Chapter 1 begins with the narrator, Al Manheim, a New York City theater reviewer, meeting Sammy Glick for the first time. A “little ferret of a kid, sharp and quick” (3) Sammy has just been hired as a copy clerk at the paper Al works for. Al is immediately struck by how Sammy races around the office, working extremely hard despite his lack of manners and his lowly job. In an early conversation between the two men, Sammy makes it clear that he is ambitious, not intending to stay a copy clerk forever. However, when Al offers to slip in a good word for him with the editor, Sammy meets this offer with derision, insisting that he is not going to be stuck slowly working his way up through the newspaper. Al is shocked by his contemptuousness.

Al begins to compulsively observe Sammy and analyze his psychology, remarking that “the world was a race to Sammy” (5). He is particularly curious about Sammy’s motivation, repeatedly asking himself and those around him “What makes Sammy run?” (5). One night, Al writes his column in a rush after drinking and philosophizing about Sammy, and his boss calls him in to berate him for major mistakes in his review.