Santa Fe, New Mexico - Dirk Johnson, 16, and known to his friends and himself as a "bad boy", spends most of his time giving grief to a local mall security guard. Dirk is blissfully unaware of his fate.
Dirk does rather poorly in school, mainly for his continued skipping so as to smoke pot with his stoner friends at an abandoned building near by. On weekends, rather than study, he and his friends go to the White Hills Mall, where they engage in petty shoplifting, loitering and ogling girls who will never give them the time of day.
Security Officer Tim Holderly is regarded by the sorry little excuse for a gang as their "nemesis". He's the one who always tells them to move along, or watches them closely when they enter upscale stores that they clearly have no need to be in.
To "get him back", the youths - particularly goaded on by Dirk Johnson - routinely hassle the man who earns $8.50 an hour babysitting such brats so as to feed his family. Yellings, tauntings, grabbing his hat and throwing it in the fountain, and once even egging his car, they keep up a non-stop barrage to show their contempt for who they think of as "the man".
Ironically, such types as Dirk have nothing but the most ass kissing form of respect for cops. In fact, it is their awareness of their craven attitude toward those in power over them that make them rebel against the harmless teachers, parents and mall guards in their lives.
But what of Dirk's fate? Insiders reveal the stunningly karmic truth that has yet eluded the young punk. That when he drops out of school next year, only to finally get his GED when he's twenty, there will actually only be one job that he will qualify for.
Mall Security.
With no skills, no degree and no reasonable work history, it will be that or one of the cleaning services, and most of them have higher standards than unarmed security.
Mall Officer Holderly is actually well aware of this. And his frustration with Dirk and his friends is tempered by his memories of his own hell raising days in High School. Fortunately, the guard he tormented forgave him, and so is not so bad a boss to work for.
Grinning, Officer Holderly watches Dirk flip him off from across the food court. "See you in a few years, dipshit!" he whispers to himself.
