The limited industrial culture, low levels of unionization, and, most important, the destruction of the local economy made Bloomington a dream town for a capitalist in search of workers for labor-intensive electronics production. The local population's desperation for work and deference to anyone who could provide it allowed RCA to establish very strict guidelines for employment. "The people that we hired when we started RCA was this nice person's son and daughter," the employment director recalled. "You know, a rather high level of clientele." Without the constraints of federal- or statemandated hiring rules, "you could refuse to hire a person if you didn't like the way they parted their hair. So you had full rein of being very selective." Applicants "were just wild to get a job, and particularly something in industry .... Jobs had not been available. They needed them." When workers lined up at the Graham Hotel for an interview, a position "would be so important to them, they would be so nervous, they would shake like a leaf in the wind." Workers were not concerned about how much a job paid, what they had to do, or what their hours would be; "they just wanted that job and wanted to hold that job." Boys applying for stock-handling work typically arrived in their Sunday suits, and even prospective employees who were "very minimal in social and education standards" would show up impeccably dressed and groomed when they submitted their applications. "It sounds like a fairy tale," she recalled about the applicants' desperation, "but it was that important to them."