Corey ran to the office Monday morning. He couldn’t believe his luck in landing this job. He lied to get in the door, telling the HR woman he’d been in hotel sales for two years. What he had been doing after dropping out of junior college was working for four months at Burger King, slinging French fries at Sally when the manager wasn’t looking and having ketchup fights at midnight to keep awake.

Matt, the general manager and Corey’s new boss, welcomed Corey by pointing to t...