Efficient Interviewing a la Ash

Who: Sasha and Ash
When: around 9ish a.m.
Where: Ash's shop

No one would probably ever expect it? But Ash loved Mondays. He loved the weekends more, granted, but Mondays had a good feel to them, for him. A getting-back-to-work feel. He guessed that was what happened when you loved both of your jobs. He felt awesome and energized as he threw the bay door up and open. "Nothing like the smell of dirty oil in the morning," he drawled to himself and chuckled as he lit up a cigarette. Maybe tonight, he'd do some hunting of some kind. Go out and get some shit done. But first, there were engines to fuck around with, brakes to replace, dipsticks to check. He turned away from the street outside and ambled over to the worn and filthy stereo that sat on a shelf littered with tools and parts to turn it on and crank it up. It was gonna be a good day, he could feel it already.

Shasha didn't exactly love Mondays. There certainly wasn't the hatred there that some had to deal with, though. It could perhaps be said that he had a working relationship with them, they left him alone long enough to wander on to Tuesdays and everyone was happy. Still, this Monday he was at least eager to see, as he hadn't been able to do much serious job hunting on Sunday, and money was tight for someone without work or a home. So he found himself heading to the Motor Masters auto shop, dressed in semi-presentable clothing consisting of a new pair of light cargo pants and a button down shirt of flat black. He walked into the front of the store and to the desk, tapping on the tired little bell on the counter.

Nobody came to the counter, as it was just Ash and he was in the back, and rocking out. The music filtered through to the front of the store -- a place he admittedly didn't spend much time in -- faint through the glass and the door that was there. There was a window on the other side of the counter that led into the actual shop proper, and the angel was going for a different size wrench when he spotted that there was somebody in his store. Odd, they usually came around. But Ash dropped his tools and snagged up a dirty old shop towel to wipe his hands with as he walked through the door and into the waiting area. "Howdy," he greeted Sasha with a lopsided grin, moving to lean on his side of the counter. "What can I do for ya?"

"Hey." Sasha smiled at the friendly greeting, thinking that things were at least starting off well. "I'm not good at sales pitches, so I'll be quick. I want to work for you. I can fix anything you put in front of me if I can see how it works. I have my own tools, you don't have to train me, and I can start right now." He'd learned long ago that he had no tact or subtlety to work with when it came to looking for work, so he just barreled ahead and hoped that it would all work out.

Ash leaned a his forearms on the counter and took in the young man in front of him. He didn't feel to be a bad person, to his other senses. There were a few dark marks here and there, but the guy didn't kick kittens into rivers or anything, so to speak. He arched an eyebrow, looking faintly amused. "You wanna work for me, huh?" he posed rhetorically, musing on the idea. He'd of course had partners in business before, but this kid looked young. Of course, everybody was starting to look young to him. The angel straightened, and gestured Sasha back around the corner so he could come into the shop proper with him. "C'mon then, come and show me what you know," he said, and held the door open.

Sasha grinned at the reaction, and followed Ash into the back garage obligingly. He looked around at the various jobs to be handled in the back room as they entered, nodding a bit. The place had the look of use, of a place that had actual work being done. He didn't see any posters for the local 425 or any other such union, which was a relief. Maybe he would be able to do something worthwhile here after all, maybe he did stand a chance of being hired. If all it came down to was a simple skill test, he knew he had it in the bag.

He sauntered along with Sasha with the ease and confidence of a man who knows his own place, and where to step over things. Because the shop wasn't the most organized in the world, to say the least. He stood for a moment, and then pointed to the car in the second bay. There were only two, but that one was fresh. He already had the Jaguar that occupied the first bay partially pulled into bits. "Lady brought that in late yesterday afternoon," he told Sasha, looking over at him. "Says there's a rattling noise in the engine. Go see if you can figure out why. Take as long as you need, I'll be right back." He clapped the kid on the shoulder and grinned suddenly.

"Alright." Sasha nodded and walked over to the car. First thing he did was do a walkaround, see if there was anything external that he didn't know about, and to make sure it was secure in its berth. After that, he grabbed the keys and climbed into the machine. He popped the hood and lifted it, then made sure to set the parking brake and pedal break before cranking the engine up to give the engine a listen. After all, just because the lady said the engine was rattling didn't make it true. People could be rather picky about their cars, and in his experience would bring them in for every little nuance that sounded vaguely different.

Leaving him for the moment, Ash disappeared into another door at the other side of the building. The one that led outside to the stairs. He clomped up them in his workbooks, heading for his apartment above the shop. He trusted that the kid wouldn't jack the car, or steal anything while he was left alone. That was one benefit of being able to see people's characters. You kind of had a good idea of what they would or wouldn't do. So he rummaged around in the fridge upstairs and pulled out a couple of beers. Then headed back down. He sauntered up to the open door of the vehicle that had Sasha inside, and offered the boy a cold bottle. Ash would see to it that he took it. If he couldn't work with a beer in him, then he wasn't any good to the angel.

Sasha raised an eyebrow when he saw the beer being slid inside. Some people might consider it an ambush test, to see if the employee would take the beer, which was obviously patently stupid. But the Russian-American had a sense for when people were being genuine, came with the territory of being half-predator. He took the beer and twisted the cap open, taking a long swig of it and setting it aside as he turned back to listening to the engine. Sure enough, there was a rattle. He hopped up and strolled around to the front, looking toward and listening to the engine for a moment, then he looked over to Ash. "You're kidding right? That's the oil pan. When did she last have this piece of shit serviced?"

Ash had taken up a leaning position against a nearby counter, sipping his own cold one and watching. The acceptance of the bottle was a good sign, as was the fact that he actually took a drink of it. It denoted trust, and that was something that was essential, if they were going to be working together. He knew what was wrong with the junkheap already, the whole point was to see how quickly and efficiently Sasha could know. He flashed a grin when the kid pinpointed it without even having to dig into the engine and poke around. "God only knows," he answered. "'Cause she sure didn't. Can you fix it?" he inquired, arching an eyebrow and taking another swig off of the bottle.

Sasha strolled around and reached in, shutting off the car, then picked up his beer and stood back to let the vehicle cool. Even a couple minutes of running could make an engine too hot to risk touching immediately. "It's a pretty easy sound. Oil pan's loose, filter's clogged and shot. Flush the system, change the filter and the pan out, charge her twenty percent markup for the 'stupid waste of my time' tax and call it a day." His eyes let on that he was probably kidding, as did his smile as he took another pull of the beer.

The angel laughed. Genuinely, because he already liked the way this kid thought. Not that he really liked ripping people off, but Jesus, sometimes they were just so stupid. If getting a chunk taken out of their wallet was what it took to get them to learn to take care of their cars, so be it. He reached a hand out and thunked Sasha companionably on the shoulder, careful not to do it too hard when the kid was drinking. "So. Eight-thirty or nine 'til six, I work six days a week but you don't have to, I'm closed when I wanna be closed, but if I take a fuck-off day I'll pay you for it. Base rate nine-fifty an hour for the first six months, plus fifteen percent of any jobs over a grand. Sound okay? You do any body work?"

"I can. Better with engines than body, but I can learn. And that sounds right, the money I mean. I'll tackle this heap when the engine cools off and stops ticking." He held out his beer in a salutory gesture, inviting Ash to respond in kind. "Well, here's to fast interviews and making a lot of money." His smile was broad and genuine, because this day had gone exactly down to plan and he couldn't think of any reason not to be ridiculously happy.

Ash beamed right back at him, moving his bottle out to clink against the proffered one. If it didn't work out, it didn't work out, and he could just fire the guy. But for now ... some help might be pretty cool. Having someone to trust the shop to could free up quite a bit of time, if Sasha turned out to be good, and there were ... other things in town he could take care of. "Hear, hear. Most interviews are bullshit anyway. What's your greatest weakness my ass. Though, I will say this, kid. There's a lot of money in tools in this shop. You rip me off? I will hunt you down and make you sorry. I mean it in the nicest way possible, a'course," he said, offering a grin. He didn't think that would happen for a second, but it was good to put it out there so he didn't look like a complete schlep.

"Please, you wouldn't have hired me if I were that stupid." Sasha snorted, shaking his head. "Nah, you make money means I make money. I make money means I get a place to live and a stomach full of food." He looked at his bottle and shrugged. "And beer, apparently." He tilted it up, polishing the cold one off at a go. "Good stuff, at least you don't drink crap." Yeah, he could tell he was going to enjoy working around this place.

"Good man," Ash said with a grin and another thunk to the shoulder. That was what he thought. He pushed off of the counter and took another long pull. "You buy what you like, if you want, I'll put it in the fridge upstairs. I live up there, and you're welcome to the kitchen unless the door's locked. I'm gonna get ass-deep in this piece of shit over here," he said, motioning with his bottle toward the Jag in the other bay. "Holler if you can't find something." And he ambled off to go work, entrusting the lady's car to his new employee.

Sasha set down his empty, grabbed an empty tool-tray, and started loading it up with screwdrivers, wrenches, and assorted materials for the job. He'd eyeballed the parts and figured there wouldn't be too many surprises lurking for him in the engine. Humming to himself, he got right to work on the engine, pleased to be getting right into the swing of a new job.