From BCG Attorney Search authored by Harrison Barnes:

The first job I ever had was as an asphalt contractor in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Grosse Pointe is an area of about 25,000 people that is socially stratified between middle class and very wealthy people. The city is built along the shores of Lake St. Claire. The wealthiest families tend to live along the lake. As you move away from the lake the houses get smaller and smaller until you arrive in Detroit—which is very poor.

Asphalt cracks in the winter in cold climates, which causes it to break up and look bad, so each year people from all wealth brackets were happy to have me work on their driveways. This was a source of income that kept me busy all summer. I generally would start my summers working on the larger lakefront homes and move inland as the summer progressed.

After several years, I started to notice some patterns. First, I would make the most money and have the least stress doing the work for the people on the “poorer streets” farthest from the lake. The less wealthy people would not bargain about the cost as much, were less critical, paid faster and were easier to work with. Moreover, they generally were very nice people and easy to work with. They would also make decisions about doing the work quite quickly—the same day I came around trying to sell them the work.