The Sundollars Coffee chain liked to put up signs touting how the Wall Street Journal and several other business-oriented publications considered them one of the worlds best employers to work for. Mark Grogan was not exactly sure what factors these publications used in order to make this determination but he was pretty sure they had never asked the peons who actually worked the counters. Granted, Sundollars was a few steps above the fast food sweatshops he did time in back in high school – the pace was a little slower and the pay was a little better – but they did not offer him medical or dental benefits, they did not match funds for the 401k, and the only real opportunity for advancement was to assistant manager, which meant he would be salaried and forced to come in far beyond his normal working hours with no additional hourly pay. He had been there for almost two years now and could not quite bring himself to accept that promotion though they repeated the offer at least once every quarter. Working at Sundollars was a McJob, just like any other. It was a means to get him through college and, as far as that went, it fit the bill rather nicely. He came in four mornings a week at 6:00 AM and worked until 10:30, which left him just enough time to get to the California State University at Heritage Campus where he was carrying eighteen units a semester towards a Criminal Justice degree.