We often think that our success is linked to our own innate abilities. Getting good grades in school, being selected to become captain of the basketball team, or being accepted into the college of our choice and working at our dream job is all about our natural talent and only slightly about the environment we grew up in. Often psychologist talk about the importance of nurture vs. nature, and whether we are more influenced by the genes from our parents or the environment we’re exposed to.


    These thought go through the mind of young Sam Connor, as he’s getting up to go to his part-time job at McDonald’s. Going through his daily ritual or pouring himself a bowl of cereal, he watches the various YouTube channels that he’s subscribed to. Looking around his government subsidized apartment, he tries to figure out what his life amounts to. Working barely over minimum wage for several years, he’s had to learn various new methods of surviving in this world. The computer he’s using is one he found near a dumpster, and after replacing some of the damaged components he was able to study for his high school classes and various other tasks, allowing him graduate with decent grades. With his low income being able to afford internet was really asking for too much but using Kali Linux’s Aircrack to hack into his neighbor’s wifi network, Sam was able to do what the average non-emancipation young adult would do, like checking his Facebook, YouTube, various other tasks. Even though he was in a crappy situation didn’t mean that he couldn’t try to live a normal life. With his computer knowledge, he was able to do accomplish things others in his situation wouldn’t be able to. Along with his part-time job and “illegal” computer hobbies, he also attended Jackson College thanks to new legislation passed with the help of President Nick Harrison. This new legislation made all community colleges free for working students, which is why Sam had to work at his crappy part-time McDonald’s job while going to school. Sam’s ambition was to help develop the field of artificial intelligence, so he majored in computer science and minored in psychology.


    Glancing at the clock and seeing it was getting close to when he needed to leave, Sam jumped into the shower and quickly washed himself. After getting his uniform on, he headed out and started his daily walk to work, early in the morning. Looking around the dark neighborhood only reminded him of all the life challenges he has had to face. Losing his parents to a drunk driver, being sent into foster care, and surviving in this world after being emancipated so he could have control over his own life.


    Walking into the store, Sam heard the usual music being played and smelled the greasy food being prepared in the morning. Compared to when he first started out working here, his stomach didn’t turn as much whenever he had to smell the constant oil in the air. The oil seemed to be everywhere, which is why he was assigned special work shoes had helped to increased traction on the floor. If he didn’t have these shoes on and walked on the tiled floor, Sam would be struggling not to slip and fall onto the hard surface.


    “Look who walked into the door!” Sarah, his co-worker, yelled out to him, with her usual grin on her face. Sarah was also a student at the local college, and had helped him to land his job at McDonald’s. She was slightly younger than him, by a year, and had been working here for several years. Seeing her in the morning always helped him to bear working at this job, due to how they were in similar living situations. The main difference was that she was studying to become a fashion designer, and hoped to land a job in New York City at one of those big name studios. They enjoyed similar shows and hobbies (outside of computers), which caused them to naturally hang out with one another at work and school.


    Grinning back at her, Sam calmly said, “Hey, how can I miss out coming here, where dreams are made?”, while pointing at the new posters touting the benefits of starting a career at McDonald’s.


    Walking behind the counter, Sam waited for the clock to signal the start of his shift before he clocked in. The one thing they were taught was that they were not allowed to clock in early, which is something the managers made a big deal about. Waving back at the people working on the line, putting together orders, he looked at the clock on the point of sale (POS) unit and started to log in and grab the printed receipt, stuffing it into his tiny work pockets. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    “How has the morning shift been?” He asked Sarah, as she was shoving various items into a McDonald’s bad and hitting the various confirmation buttons, before passing it to the person working at the drive-through window.


    Looking back at him, Sarah rolled her eyes and replied, “It’s been crazy busy! Feels like everyone decided they needed their $1 coffee along with everything on the menu, for themselves and all their co-workers!”


    Walking over to the coffee machine near the automated drink machine, Sam grabbed the glass container and dumped out the “old” coffee after looking at when it was made. He swapped out the coffee container in the coffee machine near the front counter, and quickly brought it over to the machine he grabbed the previous container from. Once it had a, relatively, new supply of coffee, Sam started the process of making more coffee so that they wouldn’t run out. The worst thing that could happen is running out of coffee in the morning, considering how long it took to brew a new batch and the likelihood of a customer ordering coffee. With McDonald’s new promotion of a $1 coffee people have been ordering it like crazy, causing them to constantly brew coffee and keeping the coffee station stocked with silver (regular) and orange (decaf) coffee packets.


    “Thanks, a lot, Sam.” Sarah sighed appreciatively. “I didn’t have a chance to make more, with all the orders coming in. We had two call-ins, so we’re kind of short on staff. Glad that you’re not the type of person to call in, whenever they don’t feel like coming into work.” she snarled at the end of it. The people that were hired weren’t the type of people who cared about showing up to work consistently, which caused everyone else’s job to become harder. There was no point in asking who called in, because it was always the same people though they never got fired due to the store not being able to keep new hires for long.


    After the morning rush of people started to pass by, he told Sarah that he would be sweeping up the lobby area and went to grab the broom from the back. There were a bunch of trays that were left behind by previous customers and straws on the floor, so he began the constant cycle of cleaning up the area. While he was cleaning he happen to look up and see a news report about a massive psychological study being done in the Arizona desert. Attempting to appear like he was being productive, he kept reading the subtitles and learning how the study was going to be a five to ten year study where participants would be isolated in a giant structure. Not much was known about it, aside from participants being paid $50,000 for each year they participated. When he read that part he dropped his broom and just stood there, thinking about the possibilities of getting nearly a quarter to half a million dollars just for taking part in this. He tried to find out how he could sign up when he heard Sarah shouting for him, about a customer being at the front counter.


    For the rest of his shift, Sam was unable to concentrate on his work and kept looking at the clock to see when his shift would end. Sarah kept talking to him about some show they both watched, and how some guy they both new was acting like a total creep.


    “Hey! You okay?” Sarah asked him, once they both left the store and were walking back to his place. Since Sam lived closed to both work and school, they would usually head to his place so they could change out of their work clothes and hang out before getting to class.


    Shaking himself out of his daze, Sam just looked over to Sarah and answered, “Did you hear about the new psychological study being done in Arizona?”


    Giving him an “are you kidding me” look, she said, “Yeah. I think I heard that while I was making out with Captain America”, oozing out sarcasm.


    Rolling his eyes, he took a deep breath and tried to ignore her sarcasm. “On the news, I saw that they were doing some kind of massive psychological study, lasting somewhere around five to ten years!”


    Tilting her head, she gave him a look saying he needed to make his point.


    “Fine. I’m sure you’ll be interested in the part where they pay the participants $50,000 for every year they are in the study?” He asked her, smirking.


    Her eyes started to widen as she realized the significant amount of money, being given out. “How in the hell are they going to be able to pay everyone half a million dollars? What’s the catch, and where can we sign up?”


    “I don’t know, because you shouted for me to head back to the counter. I’ve been thinking about it throughout the shift. When we get back to my place, I’m planning on checking online and seeing if I can find any information on it. I’m sure that tons of people are applying to take part in it, so I want to find out immediately.”


    After saying that, Sam watched Sarah bolt to where he lived and look back at him, waving her arm indicating him to hurry it up. Chuckling, Sam raced off after her.