––How did your employment end?

Clarke: One day, two of us were sent to do inventory at a building a mile or so away from the main building. We drove to the building, but instead of doing inventory, we smoked pot. And when we were done smoking pot, the other guy went back to work, but I didn't.

Gaffney: That night I asked the receptionist if there was any chance I could get a check up and a cavity filled for free, because I didn't want to work there another second longer if I wasn't going to get a major dental-work payoff. She seemed incredulous and suggested that if I didn't have insurance, I could maybe get a 5% discount. I never went back. In the end, I think it must have been a sinus infection that had been bothering me, because it went away without my ever going to see a dentist. From that job, I moved up to being a cleaning lady at a bead shop, which was better, because I worked at night when they were closed and could play Led Zeppelin really loud while I was vacuuming. Eventually they fired me, for disturbing the neighbors, but by that time my German had gotten good, and I found a job translating German computer manuals into English.

Sullivan: After I had learned (via email) that my boss had stolen a presentation I had drafted – ideas of how the publisher could market themselves online, new concepts for a book series – and presented the ideas as her own, and then had the nerve to inquire that I deliver her an execution plan, I gave my two weeks’ notice. Over the course of the next few days, I was terrorized with passive aggressive emails, clipped orders and her leaning over my shoulder issuing criticism over word choices. After a week of this, I left her my passcard and walked out the door.

Trynin: My employment came to a sudden end just after Phil said into the phone, “Yeah man, I know. But my luck’s about to change, my friend. I got a new girl comin’ in next week, and this one’s a fuckin’ peach. This one’s like, you know, stacked, really stacked, like––“ and this is when Phil looked up and saw me standing in his doorway.

Jaime Clarke is the author of the novel WE’RE SO FAMOUS, editor of DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: CONTEMPORARY WRITERS ON THE FILMS OF JOHN HUGHES, and co-founder of POST ROAD, a national literary magazine based out of New York and Boston.