Paying your dues is an out-of-date and backwards attitude found in many industries. In my field, graphic design, there is no lack of old timers who love to tell stories about the abuse they endured, almost relishing it like a badge earned. I’m not following that path.

Mite bites and fruit flies were the last straw for a cosmetics counter manager at a small department store in Berkley, Calif. This is what she did about it.