Angus McDonald got ten silver and six bronze, cash in hand for his short hour-long trial. As well as his (Miller Industries) thermos filled with Earl Slightly-Grey. And a delicious vanilla slice in a brown paper bag to take back to the quad with him. Just what he needed before his next lecture.
And when Angus went back the next afternoon he was officially 'at work'. More formal introductions are made, paperwork filled out, hours arranged and the like. He found himself on a very mixed rota. Mostly students working a few hours or part time like himself. Dale and Florence for example; both of whom Angus had met briefly on his tryout and again on his return. Despite the age gap he got on well with both, finding a fellow fans in the Caleb Cleveland: Kid Cop books and Neverwinter FC.
Dale was a blonde lankey half elf bard. He was taking a gap year from college (Valour) to get some savings together, then blow them on trying to find himself, maybe go help build an orphanage. He was also unofficially second in command to Mrs Cosie and the one most likely to be left in charge, having worked there almost eight years.
Florence, or Flo to the team, was an extremely girly and giggly halfling. And although older then him, it turned out she was in the year below Angus at the same school as him. And had opted to stay at home with her partner rather than board up at campus. Flo seemed to know everyone who walked through the door; and to be forever getting (affectionately) reminded by Mrs Cosie not to call her 'Aunt' while on the clock.
Could be nepotism could be that halflings shared similar family and friend dynamics to gnomes and dwarfs; so Angus wasn't sure if they were really related or not. Mavis and Mookie for example had been referring to Angus as their 'other' cousin almost as fast as they'd taken to calling the rest of their dad's crew their aunts and uncles. A term Angus also found himself doing almost as quickly.
There's a few literal kids on the rota like Ruby and Twinkle for whom this is their very first job. There's a couple of mums who need to work around school hours; like Pam and 'big' Brenda the cleaning lady. And a few older folks including Dotty and Jeanie, that are just happy to have a job that isn't in a tavern full of adventures.
Oh and Quorf the Sorcerer. Angus isn't quite sure what his deal is. Or why he, and Gora'thien the Blood-Soaked are working in the teashop really. They both seemed the sort who'd make a decent living actually adventuring. If it had been anyone else he might have tried to solve that mystery. But he asked Brenda in a very casual manner one afternoon and came up against a twenty four intimidation check. So he didn't ask again.
There's also the mystery of why Gora'thien the Blood-Soaked was allowed to work with a trailing beard, wearing nothing under his apron but boots and a loin cloth… But Angus decided that was one question he didn't want to chase up.