February 2003.  I was first year of university.  Our reading break was coming up and I wanted to fly to SLC and watch the Jazz because I felt this was going to the John and Karl's last season.  I worked at a convenience store and had 3 shifts a week.  One of the was opening the store Sunday morning.  My boss wouldn't let me take it off because no one else could come in.  I thought about saying "**** you" and just doing it, but I was 19 and I thought I was now an adult and should show responsibility and accountability so I came in for the shift.  Plus, he was an friend of a friend of my dad's. 
John did retire a few months later and Karl went to LA.  By June, my boss had lost the store.  Corporate took the franchise back because of financial irregularities.  I never got my last two weeks' paycheque, because my boss had to "look after his own family first."
What a ****ing idiot I was.  I can't believe that at some point, I actually believed in hard work and accountability.  It took me another 5-6 years to realize that only people at the bottom ever do.  Bosses don't give a ****.