Wages of Sin

It is evening, a very short while before Fernando is set to close up for the night. A vehicle pulls up and deposits a teenage girl. Fernando has seen neither the girl nor the SUV before in his life. She enters the Dominion and approaches the counter.

“Hello!” Fernando booms as he is wont to do when the chimes above the door jingle. 

“Excuse me, but are you hiring at all?” the strange girl asks after a brief start.

“No, sorry,” says Fernando. He was hoping she would be one to put money into Fernando's pockets, not one to ask if he would like to give it up.

The girl looks crestfallen. “Are you sure? You wouldn't even hire me for less than minimum wage?”

Fernando presses his lips together. “One, that'd be pretty illegal for me to do. Two, never offer yourself to anyone for less than what you are actually worth. Enough bullshit exploitation and underemployment happens without people who go out of their way to offer an easy solution for the people who have fewer scruples than I do. Do something you enjoy doing and try to make money off that. Make jewelry or cookies or whatever and sell those. If they are good, people will buy them. But if you're dead-set on looking for work under somebody else, the best place is probably Paper World next door. They're usually looking for part-time people to work in the mailroom putting inserts into the newspapers. It's a shitty job, though. I did it for three years in high school.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I'll think about it!” The girl is strangely cheerful. “Thanks! Have a good night!”

“And you as well.” The girl then leaves.

Whether or not she took Fernando's advice to heart is a secret only the future can reveal.