Miranda’s Summer Job in Hi Tech Client Relations – Part 2

GETTING READY FOR THE SUMMER JOB

Three weeks had passed since Miranda’s haircut and interview. The first couple of showers were startling. Miranda had squeezed out the normal amount of shampoo. It took her about 5 minutes to get the lather out of what little hair she had left. Feeling what little hair she had left felt extremely disappointing. But being able to instantanously dry her hair with a towel meant she saved a solid 15 minutes everytime she washed her hair.

The reaction at school was also interesting. Her close female friends were quietly supportive but she could tell that they weren’t impressed. The group of guys they hung out with seemed definitely unimpressed. They gave her less attention, spent less time and effort flirting with her. Most of them anyways. She kind of appreciated the extra space and lack of pressure, but found it shocking that a change in a hairstyle had such a sudden cold effect. Her haircut was definitely feminine, the stylist did a fantastic job, just there wasn’t very much hair. But it grew and the sides and the back were slowly getting pouffy.

To help get her ready for her job and mature and modest look, Helen took her to the outlet mall. Together, they picked out three more $400 dollar suits and a $300 dollar dress. Helen spent another $250 on makeup for Miranda and bought her three sets of expensive earrings.

“I know you aren’t a fan of your short hair but I want you to feel beautiful and look beautiful this summer.”

All this did spending on nice things did do a lot to ease the shock of losing almost all her hair. She looked very different now with the “old lady” makeup and this has changed her mindset to be the woman she needs to be, attending meetings and lunches with large dollar consequences.

“I’ve booked a hair appointment for you for the day before you start which is your last day of exams. Your exam ends at 11am on Wednesday that week, I’ll pick you up then.”

“I guess I kind of need to keep this up somewhat the first couple of weeks?”

“Definitely – I think you need to keep the scalpiness showing and not hang any expense in keeping up the mature, professional experience. Short hair needs more frequent cuts and it will have been 6 weeks since you got it cut. You are going to need to keep this up, at least at first.”

Miranda let out a gulp…”I guess so…”

THE NEXT CUT

The same stylist greeted them as Miranda approached the chair. “Ahh yes, I remember you from last time… you wanted a scalpy pixie because you had a job interview where you needed to look a lot older.”

“Miranda nailed the job interview and her first day is tomorrow.” Helen bragged.

“Does this mean you want the same cut, Miranda?”

“I think so. Honestly, I’d rather have long hair like I had before, but this job sounds like an awesome opportunity. I guess the thing with short hair is you need to cut it more often.” Miranda said, trying to take a bit of ownership of the situation.

“Is that a yes? I can see what I can do to make this cut last longer.” the stylist offered.

“Go for it.” Miranda replied calmly, trying to sound as confident as possible.

With that the stylist picked up her clippers, looked at the blades to made sure there was no attachment, raised the arm almost all the way and started clipping all the way up the sides and the back, leaving about 1/20 of an inch.

Helen looked in horror as the sides and back of Miranda’s head were almost bald. The stylist then started fading down, as she buzzed the bottom two thirds of her head to a zero length.

The stylist got out her foil shaver to start working along the hairline, when Helen asked the stylist what she was doing.

“Miranda wanted her haircut to last longer so I’m taking it shorter. It’s also a lot more stylish this way.”

“But she needs to look mature and modest!!” Helen stated sternly.

The stylist paused awkwardly.

“Rigghhht… What should we do?” The stylist asked, taking this very seriously all of a sudden.

“Let me text a photo to my friend Claudia in HR and call her to see what she thinks” Helen offered.

“Hi, Claudia, I sent you a photo of my daughter’s hair, what do you think? She’s still in the chair now.”

“way too edgy? Well, what should she do with what she has left?”

“Bald? Like all the way bald?”

“Ummm, why?” Helen asked again

“I guess if she’s wearing suits every day and there’s no shadow or stubble, I can see how that could be a natural, conservative look, compared to what few other options she has.”

“Ok Miranda, I called Claudia in HR at work. she thinks that if you maintain a bald look for the summer, that will be salvageable and you could come off as if you are at least in your mid 20s and professional. And it will be natural looking.”

None of this resonated with Miranda, she just stared again at the mirror, hoping there was some way to keep some of her hair.

The stylist asked Helen how she wanted to proceed.

“I think you’ll need to go over her whole head with the shaver thing – I don’t see a shadow or anything there”, pointing at her nape.

“So that’s it then? Take the whole thing down to the wood?”

Helen nodded yes.

The stylist tilted Miranda’s head back, so that she was almost staring at the ceiling, then ran the bare clippers straight down the middle so all her hair directly hit the floor behind her. With about 12 swipes, all her hair was gone, just faint stubble left. She then flicked the foil shaver on and spent a solid 10 minutes removing any evidence that she ever had hair.

Miranda’s skin on her face, neck and shoulders was always fairly pale, so her newly barren scalp didn’t look too untanned, making it seem like she could be naturally bald.

Miranda checked herself in the mirror, then looked down at the floor, shed a couple of tears, got up and headed to her mom’s car without saying anything.

Helen walked towards the cash with the stylist and asked her advice on how she should maintain this look.

“Miranda has basically two choices – shaving cream and razors or a foil shaver. Cream and razors you can buy anywhere, but it will probably leave a bit of a shadow right after you do it and she’ll probably have stubble at the end of the day. With the foil shaver, some people can go days before there’s any shadow or stubble. But as you heard, they’re really noisy and a good one could be well over $100. She’s also going to need a high quality sunscreen.”

Helen left a generous tip and joined Miranda in the car.

Helen felt pretty bad for putting her daughter in this situation with her hair, but was still focused on making her first day at Optinex a success.

“Miranda, I never intended for you to be left like this… let’s go back to the mall so we get you some make-up to help with your new look. I’d also like to treat you to a couple of more pairs of earrings, and maybe a nice purse.”

As they entered the mall both of them noticed the stares right away. Miranda was wearing short shorts and a form fitting t-shirt with her chest taking on greater prominence. But her bare head stood out. Miranda didn’t have a hat or anything to cover-up with.

The make-up artist behind the counter at Sephora was very complimentary and that helped give a quick confidence boost. She spent time showing them moisturizers, foundation and sunscreen so that her scalp would shine and glisten as much as possible. The saleswoman at the jewelry store was extremely flattering, as she picked out chunky earrings to draw attention to her relatively big ears.

As they headed home, Helen reminded Miranda of her mission.

“Just remember, you don’t need to be the expert in everything the company does, but you do need to study the product and research briefings so that when clients and government contacts call, you sound competent and you make the company sound great.”

“Now for your new look, are you good to keep this going all summer? I think that any sign of stubble might compromise what you are trying to accomplish. You look incredible.”

“I don’t know Mom. I feel like a bit of an imposter, doing a job that women 3 to 4 years older than me usually do, with a team of experienced marketing pros, scientists and engineers. I’d only had short hair for 6 weeks before this, I’ll have only been bald for 20 hours before I walk in the door there. I’ve never worn suits before and I’ve never hung out with foreigners and bureaucrats. I feel very very overwhelmed and the bald thing totally doesn’t help.”

“Miranda, that’s very understandable and normal. But for at least the last 10 years, the company has been hiring students with absolutely no experience in any of these things you mentioned. You need to look beautiful, you need to study your briefs, you need to be charming and intelligent with clients and you need to take excellent mental notes at lunches and dinners.

Now about your hair, I mean head…. The stylist said your choices for getting rid of the stubble are shaving cream and razors or a foil shaver. We don’t have a foil shaver but I’ll order you one right away off Amazon unless you’d really prefer razors.”

“Gawd mom, that all sounds so, so, awful. I really hate the sound of all of that. I just can’t process of any of that. Please, I don’t want to mess anything up for my first few days, can you just shave me any way you think will work, and save me from having to think about it?”

“Ok Miranda, why don’t we get up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to make sure I have time to shave you carefully with razors and then you can carefully put on your foundation and makeup. I’ll order a high quality foil shaver right now.”

THE FIRST DAY

Alarms went off at 5:30 Thursday. After a quick breakfast, before the rest of the household woke up, Helen joined Miranda at the bathroom sink. Helen filled the sink with hot water and got a couple of razors ready with some shaving gel. Helen asked Miranda to take her top off so she could soak her head and foam it up – Miranda sheepishly put her shirt on the floor.

“Wow Miranda, sorry, I didn’t realize that you were that…. big.”

As Helen rubbed the shaving scream on Miranda’s head, she felt it was like very faint sandpaper. Almost nothing came off with the razor because there was almost nothing yet. After about 5 minutes of carefully going over everything frontwards and backwards, Helen figured she was done. Miranda reached up with both hands to check out her mom’s work.

“That’s really smooth, but not as smooth as yesterday. I guess it probably looks more feminine without the hairline and no shadow. But I feel so bare and exposed without it.” Miranda said quietly.

“Speaking of which, we could probably get you some bras and tops which would do a better job of presenting your assets at work” Helen added.

“MOM! Boundaries!” As Miranda covered up and pushed her mother out of the bathroom.

The first day at work went off without a hitch. Everyone in the VP’s office complimented her on her smart suit. Miranda quickly read and mastered all the product briefings before lunch and she was able to show that she was able to keep up at meetings with the engineering team in the afternoon.

As Helen came over to Miranda’s cublicle to pick her up for the car ride home, the VP herself thanked Helen for making Miranda available for the summer.

The foil shaver arrived while they were at work. Helen charged it overnight.

They woke up again at 5:30 Friday morning and again after breakfast, Helen shave Miranda, but this time with the foil shaver. This took a solid 10 minutes, but left a much cleaner look than the razor the day before, even cleaner than the stylist’s.

Miranda felt a lot more confident this morning as the workplace wasn’t a surprise anymore. Staring at herself in the mirror after her shower, putting her makeup on, she’s finally coming to terms with her new look.

“Holy fuck, I’m bald. I look like I could be a 30 or 40 year old with this foundation and makeup. I’m going to grade 12 in September, but I look like I could my mom’s sister. Maybe even older sister.” she thought to herself.

Miranda didn’t shave Saturday morning. When she went to bed Saturday night, she realized there was still no real shadow on her head.

Waking up Sunday morning, there was only the faintest shadow. And at bedtime, she was finally able to get that sandpaper feeling.

“I guess I can get away with shaving every two days” Miranda told her mom.

“I don’t know, Miranda… we don’t want to take any chances, what if you shave every day and half? Say Monday morning, Tuesday before bed, then Thursday morning and you skip Wednesdays and Fridays. And did you want to try shaving it yourself? I can come in at the end to make sure you got all the back”

“I guess we could do that.” Miranda offered.

THE SECOND WEEK

The second week worked out great. And then Miranda appreciated seeing evidence of stubble come back in over the weekend. But Monday morning did not go smoothly. The foil shaver was getting stuck and gummed up because there was too much to mow down. Helen had to go over most of it with a razor and shaving cream, and then tried it again with the foil shaver. Unfortunately the result was some bumps and irritation and some shadow appeared in those spots.

“I guess you’ll have to shave on weekends too.” Helen declared.

Miranda felt a sense of loss – she wouldn’t even get to see herself with more than a couple of days worth of growth all summer. This was confirmed when the VP’s Chief of Staff noticed the shadow patches too. They were in the bathroom together freshening up before an important lunch when she pointed at Miranda’s head that she had a “couple of spots that need taking care of”.

MIRANDA GETS AN OFFER TO STAY ON

As August was wrapping up, Miranda’s mind was focused on returning to school for grade 12. She was looking forward the courses she’d picked to be able to get into the university she wants.  All that would help her to get back on with Optinex, perhaps permanently. She had banked almost $10,000 after taxes, but was looking to say au revoir to Optinex and growing her hair long again.

Her time had Optinex was remarkable, however. She had been present at over a dozen lunches with military and foreign officials where they had afterwards specifically remembered and referenced Miranda’s helpful advice and her attention to detail. Summer was typically a quiet time for inking deals. But the VP and senior management had identified a high correlation between files and clients that Miranda had liaised for, which turned into lucrative contracts versus the files and officials she didn’t get to see.

Summer vacations were over, marketing staff were all back. But there would be long weekends and holidays that foreign countries don’t recognize. VP Sanchez had an idea and HR and senior management fully supported it.

“Miranda. Can you please join me in my office? We’ve been very very pleased how things have worked out this summer. My staff have been able to take time off this year and I know that their files have been tended to very carefully by you. I know that you are going back to school in the fall but you’ll be staying in town. Is that right? We normally have to keep a person or two around on holidays and long weekends because so many clients and governments don’t celebrate the same holidays we do. We also get some trade shows to attend to the odd weekend.

I intend to keep you on over the year to help with this and so you can return like this next summer. I want you to just work on holidays in the meantime, but I will pay you double time. You’ll log in from home the night before each holiday, starting with Labor Day, then Columbus Day, spend a couple of hours reading the briefings. Then you will be on call and available to do lunches with the researchers and clients. Then bright and early the following workday, do a call with my office. For that, you’d earn $500 for the holiday, $125 for the reading the day before, $125 for briefing my office the day after. I’d also like you to come in 7 days around Christmas holidays.

Ballpark, we’d pay you about $10,000 for doing 15 days work, plus a couple of hours on the days on each side.”

Miranda was slightly intrigued about the financials of this offer. To make the same amount of money elsewhere, she’d have to work over 15 hours a week at a minimum wage job throughout the school year.

What she was more concerned about was her connection with Optinex. She found herself extremely respected by her coworkers, empowered to have the trust to liaise with foreign governments, and was building contacts in industry. All at 17. The sometimes extravagant lunches and dinners were also very special. She could see herself working there forever and being well paid.

Now, if she turned down this opportunity to stay on, she might miss out on coming back the following summer, and might miss out of building a network to carry into any other desirable employer.

“How long can I have to think about this, Mrs Sanchez? I need to plan my studies too.”

“How about 48 hours to get back to me, Miranda? I’ll need to bring another person in on Labor Day if you don’t accept.”

Helen came to pick Miranda in the VP’s Office.

“Thank you, Mrs. Sanchez.”

Even though Helen worked in Finance, she was unaware of the impact her daughter was having on the organisation.

“Mom, what should I do?”

“Wow, that does seem generous. On a daily basis, you’d be getting close to taking home what I make with that kind of pay. And if that is coming straight from Rebecca Sanchez, you probably don’t want to break that relationship.

How do you feel about maintaining your appearance a whole other year?”

That hit Miranda like a ton of bricks… She had somewhat gotten used to her baldness, no longer stunned when she came across her reflection. But she desperately wanted hair again, almost any hair was better than total baldness.
She started thinking about the spacing between holidays. She’d have to come in at least once every 5 weeks. She’d never have more than half an inch of hair during the school year. But at half an inch, a stylist could probably cut it into something professional, although the top would be really short.

“Mom, I guess I could grow my hair out a little between holidays…”

“You might, but what if a client sees you for whatever reason when you are in the stubbly phase… would you really want to risk it?”

Miranda tried to think if anyone from work ever saw her outside of work. Optinex was at a remote business park… There was that one time when her soccer team played against the soccer team where a defense contractor’s daughter was the goalie. Now she’s thinking how lucky she was that she didn’t get figured out. As a bald girl, she definitely stood out. But with no makeup or jewelry, in a soccer uniform, some lines under her eyes and a headband, she was probably safe. The idea that she’d have to carry on the look of a person at least 4 years older for the school year stuck with her.

“I guess I’m doing this for a whole other year… I think I’m going to cry, although inside I also like feeling very appreciated by my colleagues”

Now she was beginning to wonder that if she stayed in the company or industry, when, oh when, would she ever be able to have hair again.