Debbie was employed by Mike Baldwin as a machinist when he set up a sweatshop to produce travel bags in the flat above Jim's Cafe in February 1990. The noise and dust disrupted the café and when a Health and Safety inspector paid a visit, the enterprise was closed down, and Debbie and her colleagues lost their jobs. Of Mike's new staff, Debbie was the most outspoken critic of their working conditions, complaining after their first day about the smell of chips emanating from the cafe. However, she still turned up every day until the operation was closed down.