Rachel quits her job at Central Perk. Ross causes a little girl to break her leg, and attempts to make it up to her by selling her girl scout cookies on her behalf. Joey is selling Christmas trees, and Phoebe is traumatized to learn what happens to the unsold ones.
Tropes
- The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Ross's interactions with Monica regarding the Brown Bird cookies are a parody of this, complete with all the typical lines... "All the cool kids are eating them," "I'll give you the first box for free."
- "Eureka!" Moment: After selling fifty boxes to stoners who had just seen "Laser Floyd" at the planetarium, Ross begins selling to NYU dorms.
- Gilligan Cut: Rachel proudly states that she has served her last cup of coffee. It then cuts to her being instructed on how to make coffee at her new job.
- G-Rated Drug: Girls Scout Cookies are this for Monica, as they trigger her binging behaviour back.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Sarah's father regularly pawns her stuff for gambling money. Part of the reason she wants the Space Camp prize is that she knows he won't be able to sell it, like he probably would the bike in second prize.
- Jerkass: The old lady Ross tries to sell the cookies to threatens to call the cops on him. Even after he tries another apartment, she spies on him through her door's peephole and still threatens him with the cops.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Ross over accidentally injuring Sarah. He resolves to do whatever he can to make her happy.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Joey gets Phoebe to abandon her initial protest against the practice of cutting down trees for Christmas by convincing her that it's simply the trees fulfilling their "life's purpose". This backfires when she finds out any trees that get unsold are sent to a wood chipper and she begins harassing people to buy all of the misshapen and damaged ones.
- No, You: Ross engages in this when one of the Brown Birds calls him a "scrud" for breaking Sarah's leg.Ross: What's a scrud?
Charla: Why don't you look in the mirror scrud!
Ross: I don't have to, I can just look at you. - Picked Flowers Are Dead: Phoebe doesn't like seeing trees cut down to become Christmas trees. Joey tries to convince her that it's their "destiny" which almost wins her over, until she learns that the old and ugly ones get thrown in the woodchipper.
- Rage Breaking Point: After Chandler makes a joke about a copier while arranging the resume, Rachel snaps and has a mental breakdown. Joey calms her down later with a job offer.
- Scout-Out: Sarah is a member of the "Brown Birds" who sell cookies door-to-door. Ross becomes an "honorary" member to fill in for Sarah after breaking her leg. Monica was also in the Brown Birds as a kid and ate all her cookies instead of selling them.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Subverted. Ross fails to sell the most cookies because another girl offloaded thousands of boxes to the crew of USS Nimitz by having her 18 year old sister wear her uniform. But, he has Joey and Chandler convert their apartment into a private space camp for Sarah, which she enjoys.
