Training: Day 2

Today, Shortcake was taught the positions in the Maze, Village, Crowd Control and Registers.

Registers are scary. The price list is daunting, and there are two computers, and so many buttons. Scary! Of course, it could get better with practice, but there are so many better stations to work.

Crowd Control leads to The Maze which leads to the Village, where Santa sees visitors. Those are the positions that interact with children, as Shortcake learned when she got to practice being the elf for about 90 people.

Oh, yes, Shortcake wore the costume. Her costume this week consists of red pants and a green shirt. The sleeves are too long, but that's okay. There are pockets in the shirt, and this is the list of supplies she will carry in those pockets: water, cough drops, hand sanitizer, tic tacs, and kleenex.

Shortcake spent 40 minutes at the Bear Band station in the Maze. As there were few people in the maze on their way to visit Santa, Shortcake had a lot of spare time, so she named the bears in the Bear Band: Hans, Franz, Fritz, Wilhelm, Percival and Reginald. Franz and Fritz are brothers. Percival & Reginald are the English cousins of the German band. Wilhem is a Major, Franz is a Lieutenant, and Hans is a Sergeant. The other three are junior officers and Reginald is a Majordomo/baton twirler. He had no musical ability, so they gave him the baton.

Shortcake's favorite station was Usher elf, the elf who leads families to Santa. She got to talk to the kids, parents, etc. and she met a 7 year old who wanted "5 expensive gifts: a Wii, 2 games for the Wii, an iPod and a laptop. Her little brother wanted a handyman set.

Oh, and one kid brought presents to Santa because Santa only brings presents, he doesn't get them. Today, Santa got a truck. It was super-cute.