Ihanded in a job application at a sandwich shop last week.

There was a giant Now Hiring sign taped to the front window, so I walked in and, to my surprise, they handed me a paper application. I filled it out, smiled, and returned it to them.

They never called me.

I tell myself it’s probably because I’m too old. Maybe it’s because I didn’t apply online, or because the kid behind the counter didn’t scan my info into the system. I don’t know. I only know that I was ready to make sandwiches for minimum wage, and nobody even wanted that from me.

I have a master’s degree in interdisciplinary arts and decades of experience, both personal and professional. I speak two languages. As if any of that matters.

I’ve been told all my life that I’m smart, and yet here I am, chronically underemp

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