"If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry"
About this Quote
The intent lands in Fonda's lane: an actress fluent in performance, a public figure who has spent decades navigating rooms where power is soft, informal, and often gendered. "Just cry" is a knowing nod to the ways women have historically been boxed into "acceptable" emotions. Rage gets you labeled difficult; tears get you help. There's a bite to it: the quote exposes how care is rationed, and how access sometimes depends less on fairness than on what kind of distress society finds legible.
Subtext: this isn't a moral recommendation so much as a survival tip. Fonda is pointing at an ugly truth about institutions and customer-service hierarchies: they respond to disruption, not justice. Crying is disruption that still reads as nonthreatening, which is precisely why it can work.
Context matters, too. Coming from Fonda - a celebrity-activist whose life is a masterclass in public perception - it doubles as commentary on performance itself: authenticity and acting aren't opposites; they're tools, and the world rewards the right kind at the right moment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sarcastic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fonda, Jane. (2026, January 17). If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-ever-in-a-situation-where-youre-not-51743/
Chicago Style
Fonda, Jane. "If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-ever-in-a-situation-where-youre-not-51743/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-youre-ever-in-a-situation-where-youre-not-51743/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.


