"A & P"
by John Updike 
1961
A Preview

In walks three girls
in nothing 
bathing suits.

I'm Sammy
eighteen and work
in a grocery

old people,
cash registers
such a bore

There's Queenie
under fluorescent lights

The boss
sees the girls
and says

"Girls, this
isn't the beach."

They don't deserve
his attitude.

I quit.
Fiddle-dee-doo

The boss says,
"You'll feel this
for the rest 
of your life."

I felt how hard
the world was 
going to be.