2013-01-30 Hiring On A Bit of Help

Walking along a quiet and less-scary part of Gotham, Helena is quietly going insane. She was accustomed to splitting her time between teaching and ... indulging her insomnia. But the former disappeared most spectacularly, and the latter wasn't feasible until just recently, and she's feeling the lack of consistency in her day to day activities. Not to mention she's been having to dip into her savings a lot more than she prefers to.

Glancing up at the looming grey clouds, she can't help but feel like they visually depict her existence. Dark and looming, but not actually doing any of the things their greyness suggests they want to do.

Dinah's outside one of the shops here, sweeping some dust and fallen leaves and other greenery out of the interior of the florist's shop and out onto the sidewalk, humming as she does so. The weather doesn't faze her much, that thanks to how she's used to living in perpetual gloom, and does very little to hamper her mood.

Looking up as Helena starts to pass by, Dinah offers a bit of a smile and a slight nod, the greeting remaining silent for now.

Helena offers a silent nod and smile hello back to the florist, then on a whim detours to enter the shop itself. It's not like she has anything else to do at the moment. She's never really been a fan of cut flowers (she hates watching them die), but sometimes being surrounded by all of the foliage and floral scents is soothing.

When Helena enters Dinah follows, the broom tucked in against the door frame when she does for easy access later. "Hey, can I help you with anything," she asks, pausing to push a lily further into a vase as she does. "We got a Valentine's special. Guaranteed V-Day delivery in the city if you order by..." She pauses. "I'm sure all the florist shops offer the same deal so you probably know it by heart by now."

Helena Bertinelli smiles perhaps a bit apologetically. "Thanks. I'm just browsing for the moment." By the somewhat aimless way she walks very slowly amongst the flowers on display, that does seem to be the truth. She idly brushes a finger along the fuzzy leaves on one particular bunch of waiting to open blossoms, then pauses in front of the refrigerated display case, looking at the arrangements stored inside.

"Right. Well, feel free to look around to your heart's content. And if you have any questions or anything, please let me know." Dinah slips behind the counter and pulls out a ledger of pending jobs, her finger running down along a page as she does. Funny how she does that on paper... don't people use computers for that kind of task?

Continuing her slow meander through the shop, she doesn't bat an eyelash at the paper ledger. Some people just prefer the tactile sensation of paper and pen. She herself does, anyway. Pausing in front of the Gerber daisies, she stares at the flowers for a moment before gently shifting one or two so they're not crowding each other in their display vase and bending their petals out of shape.

You got a pretty deft hand with the flowers," Dinah says as a compliment to Helena although it might not seem like she's looking up, the attention she pays to her book being uninterrupted... or so it might seem. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for work, would you?" Pause. "I could use some help. Part time...?"

Helena Bertinelli looks over at Dinah in open surprise. God, is she THAT obvious? "Um, thanks. Is it that obvious?" She puts her hands into her jacket pockets as if a bit nervous. "I've ... never worked retail before."

Dinah smiles a little. "Just a bit." The ledger is closed but left where it is, it being something she'll get back to in awhile. "I am sorry if I am assuming too much. You just kind of have this look in your eye. Like you're not sure what you're doing with yourself." A look that Dinah is familiar with thanks to how it's one she's had herself more than once.

A rueful smile and nod reveals that Dinah's assessment of Helena is spot-on. "Maybe you should make this place flowers /and/ psychic readings?" She's clearly joking. "But, yeah. I got laid off a few months back, and I've not been able to find anything new yet." That sounds believable enough, right?

"Well, I can't really promise regular hours," Dinah says with a thought. "But if you'd like to do some grunt work for time to time..." A hand dips under the counter and then is drawn back out with an application held between several fingers. "Formality. Here! If you'd like, that is."

Helena Bertinelli takes the form and pulls a (nice) pen from her purse to start filling it out. "Part time is better than nothing." She pauses in writing and offers Dinah her hand. "I'm Helena, by the way."

The woman's watched as she fills out the form, Dinah's expression all a-smile. "I'm Dinah. It's nice to meet you." She opens the ledger again. "I got some big orders coming up due to all the Valentine's weddings people got planned the week after next. Can you start tomorrow?"

Finishing the form efficiently, Helena offers it to Dinah. "What time tomorrow?"

Dinah ponders. "Would noon work for you or is that too early?"

Helena Bertinelli chuckles softly, amused at the thought that noon would be considered too early. "That'll work. I used to be accustomed to arriving at work at seven am, so noon is no problem at all."

"It's alright. I tend to keep late hours so sometimes we don't open until ten or so." Much to the chagrin of her patrons. But Dinah's good at what she does so they've learned to accept that as a quirk. "Alright. Well. Thanks, Helena. I can't begin to tell you how much this will be helping me."

Helena Bertinelli nods to Dinah, unable to stop from thinking that the relaxed hours might be easier on her than keeping up her teaching job had been. "It's mutually beneficial, then. And thank you for offering me the job in the first place. I can finally stop wandering around like a lost ghost."

Dina nods. "Oh. One thing. There are times I'm called away from the shop unexpectedly. This happens fairly often. If you're here I'll let you cover for me but if you're not I'll just close the shop for awhile." That's all she says about that, the details kept secret.

Helena Bertinelli nods in understanding. Probably special needs family or something. "Sounds like a plan." Hopefully, HAL won't get all needy any time soon.