Both Sue and Tammy had been working at Great Eats Diner for a short time. The pay wasn't all that that great but at least it was it was enough to live on. Both were from the same mid-western town in Iowa. They had known each other since high school. After high school, Sue got a job as a clerk in a small hardware store and Tammy got a job in a nursing home. For both of them it was the same; since they were the new and inexperienced help, they got all the dirty jobs. For Sue, it was being made to clean dust, dirt, insect, and rodent droppings on the top shelves and the back room shelves. For Tammy, it was having to deal with the old farts that would try to feel her up as she helped them into bed, or cleaned up having to change someone's dirty Depends. This wasn't the ideal job they imagined when they were in high school. After a couple of years of the same-old-same-old and feeling like they weren't getting anywhere, both were getting a little depressed.
Saturday was a day off for both of them. It was a time when they could get together at the local bar for a drink and swap stories about the worst thing that happened to them during the week. As they replayed this week's worst, they also lamented about how they really hadn't had much of a date lately. While neither had a model's body, they both had some good curves in the right places. The real problem was what they had little to pick from in this small town.
At the table they were sitting at, the previous customer had left his morning paper. On the back page was an advertisement for sunny southern California. Tammy was the first to notice it and the wheels in her head started spinning. She grabbed Sue's arm and told her "This is where we should be. No more drab winters, tons of boys on the beach to pick from, and we should be able to get a job that pays a hell of a lot more than we're making here." Sue's eyes lit up. It was one of those things where you get so frustrated with the way things are now that you really don't take the time to think it through. "Let's do it", replied Sue.
So, on Monday morning, each walked in the door to work, said they were quitting. Within an hour, both were in Sue's beat-up 70's Vega, with $800 between them, heading for sunny southern California. Leaving their home town was easy, there wasn't much to hold them down. Both had been living by the week in an old run down hotel, they had no boyfriends to speak of, and their jobs had not been all that attractive. Sue's car was something she had gotten second hand a month before. It had the usual 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' in the bodywork. The paint was pealing in a few places and the tires had most of their life used up. Still, Sue's automotive inexperience, lead her to believe the beat-up Vega would get them to their 'promise land' destination.
Along the way, they began to realize that the car was not as economical as they had counted on. The radiator needed to be topped off twice and it went through 4 quarts of oil in 1600 miles. They had also misjudged on the cost of food or lodging, and by the time they got to LA, they were down to $400. Their spirit undeterred, they headed for a place to stay close to the coast; a place where they thought they could be close to the ocean and have good job prospects. What they found was the rooms were too expensive for the money they had left and had to settle for something further into the city.
It only took two weeks to realize the neighborhood they were in was pretty scary; 4 shootings in as many days. With work prospects not panning out, the violence in the city, and Tammy having a hard time getting accustomed to the smog, they decided to try their luck in San Francisco. With less than $60 in their pocket, they set out for San Francisco. By this time, both Sue and Tammy were getting a little nervous about the Vega making it but hoped it had enough life left in it to get them to where they were going.
They took off out of LA late in the afternoon and they had only gone about 150 miles before it got dark. Seeing as how Tammy was not good at reading maps and the signage on the highway not very good, they found the turn they had made 50 miles back, had put them out in the middle of nowhere. They were now hopelessly lost and the small towns they passed looked more like dried up watering holes than a town. It dawned on them that at the next town, however big it was, they would stop and get directions.
It was one of the tiniest towns they had seen yet. The town was comprised of 1 gas station, 1 eatery, 3 rundown houses, and a 4 room motel that looked like it had been there for 80 years. The gas station was closed and they were lucky enough to find someone walking across the street they could ask directions. Just as they were about to ask the man for directions, they heard a loud bang under the hood, accompanied by a cloud of steam. Turns out, the engine had run dry on oil and thrown a rod. The engine was now toast and Sue & Tammy were not going anywhere that night. The man explained the mechanic that normally manned the gas station, would open up at 9:00am. The motel just up the street could tie them over for the night.
Resigned to the situation, they walked down to the motel to rent a room. They signed in and paid $28 in advance. That left them with $1 each left over. The room itself was nothing to write home about but at least it was a place to sleep.
The next morning, they had a sparse breakfast and went to visit the mechanic. George the mechanic, told them it would cost $2,000 to put a new engine in the Vega. He could possibly get them another car for $500 but it would take a week or two to come up with. Neither option was what the girls wanted to hear so they headed back to the Great Eats diner to talk over their predicament.
In the diner window a Help Wanted sign was prominently placed. After they sat down, Randy the short-order cook, came to the table to ask if they wanted anything. With no money left, the answer was obvious to both the girls. Just as Randy was about to turn away, Sue had an idea. "Wait, what about the Help Wanted sign in the Window?" Since 2 days ago, when the previous two waitresses quit, the mid-twenties scruffy looking Randy had been run ragged trying to handle things. He hadn't been too hopeful at finding any help but this seemed like his lucky day. He told them he could only pay them $6/hour and that if they wanted the job, they could start right away.
Sue and Tammy looked at each other like 'not another dead end job' but figured if they were going to be able to eat, sleep, and save enough for another car, they would have to take the job. Randy told them to look in the back room for some uniforms and that they could change there. Sue and Tammy found a closet in the back room with a couple of well-worn uniforms and began to change.