[Edit]Working!! The main female protagonist, Poplar is an short 17-year-old high school student who works at Wagnaria. Ironically, she was named after the poplar tree so that she would grow tall. She is a hard worker, but she sometimes makes clumsy mistakes in her job. She is very sensitive about her small appearance; many customers usually mistake her to be younger than she really is. She often fails to gain respect from Sōta, who is one year younger than her, as he usually regards her as an elementary school student. She is also unable to properly call him by his surname, saying "Katanashi" rather than "Takanashi", even when corrected.
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Taneshima working at Wagnaria with all of the members of the original staff. However, because they were overloaded with work and customers, they assigned Taneshima to go out and find someone to work part time at the restaurant. Taneshima tried asking her friends, and asking people on the street, but no luck. After days of searching, Taneshima started to beg people to get a job there, but with still no luck. One day, while Souta Takanashi was walking home from school, Taneshima ran at him and hugged him, asking if he wanted a job. However, since Taneshima is so small, Takanashi mistook her for a 12 year old, elementary school student. He asked her where her parents were, and if she was lost. Taneshima then became angry and pulled out her student ID card, declaring that she was 17 years old, and a high school student. Takanashi was in shock at how small she was for someone so "old," but accepted the job anyway for the chance to work along side someone so small and cute. After this, the main character switches from Taneshima to Takanashi, but Taneshima still remains one of the main supporting characters.
On Takanashi's first day at Wagnaria, Taneshima was assigned to show him the ropes. However, since Taneshima is so short and weak, she wasn't able to do much, and had to ask Satou to do it for her. Thankfully, Takanashi quickly learned the ropes and started working at a fast pace.
Taneshima is often complaining and crying about how people have teased her because she is so small. In fact, most of this happens inside the restaurant when she is waiting tables. Most people are surprised they let a "little kid" work there, to which Taneshima storms off and complains to Takanashi or Satou. In the first episode, Popura was bullied by two men who were customers at the restaurant. They were pulling her hair and calling her a child, although she kept insisting she was a high school student. Thankfully, Kyouko stepped in and scared the customers off in order to protect Taneshima.
Because of her shortness, Taneshima is eager to learn new tricks on how to make herself grow taller. She gets most of these tips from Satou since he is the tallest in the restaurant. However, Satou often teases her by telling her lies on how to get taller, such as staying calm as to not work your braincells, and wearing your hair high so you'll seem taller. Satou will also tease her and say she's grown before crushing her dreams and saying that she hasn't grown at all, and that he was just lying, causing Taneshima to start screaming at him.
Taneshima is very bad with names, and therefore calls Takanashi, Katanashi because she keeps forgetting how to say it, and because she's so "cute," Takanashi, doesn't correct her. This name confused Inami because she thought she had been calling him by the wrong name since he never corrected Taneshima when she called him Katanashi. So Inami approached Takanashi and called him "Katanashi," to which he turned around and said in a sinister voice, "It's Takanashi. Don't you ever forget that." A few seconds later, Taneshima walked into the room and called him Katanashi, to which he doesn't correct her. Inami became angry and punched him before storming off.
