The Woolworths Girls (3 page)

‘So, Sarah, do you have family working here?’

She shook her head. ‘No, not now. My mum and my aunt both worked at the Dartford branch when they were my age. I only found that out when I told Nan I had an interview. I don’t know very much about the company. It seems like a nice place to work, though,’ she added as an afterthought. Sarah was keen to make a good impression, and with Alan being a trainee manager, she didn’t wish to start off on the wrong foot with someone who might one day become her boss. ‘I’ve just been told about when everything used to cost sixpence. Did you know that?’

Alan laughed. ‘I thought everyone knew that! We still sell a lot of stuff for sixpence,’ he added with a grin.

Alan knocked on the door of the office, opening it as he did so, and announced, ‘The new intake are here, Miss Billington.’ Smiling at Sarah, he squeezed her arm. ‘Good luck, Sixpenny. I’ll see you later,’ he whispered so only she could hear him before heading back towards the warehouse.

Sarah blushed. She was quite taken with Alan and could still feel the pressure of his hand on her arm, but pushed all thought of the young man from her mind as along with the other six girls she was called into the personnel office.

It was a tight fit. Sarah found herself wedged between a large metal safe and a filing cabinet alongside Freda. She hoped that Miss Billington would take her on. Glancing along the row of hopeful women, she wondered how many of them had enough experience to fill the vacancies. Sarah knew her own experience was minimal. Helping out in the village post office and general shop didn’t seem enough. She felt very much out of her depth.

Miss Billington glanced at a list of names in front of her. ‘Welcome, ladies. First I’d like you to complete an application form and sit a short arithmetic test. Miss Freda Smith?’

Freda held up her hand and took the proffered form and pencil, whispering a thank you as her eyes widened at the number of questions in front of her.

‘Mrs Maisie Taylor?’

The fashionably dressed woman nodded and held out her gloved hand for the paperwork.

Sarah glanced at Freda and they both grinned. She had a normal name. A cough from the personnel lady had them looking down within seconds. It was just like being back at school, Sarah thought.

‘That’s me, ducks. You can drop the “Mrs” and call me Maisie; I ain’t one for long names. And Mrs Taylor’s me mother-in-law.’ She laughed at her own joke.

Sarah chewed on the inside of her cheek so that she didn’t laugh out loud at Maisie’s joke too. She seemed to be a barrel of laughs and wouldn’t take much notice of anyone in authority.

Miss Billington peered over the top of her spectacles, silencing any further remarks Maisie may have had. ‘Here, you will be known as Mrs Taylor. I expect a certain respect among my staff, and I don’t allow smoking in my office,’ Miss Billington added as Maisie took a packet of Camel cigarettes from her handbag.

‘OK, ducks.’

‘My name is Miss Billington. Please remember that.’

‘OK, ducks— er, Miss Billington,’ the affable Maisie replied.

The personnel officer stared hard at Maisie. Sarah wondered if this meant that Maisie wouldn’t be an employee at Woolworths. With seven applicants, surely there wouldn’t be enough jobs?

Sarah was given her forms along with the other girls.

‘I’ll take you all through to the staff canteen while I leave you to complete your applications. I have to attend to an urgent staffing matter.’ She looked at her wristwatch. ‘I’ll be back in half an hour. We can discuss your duties then.’

‘So we all have jobs?’ Freda asked hopefully.

Miss Billington turned to look at the young girl standing before her. She was aware that many of the applicants in front of her had responsibilities and needed to take home a wage packet. However, she required staff who would work hard for the company and not need watching every five minutes. ‘There are three vacancies. Whoever is taken on will have to work a one-month trial. It does depend on how you complete the arithmetic test. We have just three weeks until Christmas, our busiest time of the year. We’re short-staffed. I require three extra workers on the shop floor by tomorrow morning. I hope I will find suitable candidates among you.’ She glanced at Maisie and sighed.

The three girls found a table away from the others and pulled off their coats. The room was warm. The windows were steamed up from the kitchen area, which was behind a counter, and the smell of baking made Sarah’s stomach rumble. She had been too nervous to eat the sandwich Nan had made for her lunch.

The girls scrutinized the paperwork in front of them.

Maisie chewed the end of her pencil. ‘At least I know how to spell my name.’ She was thinking that she’d blown any chance of obtaining one of the three available vacancies. She’d always been one who ‘dressed to impress’, but perhaps this time she’d gone a little over the top. It was obvious that Miss Billington didn’t approve of her outfit, or the way she spoke. She glanced at the two younger women sitting with her. The one called Freda looked as though she was down on her luck. The sleeves of her shabby coat were a little too short and worn threadbare at the cuffs. She reminded her very much of her little sister, Tessa, after . . . Maisie shuddered. No use in dragging up sad memories. She had a new husband and a new life now. No point in looking backwards. However, she’d make it her job to look out for the kid. That wouldn’t hurt anyone.

She peered closer at the form in front of her. ‘Blimey, I didn’t realize that we’d ’ave to be so blooming clever just to work in a shop.’

Sarah giggled to herself. ‘Woolworths expect their staff to be able to count and do basic arithmetic, as we have to add up and give the correct change. It said so in the advertisement in the newspaper.’

‘I didn’t see no newspaper,’ Freda chirped up. ‘Someone told me about the interviews. I’ve helped out on market stalls since I was knee-high to a grasshopper and can add up anything in my head and give the right change. I just don’t know what to put on the paper here.’

‘It’s the same for me, ducks. I’m a dab ’and with adding up darts scores and serving behind a bar, as well as charging the right price for a round of drinks, but all this paperwork near on does me ’ead in.’

Sarah thought for a moment. ‘Look, why don’t I call out the questions and you both tell me the answers? Then I can show you how to write them down correctly.’

Freda beamed. ‘Would you really do that for us? I’d be ever so grateful.’

‘Me too,’ Maisie added. ‘Cheers, love. I owe you one.’

The girls spent the next ten minutes adding up pounds, shillings and pence, and working out change from ten-bob and one-pound notes. Sarah was pleased to see that her idea worked well, and before they’d reached the last sum, both Maisie and Freda were writing down their own answers on the sheets of paper.

They were still poring over the application form when Freda let out a big sigh that made Sarah look up from checking she’d completed the form correctly.

‘What’s up? You sound as though you’ve got the cares of the world on your shoulders.’

‘I have a problem with this bit that asks for references. You see, I don’t have any.’ Freda rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as tears started to form. ‘I really need this job. I don’t know what to do,’ she sniffed.

Sarah squeezed the young girl’s arm. She was skin and bones under her thin cardigan. ‘I’m sure we can think of something. Where did you work before you came to Erith?’

Freda shuddered. The last thing she wanted to do was tell these nice girls about her life. It was best she kept her secret. She needed a job to pay for her lodgings even if it wasn’t for too long; besides, she liked this town, with its grand-looking High Street full of shops and the streets of Victorian houses. While getting on the train at London, she’d spotted a poster advertising trips to the seaside. Freda had never seen the sea, so if she was still here come the summer, she’d make sure she treated herself to a day out.

‘I’d rather not say. I lived in the Midlands and wanted to come here for a fresh start. If I put my parents’ address on the form, my stepfather will more than likely come and drag me back home. Even if I put that I sometimes helped out in the market, it might get back to them, as the stallholders see them most days.’

‘Why did you come to Erith? Do you have family here?’ Sarah enquired. Surely no one came to Erith out of choice? It wasn’t as if it was anyplace special. She loved Erith, as it was where Nan grew up and her roots were here, but would a stranger love it as much?

‘No, I’m quite alone. I decided it was as good a place as any.’ Freda twisted the pencil between her fingers, knowing she’d have to get used to such questions if she was to make a life for herself in Erith. She’d never let on that she was here for a reason.

Maisie raised her eyebrows. She could tell the kid was not telling the truth. Her gut reaction was usually right. This girl was running from something or other. ‘Look, ducks, it’s not fer me to say, but I doubt whether old fussy knickers will follow up our references. Didn’t she say she’s run off her feet? Chances are that by the time she gets round to checking up on us, we’ll have worked a month’s trial. If she doesn’t like us, we’ll get the boot. If she’s happy with our work, then she won’t bother following up whatever we write here. Blimey, my references are just a couple of pubs up the East End of London. That’ll impress her no end. Just make up a couple of addresses. You can always say you made a mistake if she asks.’

Freda looked shocked. ‘A pub? I thought you were posh, what with those lovely clothes and all.’

Maisie snorted with laughter. ‘What, me, posh? Gawd love you – I’m just ’andy with a needle and thread, that’s all. I admit I like to look good, but posh? Dearie me.’ She wiped her eyes as she continued to laugh.

Sarah looked at Maisie in amazement. ‘Why aren’t you working as a dressmaker? There are plenty of factories taking girls on, from what I’ve heard.’ She liked both the girls, but from the little they’d said, their lives were certainly different from her own. Sarah thought she was brave moving to Erith from her comfortable home in Devon and using Nan as the excuse, when in truth she just couldn’t live with her mum’s high expectations for a day longer. Thank goodness her dad had understood.

Maisie shook her head. ‘That’s not fer me. I tried it a couple of times, but it’s too much like working in a sweatshop and being bossed around all the time. I like to make what I fancy. Then if it goes wrong, I only ’ave meself to blame.’

She stuck her pencil behind her ear and leant back in her chair. ‘Now, I could make you two some outfits if you want me to? I brought me Singer with me when we moved in with the in-laws. I’d be only too glad to escape from the old bat and do some sewing. She fair does me head in with all her gossiping. That’s why I wanna job. Get a few bob under our belts so me and the old man can rent our own place before the nippers come along.’

Freda’s eyes opened wide and she blushed. ‘You’re expecting?’

‘Gawd love you. No, not yet, but the way me and the husband are practising, it won’t be long.’

Sarah didn’t know where to put her eyes. She didn’t wish to insult Maisie by pointing out that she’d never heard people talk like that before. She was so embarrassed. ‘A baby would be lovely,’ was all she could think to reply.

Maisie looked pointedly at the two girls. ‘So, what do you think?’

Sarah gasped. Did Maisie want her to comment on her plans to start a family? Her mother had never spoken about such things. Sarah didn’t know what to say or where to look.

Maisie looked hurt. ‘Well, either you both want some new clothes or not. It don’t bother me none.’

Sarah felt a wave of relief wash over her. ‘Oh, clothes. Yes, it would be lovely. How about you, Freda?’

‘I’d love to say yes, but once I’ve paid my rent, I won’t have much money left to spend on myself. Thank you for the offer, but I’d better say no.’ Freda looked wistfully at Maisie’s smart coat, which had been slung casually over the back of her chair.

‘I don’t take no for an answer, my girl. It’ll hardly cost a penny to get you some new clobber on yer back. See this coat?’ Both girls nodded as Maisie took hold of the smart tweed coat and waved it at them. ‘Well, I made it from a man’s overcoat I picked up at a jumble sale. Do you think I’ve got money to waste buying expensive cloth like this? I unpicked all the seams and copied a style I’d seen on some actress on Pathé News at the flicks.’

Sarah ran her fingers over the fabric and sighed. ‘But we’ve only known each other for five minutes.’

Maisie snorted. ‘Love, we’re gonna be spending a lot of time in each other’s company if we get these jobs, so we might as well get along. My way of doing it is to make clothes and be a shoulder to cry on when it’s needed. What do you say?’

Sarah nodded enthusiastically. She liked Maisie’s down-to-earth attitude. The thought of having ready-made friends to work with sounded wonderful.

Freda looked pleased as well. ‘I’d like to be your friend too. Both of you. I’ve not really had any proper friends before. My stepfather didn’t like it.’

Sarah wondered again why Freda had left home. She had worked out from the application form that she was only seventeen. She felt there must be a reason, and it probably wasn’t a good one. ‘Friends it is, then, but we’d better finish answering these questions or we won’t even be offered a job.’

The girls bent back over the papers in front of them, deep in thought as they checked that every question had been answered, oblivious to what was going on around them in the busy canteen.

‘Hello, ladies. How did your interviews go?’

Sarah looked up to see Alan close to her chair. ‘We haven’t finished yet. We still have to finish the arithmetic test. I don’t suppose a trainee manager has to do such things?’ she added cheekily.

‘That and much more,’ Alan said seriously. ‘We have to learn every aspect of Woolworths if we want to advance to management level.’

‘That’s what you want?’ Sarah asked, looking at his earnest face. Alan might like a laugh and a joke, but he also seemed to be serious about his work. Her dad would approve of him.