Verrone was presented by the Con’s panel host, Adam Taylor, with his acumen at writing and its meme-ification. Verrone was demure, although he did have a story to tell. He didn’t just write the line. He lived it. Verrone said:
“There is an actual little story about it. Which, weeks after it aired, and I was in an Apple store, and I was trying to buy something. And the clerk was upselling me, and I said, ‘Shut up and take my money!'”
Verrone noted that his dialogue from “Attack of the Killer App” wasn’t a callback, but a call forward.
“Upselling,” as all of us who have worked in retail know, is typically a mandate from one’s corporate overlords to encourage customers to purchase a tiny bit more than they asked for. This can take the form of selling a larger size popcorn at a movie theater to purchasing a second phone line to adding rust protection or insurance to a car. The corporate thinking is “You’ve already spent money, so what’s a little more?” Customers, of course, tend to recognize when they are being upsold and will respond according to their mood; sometimes the upsell is welcome, but often not.
Verrone was clearly rejecting his being upsold at the Apple store and used Fry’s line of dialogue counter to its initial intent. He wasn’t eager to overspend, but to fling his money down and get the heck away from the Genius Bar. Either way, “Shut up and take my money” was incredibly useful.