A Plot: Barry asks Murray for money to buy a hot new boom box, but Dad says no, he must earn it. Barry and Erica are at the mall when they see a "help wanted" sign in the Spencer's Gifts store. Both apply and both get jobs. After one day working, it is clear that Barry is way more into novelty gifts than Erica and excels at talking customers into buying anything. This earns Barry a promotion, which irritates Erica, so she decides to sabotage him the next day at work. This backfires when Barry is fired for losing a bunch of bottled farts, which is not the result Erica wanted. She soon admits she was jealous of Barry and the ease with which he took to the job.
B Plot: Barry sees that Adam already has the cool boom box, a gift from Beverly who says Adam is "special". She proclaims her schmoo doesn't need a job because he's going places with his movies. Trying to make things right with his siblings, Adam soon gets a job at the arcade in the mall. The arcade has a policy of giving a free quarter for each 'A' on a student's report card, and Adam gets bullied into dispensing quarters for a bunch of people with fake report cards, getting him quickly fired. This pleases Beverly, but Adam is not happy, saying he liked the job and wants to earn his keep like Barry and Erica. Adam then tries to win his job back by making a commercial for the arcade proprietor.
- Blatant Lies:
- The report cards Adam's presented are incredibly fake, from Johnny Atkins adding red pen to a black report card, to A's written on pizza boxes. For the former, Johnny also threatens violence if Adam refuses him, but the others are just taking advantage of the precedent Johnny set.
- Similarly, to lure Barry away in order to sabotage his work after he becomes her superior, Erica says that he's going to miss a seminar by Chuck Norris on...punching throats. However, Barry still falls for it due to being a major fan.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Erica wanted to just sabotage Barry, but ends up costing him a job.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Adam runs out of free quarters to give because of fake report cards, he decides to get more from one of the arcade machines, only for the coins inside to spill out onto the floor and a mob to swarm onto the free cash. This immediately leads to Adam being fired.
- Driven by Envy: Erica admits to being jealous of Barry for doing better at the Spencer's Gifts job than she did.
- Karma Houdini: For threatening Adam, wrongfully taking quarters, and costing Adam his job, Johnny Atkins and his girlfriend...get to star in a commercial for the arcade in order for Adam to negotiate his job back.
- Kitschy Local Commercial: Adam ends up getting his job back when he makes one for the arcade. In The Tag, there's another one for Spencer's Gifts starring Barry, Erica, and their boss.
- Overused Running Gag: This episode acknowledges that the "other Adam Goldberg" gag has begun to run its course.
