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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Desi Grant Katherine McLean

Desi Grant 1999
Parents: Portia
Occupation: Grease Monkeys Manager

As the daughter of local businesswoman Portia Grant, Desi was appointed manager when Portia opened a new café bar, Grease Monkeys, in Erinsborough. Madge and Harold Bishop, whose Coffee Shop was suffering due to the new café, went over there during the opening and Madge made the mistake of warning Desi not to eat there, without realising who she was. That night, Madge found Desi handing out flyers in the pub and warned her that they weren’t about to take it lying down. Meanwhile, Desi was busy finding new ways to attract custom, including free food and a paint-off between Fanto Hodges and Anne Wilkinson.

When Tad Reeves decided to apply for a job at Grease Monkeys, he managed to convince his friend, Paul to pretend to be the assistant manager of a café and act as his reference. The plan worked and Desi offered Tad a job. When Madge and Harold found out, they were unimpressed, until Madge came up with a plan for Tad to steal all of Grease Monkeys’ ideas and feed them back to her. After a few weeks, Desi had had enough and she confronted the Bishops about their theft. Madge countered this by accusing Desi of overworking her staff, claiming that Tad was failing at school. Desi spoke to Tad about this and told him that she’d rather he came to her in future, if he had a problem with things at work.

When Tad then spent his work experience time doing shifts at Grease Monkeys, and found himself in trouble at school, he was forced to try and cut back his hours. Desi was annoyed with him and told him that if he didn’t show complete commitment, she would have to sack him. As Tad told Libby Kennedy about losing his job, she realised that the poor working conditions at Grease Monkeys would make an excellent scoop for the newspaper. She managed to get herself an interview with Desi and claimed that she was 17. After only one day, Libby was sprung when Desi spoke to her mother, who remembered Miss Kennedy from when she’d written articles about the Grey Growlers basketball team. Libby was forced to come clean, but she went to Desi and vowed to still write her article. Desi, however, informed her that the investors had pulled out of Grease Monkeys, so the diner would be closing regardless. Before it closed down, Desi made her peace with Madge and Harold, offering them first refusal on any of the fittings they wanted.

Biography by Steve

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