, saying that Dante deserves the blame: Dante, not Randal, closed the store to play hockey, closed it again to go to the wake, and closed it yet again to try to hook up with his ex-girlfriend, cheating on his current one in the process. He then says that Dante came to work of his own volition and overcompensates for having a monkey's job. He claims Dante thinks he is more advanced than the customers and Randal storms off with "if we're so fucking advanced, what are we doing working here?" leaving Dante speechless on the floor.

They reconcile and Dante says he will try to talk to Veronica and visit Caitlin and possibly get some direction in his life. The film ends with Randal walking out of the store, popping back in briefly to toss Dante's sign at him stating, "You're closed!"