Southern Comfort

It Came From Southern Ohio

Being new to town was the least of my problems. I would be fine for a little while, but I needed a job. The problem is, I'm very inexperienced.

I grew up in the countryside, ran a corn crop farm with my family. We had some animals too, but that was more of a side-gig.

And one dust storm tore it all apart. Well, along with a drought, but the dust storm was the last straw. We had to sell all our animals to pull through, even our horses. My parents wouldn't have enough to support me long-term anymore. They only had enough to give me a new start in a suburban area.

There were a few places I'd be qualified to work at. Y'know, since I only have a high school education. I dropped out early to help on the farm.

I stared at the Hiring sign plastered over the glass doors of the pizzeria for a moment before shoving the doors open.

Since the place had just opened for the day, it was practically deserted. I made my way towards the employee's hallway to find the boss's office. Luckily, it was marked with a golden plate on it, making it easy to find.

I carefully knocked on the door, nervous to start the interview. The faint noise of rustling papers came from the other side before a man finally piped up.

"Hello! Uh- come in!" I did just that, opening the door knob and letting myself in.

There was a short man seated behind a large, professional desk. He had black hair, but there were protruding parts that seemed red. His brownish red eyes bored into me as he motioned towards the chair in front of his desk.

Once I was seated, he smiled warmly and held a hand out over the desk, saying, "Here for the interview, I assume. I'm Philip Guy, the manager here."

I took his hand in mine, shaking it heartily as I returned, "Ah, nice to meet you, Mr. Guy. The name's y/n l/n."

He seemed relieved speaking to me, almost as if he'd expected me to be bonkers or something.

"Right, well, what position were you hoping to apply for?" he asked, turning towards a piece of paper on his desk.

"Uh..." I trailed off, eyes wandering around the somewhat cluttered office before I settled on, "Anything I can get? I dunno, I don't really have a preference."

He nodded his head, grinning widely, then jotted something down before he continued interview.

"As long as you aren't a mechanic, you don't need any prior experience. Since you seemed worried about that on the phone the other day," he reassured.

I shrugged my shoulders, stating, "Yep, only ever done car repairs. Well, radios. Uh... only ever really worked on doohickeys, I mean."

He raised an eyebrow, erasing something as he said, "Then you are qualified for doing a bit of mechanic work."

My eyes widened as I said, "Oh. Good to hear. I think."

He gently laid his pencil down as he looked back up at me, asking, "Your voice... you've got a bit of an accent. Where are you from?"

I shrugged again, answering, "Oh, not too far away. Well, kinda. Came from a farm a bit more south from here."

He snickered, joking, "Never thought this place would attract so many farmers." I didn't really understand the joke, but didn't say anything about it.

He cleared his throat, getting back on topic as he asked, "Right, so where are you staying now?"

I gave him the address of my apartment complex along with the number of the apartment I was staying in.