...I step away from the counter and pretend to read the menu, holding my résumé close to my chest. The urge to leave increases… As I hand the manager my résumé, I realize it is a mistake. He doesn't want to know my service experience, or my academic references, or my GPA. All he wants to know is if I can spell my name correctly....

American graduate student and essayist. Franklin earned his B.A. in English at Brigham Young University and an M.A. in creative nonfiction at Ohio University. His essay "Working at Wendy's" won the 2006 Random House Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers contest and appears in an anthology of the same name. More of his work can be seen online at Brevity: Journal of Concise Nonfiction. Currently, Franklin is working on his doctorate in English at Texas Tech University. See also creativenonfiction.org/brevity.