Jamie Feldman

I dreamed of using a credit card when I was a kid. A fantasy that was realized when I played the game Mall Madness.

I dreamed of using a credit card when I was a kid. A fantasy that was realized when I played the game Mall Madness.

Which came with its own line of store-branded credit cards.

Which came with its own line of store-branded credit cards.

But as it turns out, my fantasy of swiping those fake cards as a child didn't exactly square with the reality of when I actually got my first credit card.

But as it turns out, my fantasy of swiping those fake cards as a child didn't exactly square with the reality of when I actually got my first credit card.

Okay, so I failed a class in college and I wanted to retake it, but I didn't want to tell anybody that I was retaking it because I was too embarrassed. So I decided I was going to try to pay for it myself. And so I went to The Gap.

Okay, so I failed a class in college and I wanted to retake it, but I didn't want to tell anybody that I was retaking it because I was too embarrassed. So I decided I was going to try to pay for it myself. And so I went to The Gap.

Well, I was at the Gap. You were already at the Gap. I was already at the Gap. And when I was there, I noticed that they had credit cards there. Oh, no. And I was like, oh, my God, this is genius. I'll get a Gap credit card. And I'll pay for my class on this Gap credit card. And nobody will ever know.

Well, I was at the Gap. You were already at the Gap. I was already at the Gap. And when I was there, I noticed that they had credit cards there. Oh, no. And I was like, oh, my God, this is genius. I'll get a Gap credit card. And I'll pay for my class on this Gap credit card. And nobody will ever know.

Well, I did. And so I did. Yeah. The visual of sitting in my bed in my shitty East Village apartment in like a hungover anxiety shame spiral, paying like $35 minimum payment on my balance, was very much not sexy. It made me feel pretty much like anything besides a sexy adult.

Well, I did. And so I did. Yeah. The visual of sitting in my bed in my shitty East Village apartment in like a hungover anxiety shame spiral, paying like $35 minimum payment on my balance, was very much not sexy. It made me feel pretty much like anything besides a sexy adult.

Credit cards were not always as ubiquitous as mob madness fans like me would assume.

Credit cards were not always as ubiquitous as mob madness fans like me would assume.

That sounded so crazy to us because it was so recent.

That sounded so crazy to us because it was so recent.

We needed to know what it was like to live in a time when the act of women burning bras in protest was documented in the daily newspapers. But the concept of a woman using her own credit card to buy a new bra was not.

We needed to know what it was like to live in a time when the act of women burning bras in protest was documented in the daily newspapers. But the concept of a woman using her own credit card to buy a new bra was not.

Thank you so much for taking this time. I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for taking this time. I really appreciate it.