The Personnel Officer interviewed Ivy Brennan for the position of supervisor at Ingram's Textiles in 1990. Ivy performed well and was deemed suitable for the job due to her previous experience at Baldwin's Casuals. The officer told Ivy that the job was unofficially hers pending Peter Ingram's nod of approval and a reference from Mike Baldwin. Ivy was surprised to be asked for a reference, as she'd recently worked with Peter Ingram as part of a workers' co-operative, and he could vouch for her reliability, but the officer told her it was standard procedure. As Mike was now a salesman at Ingram's, the officer suggested that she check if he was in the building, but Ivy - expecting that her request may not be warmly received by her ex-employer due to the co-operative undercutting him - chose to handle the matter herself.
As Ivy feared, Mike initially refused to give her a reference, but after some encouragement from Alma Sedgewick he changed his mind, and Ivy was taken on.