Ruggie’s Side Jobs (pt2)

Ruggie says he works “pretty much nonstop” on breaks from school and typically at jobs that include room and board: “In summer, maybe I work at a restaurant at a beach resort; in the winter, I hit the slopes to work as a ski instructor or something.”

He says that working part-time at a ski resort taught him how to shovel snow without hurting his back.

Cater says he thought that he would be able to go skiing or snowboarding on his breaks, but Ruggie says the best part was he got all the free food that he could eat: “Access to a free warm bath, all the food I want, AND good hourly pay? Not many jobs provide all that.”

Ruggie also mentions working at a cafe, a restaurant, a department store, and a wedding venue.

Ruggie says he once worked a job carving jack-o-lanterns so that he could use the pulp for pumpkin pie.

At NRC Ruggie sells mandrakes from the botanical gardens to the Ramshackle Dorm ghosts, and in a vignette Ace asks to be let in on the side business.

Ruggie agrees to take him on and flatters him to boost his motivation (“Even a warthog can fly if you inflate its ego enough”), but Ace tries to sneak away to sell to the ghosts directly and pocket the profits himself.

During Tsumsted Ruggie is uninterested in tsumsitting when he could be earning side money, and when the tsum disappears he makes no effort to track it down. Instead Ruggie goes to Sam to ask for work, but Sam has already hired the tsum.

They decide to work together, with Ruggie intending to “spin a decent story for the tsum” and take the majority of the profits for himself.

They take on various odd jobs around campus such as brushing Lucius for Trein, preparing ingredients in the cafeteria, advertising for Mostro Lounge and finding a lost wallet. 

Ruggie seems to occasionally work at Mostro Lounge and might be a regular employee. We see an example in a vignette where he covers for another employee who breaks a glass and manages to convince a bored Floyd to go back to work.

When Azul decides to temporarily close the lounge due to a large influx of customers Ruggie suggests sending staff working the floor into the kitchen, volunteering to cover for the loss of manpower himself.

Ruggie’s risk is a success, earning him praise from Azul. Ruggie says, “Compared to some other jobs I’ve had, this’s a piece of cake.”