When I was 20, I had a friend who worked at a local department store. His job was to preapprove applicants for credit, and I was Harvey MacDonald from Alabama.
I used the card a couple of times – bought some clothes and some other bullcrap.
On the third try, they asked for ID.
Oh – I left it in the car. Be right back!
And they didn’t see me again.
If I had been caught, I wouldn’t have gotten those student loans or been admitted into school, and I wouldn’t have gotten my last several jobs. I would be a dude packing boxes right now.
It would have become who I am, not what I did. That’s how the world would see it.
I would have been contemplating something crazy to raise my kids.
And I wouldn’t have been able to look my mother in the eye.