"This is awful customer service and I demand to speak to your manager!" were the words uttered by a woman I did my very best to help. I was working as the "cart attendant" that night, and was responsible for getting every single cart into the store. I had trouble expressing myself in an articulate manner because of the sheer exhaustion I was feeling. My socks, shoes, and hair were soaking wet from the heavy rain that pounded me mercilessly that dark and frigid night.

The lady was having trouble finding a scarf, for which I am assuming, was for Christmas. I could not pinpoint its exact location, and in frustration, she launched a verbal barrage of attacks at me.

I was determined to make my summer a rather interesting and uncomfortable one at the end of my junior year in high school. This determination was what led me to submit countless job applications to various brick and mortar retail chain stores in the vicinity of my family’s apartment complex in Springfield, Virginia.