The autumn colored leaves flew through air as the Boston wind pushed them across the city. My quaint slumber was disturbed by a deafening beeping by my bedside. The clock read 6:00, Monday september 6, 2016. It was the first day of my new job. I slammed my hand onto the alarm clock to quiet the beeping. After about a half hour, I was almost ready. I slipped on the new clothes that I had bought for the big day. They smelled of faint lemon and laundry detergent. Coffee in hand, I stepped out of the door into the enormous concrete jungle, surrounded by the sounds of car horns and  human conversation. I arrived at a thirty story building built completely out of windows, and admired the morning sun hitting the glass in glory.   
“Caroline Jones” I exclaimed to skinny man sitting at the front desk. He pointed to the elevators and said,
“You are two minutes late. Not one of these” he muttered as he rudely rolled his eyes.
“One of what?”
“Tenth floor.  They are expecting you”
I walked my aching feet to the elevator. I never wore heels. Why did I choose to wear heels on that day? Who was I trying to impress? Not even I know the answers to those questions. Once I arrived on the tenth floor, the door opened to expose at least twenty men with evil scofs on their faces. I heard faint whispers, but it was mostly silent. Finally, after a very awkward few seconds, someone spoke.
“Caroline Jones?” a very tall, muscular man exclaimed. He had large round glasses that almost covered his entire face and his hair looked like small brown curly cues .
“Yes. I am the new accountant. I’m very excited to be here”
“ Really? Are you? I’m Mike” and he started to name the nineteen other guys whose names I still can’t remember. “Go set up an account for yourself on the computer if that isn’t too difficult for you. Let me know when you are finished.”
“Yes sir.”
After a few moments I told Mike that I had finished. He stared deeply at my computer screen with a look of disgust on his face.
“I saw your resume” Mike commented in an extremely angry tone.  I had all straight A’s in school, and volunteered at local animal shelters. I had perfect attendance, passed the SAT with flying colors, and graduated at the top of my class. I have a masters degree in accounting but that clearly was not enough for Mike because he said nothing to me.
I thought to myself “That’s it?” I always worked my ass off and the word lazy is not in my vocabulary. Who does he think he is? This man needed a serious reality check. But I held my tongue for he already hated me enough.
“The morning meeting is in 10 minutes so go fetch all of us coffee from across the street. I mean seriously that is all you horrid women are capable of.” My jaw dropped so low it fell through the floorboards, but despite the absolutely horrible and sexist comment that was made, I dragged my butt to the coffee shop.  Why was I doing this? I should have just quit then and there. But I didn’t. I always felt the need to prove myself ever since I was young. I never do anything half assed. If getting to the top started with fetching coffee, so be it. So, I returned with the coffee. You bet I did. But with it, a whole lot of anger and determination. There were no more chairs in the conference room for me, so I stood. In the meeting we discussed who would do which job at the firm. I was so generously given the job of “refreshment fetcher.” God damn. It’s very exciting, I know. These men had no idea what I was capable of. I finally decided to speak up, which ultimately wasn’t the best idea.
“Don’t you think that I should be doing something that actually has to do with accounting?”
“What makes you think that?’ asked Mike.
“Well I’m an accountant”  
“Oh please you women were put on this planet to reproduce, and be refreshment fetchers. You do nothing worthy or exciting and you are cancer to this Earth. So, do it and like it or say a long  goodbye to this job.” I was absolutely horrified that this man was allowed to speak to me this way. I was furious. Coffee was fine, but these absolutely disgusting, hurtful, and sexist comments were taking it way too far. I really wanted to take that scorching hot coffee and throw it in Mike’s face. Maybe he wouldn’t talk as much. Maybe he would be much less of an asshole. But again, I restrained myself. Despite my extreme rage and hate toward this man. He was truly the most horrible person I had ever met in my entire life. Notice how I said person. Both men and women can be horrible people, but both men and women are also capable of doing great things. Women are one hundred percent able to be more than a refreshment fetcher. My blood was boiling so much that it was about to melt my skin right off of my body. All I could see were twenty silent men with shocked, dopey looks on their disgusting faces. The only sound in the room was the constant, repetitive ticking of the clock. The tension was melting off of the walls and spreading all over the floor. That was it. I always need to prove myself. I did not need to prove my skills. I needed to prove that this accounting firm was the most horrid place I had ever stepped foot into. I took matters into my own hands. I wished I would stomp my feet right out of that building. However, not that much later, I am still standing in that building, surrounded by the same twenty men. Only now, I am fifty thousand dollars richer and Mike is fifty thousand dollars poorer since he lost the lawsuit that I won. He got what he deserves and I don’t even feel bad. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, Mike is the refreshment fetcher now. I am the owner of the firm. A little time, a little determination, and a little feminism can get you anything you dream of.  In this case, it got me respect, equality and an accounting firm.