Ruggie says that the hyaenas in the King of Beasts legend “took up all sorts of odd jobs” to pay him back, and Ruggie himself has a wide range of work experience, saying that between spelldrive and doing odd jobs he doesn’t really have any days off.
Ruggie explains, “With how busy I am at school I can’t work a lot of hours, so I pretty much just do one-off gigs in town.”
Ruggie says that, when he cannot find employment, he does chores for his dorm mates, classmates or fellow club members: “Doesn’t pay well, but sometimes I get a little food to eat, or if I’m cleanin’, I can take stuff they don’t want anymore.”
On a survey for improving life at school Ruggie writes that he wants students to have more time to work part-time jobs, as he can only make proper money during long breaks due to clubs being mandatory, plus homework and classes.
Ruggie says that color- and outfit-changing magic are his second-best magical fortes after flight, and they come in handy for changing clothes quickly when running from one job to another.
Ruggie says that he has worked “a ton of part-time jobs” and has “mastered the art of socializing,” and his motivation for wanting to help the kidnapped students of the Spectral Soiree event is because a never-ending Halloween means no winter holiday, which would mean not being able to take advantage of “the major hustle opportunities” of the holiday season.
Ruggie says “The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year for high-paying temp gigs” and mentions working at a bakery and waiting tables during new years.
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.”
Ruggie says he has worked at festival food stands and he used to provide dog walking services for a boss he had at a part time job, and he also used to take care of people’s cats, which helped him improve his animal linguistics skills.
Ruggie explains, “It’s a practical skill, so should be handy for findin’ a job. It came in real useful at my old part time gig, after all,” and tells Rook about a time he was able to help a cat that had lost its appetite because it was tired of eating the same food every day.
Rook asks if it felt good to make the cat’s owner happy and Ruggie responds, “it felt EXTRA nice when they became a repeat client and recommended me to all their friends to boot. After that I got real busy for a while. It’s like they say: if you’ve got a skill, you’ll always have a livin’.”
Ruggie’s wish for the Starsending event is “to get a high-paying job.”
Trey says that most students wish for a favorite food or random thing and Ruggie explains,
“They’re probably content with what they’ve already got…I’m way greedier. I wanna be set for LIFE. A good today doesn’t mean much if tomorrow sucks. But the high-paying jobs are the most competitive. If I can just land the right job, I’ll be able to attach myself to someone important, like how I assist Leona…and then I can live it up and enjoy the high life.”
When Savanaclaw students threaten to become violent with Magicam Monsters during Halloween Ruggie tells them to stand down, because “If a scandal broke out during (their) time (there), it would mean fewer options for (them) further down the road.”
Ruggie says, “At least mess with them all sneaky-like so you don’t get caught!”
Trein enlists Ruggie’s help with capturing escaped rats in a vignette by promising to nominate him to represent NRC at an animal linguistics content. Ruggie immediately accepts the job, saying, “Just having competed in that could totally help me get a good job after I graduate.”
Ruggie says that he never works for free, but he does assist his dorm with putting together replica treasure during Halloween, saying, “Normally I make it a policy not to perform free labor, But hey, Halloween only comes once a year, and I’ve gotta earn my spot at that fancy feast on the 31st somehow!”
Ruggie is envious of Kalim and Deuce’s part-time jobs at the school store during New Year’s, saying that it pays incredibly well.
The following year he is employed at the store himself and proves to be an effective salesman, convincing Epel to purchase expensive sunglasses, a Diasomnia student who wanted one tumbler to buy two, and a Pomefiore student to get both a lamp and a plant for his room.
When trying to think of a way to boost sales at the store Ruggie suggests folding “a warthog or something” out of wrapping paper. (Ruggie gifts Kalim with a paper cobra for his birthday; is origami maybe a skill of his?)
Ruggie also suggests selling photo opportunities with Vil, which Vil refuses.
After Cater accidentally gets buried in snow Ruggie comes up with an idea: getting customers to build kamakura to clear the snow so that the staff no longer needs to, and then selling shiruko to those who do so.
Ruggie says, “We have a limited number available for sale each day, so you really can’t afford to pass on this amazing experience, if you ask me,” but he has a voice line of, “If you put up a sign that says ‘only 50 available,’ you’ll sell whatever the thing is in no time flat. People won’t notice even if you sell more than a hundred,” so his “limited number” claim may not have been true.
Cater says he is impressed that Ruggie knew how to make shiruko and Ruggie says he was taught the recipe by a coworker he had at the ski resort where he used to work.
It is revealed that Ruggie worked out a deal with Sam where he would receive 30% of profits from the shiruko sales in exchange for teaching the recipe to Sam.
When Cater and Ruggie start losing customers due to always winning at the competition that customers earn through spending 50 thaumarks (5,000 madol) Cater suggests letting people win, but Ruggie comes up with a better idea:
“Sometimes when a person is shopping for something special, they’re paying for more than just the item itself. We just need to give ’em hope they can win, butter ’em up a little, and then they’ll be satisfied even if they lose.”
The strategy proves effective and Ruggie declares, “It’s because I’m a master at tellin’ customers what they wanna hear.”
Jade, Cater and Jack all compliment Ruggie’s business sense, and Ruggie identifying a job opportunity is the catalyst for the entire Port Fest event: he reaches out to a local restaurant owner about the students of NRC running food stands at the festival, earning 100 thaumarks (10,000 madol) worth of gift cards to the restaurant for the idea.
Successfully predicting that Azul would convince Crowley to share profits from the festival with the students, Ruggie says that it is three birds with one stone: classes canceled, gift cards and leftover cash while the school covers all expenses.
Jack compliments Ruggie’s foresight, but Ruggie admits he had not foreseen Crowley splitting the students up by class.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 