You ask Carol to take you to the interview

You had to go to Carol, you had no other choices here. You didn't have any money, no sense of direction of where the stores are, and no transportation. You sheepishly walked up to the door and knocked. Carol answered the door with her purse slung on her shoulder and car keys in her hand.

"I figured you might need a ride, but I didn't want to push." Carol said. "Great top, by the way."

"...Thanks." you muttered as you followed Carol to her car.

You climbed into the passenger seat of her car. She took off, and it took a moment for you to adjust to the lack of seat belts. Carol thought to herself how unladylike you had been climbing in, but that would change once you had a nice guiding influence. Carol tried to pry some more information out of you, but you expertly dodged her questions.

"How long are you planning on staying here?" Carol asked.

"Oh, just as long as I need to." you replied.

"I see." Carol replied.

When the car arrived, Carol pointed out the window towards the salon.

"That's the place." Carol said.

"A salon? I'm not sure I'd be qualified." you replied.

You had been expecting a shop or a restaurant, not a women's hair salon. But beggars can't be choosers.

"Trust me, it's not hard, all they need is someone to wash hair. I assume you have a lot of experience with that, right?"

"I suppose. You don't have to wait for me."

"Oh nonsense, I have some errands to run, you'll probably be out before I am."

"All right." you sighed, getting out of the car and walking into the salon.

Eleanor could tell who you were from the moment you walked in. The shirt was nice, but the walk clearly showed that you had never been shown how to walk or hold yourself. And the hair was dreadful! Even if Carol hadn't suggested it, Eleanor would have insisted, she can't let this poor girl walk out of here looking like that.

The salon was about what you'd imagine a 1950's era salon would be like. Three chairs set up in front of mirrors, a setup of chairs with dryers, checkered floors, and the three women sitting inside were dressed similarly to Carol. One of the women noticed you immediately as you opened the door. As you walked in, she rushed to greet you.

"You must be Carol's new neighbor, I'm Eleanor." she said.

"Eric." you said, stretching your hand out to shake, which Eleanor did.

"Carol told me you were seeking employment."

"Yeah, but I'd understand if you'd be hesitant to hire me, given the situation."

"What situation, dear? I don't see any issues. What you'd mostly be doing is shampooing the ladies' heads, and maybe some sweeping on the side. Possibly other stuff as time goes on, depending on what I need. Think you can handle that?"

"I guess so."

"Great, the starting pay is $0.75 an hour."

"Seventy-five cents? That's..." you started.

"Extremely generous for a small business." Eleanor immediately corrected.

You weren't sure of how inflation worked, but you did know that you'd probably be making a decent living with that wage.

"You start bright and early tomorrow." Eleanor said.

"I've got the job? Just like that?" you asked.

"Well, I trust Carol, and you seem like a good worker."

"I won't disappoint you." you said.

This was great! The sooner you made money, the sooner you'd be fixing your machine and going home. Maybe you could drop in to a hardware store before meeting up with Carol.

"Thank you, Eleanor." you said.

"Before you go, I was wondering, when was the last time you had your hair done?" she asked.

"Oh... uh... I'm not sure." you replied, that was a weird question to ask.

"If you're not sure, it's been too long. Let's handle that right now." Eleanor grabbed your hand and sat you down in a chair, wrapping a pink cape around your neck.

"That's not necessary," you started, trying to stand up.

"If you're going to be working here, you should at least know how nice this feels, trust me." Eleanor said. "Madge, Shannon, help me out."

The other two women in the salon, a tall blonde girl and a short dark haired girl started to set up the basin and some other things as Eleanor started adjusting your chair.

Her trusting expression, combined with the fear of pissing off your new boss, made you feel like you should let her wash your hair, after all, how bad could that be?