This series is brought to you by TurboTax Federal Free Edition. On my eighth day of work, the cupcakes showed up.

I had just started a job as an editor at a startup run by a bunch of 20-year-olds. At the time, our CEO was 25, the startup didn't have a name yet, and we were all working out of a makeshift office near Times Square at a computer learning center called New Horizons. We were barely paid, but the recession had just hit, and we were all just glad to have health insurance and a place to go to every morning. There were also free cookies, [...]

This series is brought to you by TurboTax Federal Free Edition.

November 9th, Gchat

Me: So I just met with BOSS and he's giving me a lot more things to do because DUDE left. I'm doing three people's jobs now. I should negotiate a raise, right?

PROJECT MANAGER: yes, I think you should try. tell him that the situation was different when you accepted your position and at this point you're absorbing two jobs. you def have to make your case….tell him you've made plenty of sacrifices (shortening your vacation after DUDE left) and that you're ready to step up but that you have to be compensated.

It's eight years ago, and I'm sitting in the student housing office located in the administration building of my college campus. I'm meeting with Emily, my supervisor, to ask her if I can still have my job after I return from studying abroad in England for the summer. I love my job. I work as one of those people who sit at an information desk and answer random questions from students and visitors. Once, an old lady called the desk to ask me if she could donate her husband's body to the university for scientific research, and in the background, I could hear a man shouting, "I'm not dead [...]