Pictures

Caroling elves and an honorary elf on Christmas Eve.

Shortcake's (fake) boots at the end of the season.

Shortcake with Santa.

Shortcake as a photo elf. Shortcake's buttons go all around her hat.

This is Shortcake in front of her locker wearing her parade credentials.

This is Shortcake's locker. It dates back to Miracle on 34th St. times.

This is from Thanksgiving, before the Parade. It was Shortcake's first public day as an elf.

Merry Christmas!

Shortcake has finished her time at Macy's. She now returns to the North Pole, eagerly awaiting Mrs. Claus' cookies, and the whole month of January being devoted to building snow castles and having snowball fights.

The last three days have been kinda nuts. Some of the parents were well-behaved and very sweet. Many were thankful and genuinely appreciative of their time with Santa. Some were just cranky and domineering. One man yelled at Shortcake because she wouldn't let him join his family on line, aka cut. It is Macy's policy not to let anyone cut in line to join their family. The entire family must get into line together and stay together. Therefore, plan accordingly. Go to the bathroom before getting in line. Two days before Christmas people become irate, loud, and start yelling at elves who are merely enforcing the policy. They also yell at managers and complain the line is too long two days before Christmas, and then snort derisively when told Santaland will be open at 7am on Christmas Eve without a line. No, they won't get up early to see Santa, but they'll procrastinate and take it out on elves. They asked if Santaland would be open after Christmas. For what porpose? What would you talk to Santa about the day after Christmas?

Shortcake got to usher for Good-Looking Santa. She worked the main exit, Santa elfed, front line, and Village exit. She's worked every position except register, but ushering and crowd control are still her favorites. She met a boy named Ewan from Australia who lives in Nevada. He was so silent and cute. She watched managers become Santas and elves because we were shortstaffed today.

Shortcake's voice is almost back, and should be fine as long as she doesn't talk all day for awhile. Her nose on the other hand... In cold or wet air, it clears out, but as soon as she's inside with the heat, she's a congested mess. So either a humidifier needs to follow her around, or she needs serious decongestants.

At the end of the day on Christmas Eve, all of the elves gathered at the Main Exit and sang Christmas carols to the last people in the register area. Pictures were taken. Hugs were exchanged. The Christmas cheer was kind of overwhelming. And now everyone is going home, probably to the North Pole, while Santa sets out on his world journey in his sleigh.

Button Update!

Shortcake received another button! It's another "Above and Beyond." Everyone got one for dealing with the weird, crazy drama at Santaland today.

There was a schoolgroup that arrived and wanted individual pictures of all the kids. Santa's policy is not to take individual pictures with school groups because it delays the line, and he has so many kids to see. Parents had given the director of the school money to buy each picture, but they hadn't received permission from the managers. When the schoolgroup presented themselves as such, the elves proceeded as if it were a normal school group and denied the pictures. Of course, they were sent to 3 different entrances to see Santa, since there were 60 kids, and then the woman in charge ran around trying to get her individual pictures, and three entrances were held, holding up the line, while the managers figured everything out. It turned out okay, but Shortcake was ranted at for awhile, when she couldn't do anything about it.

Shortcake spent time with Babbling Santa, who is a very sweet man, but he tends to babble about any and everything. He told one family about JRR Tolkien's drinking buddies.

Santa Jack had problems with his Santa elf in another house. They did not get along, and Santa yelled at the elf. DRAMA.

Shortcake had to photo & Santa elf at the same time for about 2 hours because they were shortstaffed. It made the time go by quickly, but it was constant movement as she arranged the photo, took the photo, handed off coats, handed out buttons, moved strollers and talked to people.

Shortcake can almost breathe out of her nose. Another night with the humidifier and vaporizer, and she should be better.

You Tube Video!

Shortcake's on You Tube!

Shortcake appears briefly as "photographer elf" about 29 seconds in, and then at the end at 1:43. She's the elf with the camera who waves at the camera. She's wearing braids.

Drama, Drama, Drama

More buttons! Shortcake received another Pace button for the hour she was Photo elf. Santa saw about 1047 people in that hour, so she was rewarded. She also received a Customer Service button, but she's not sure why.

She worked the front line for a few hours today and invented Christmas Spirit Fingers. They're like Spirit Fingers, but they show your Christmas Spirit. Shortcake's friend Dana came to see her today too. Dana had great Christmas Spirit Fingers.

While Shortcake was Santa elfing in the afternoon, there was a woman who cursed at her 1 year old daughter for crying in the picture. Quote: "I am so pissed at you. We waited in that f***ing line for f***ing ever and now you're f***ing crying." Shortcake has two questions: 1) Who cusses out a one-year-old for crying? 2) Who does it in front of Santa?

Seriously people. It's just a photo.

Shortcake thinks the elf Skater has a crush on her. This is awkward because Skater cannot be more than 19 in human years. Also, Shortcake is not attracted to Skater.

Ah, elf drama.

Buttons, Crying and Boredom

Shortcake received another button Wednesday. Santaland was down about 6 elves, so everyone got a button for picking up the slack.

There have been lots of crying kids in the last two days. The two most impressive were both boys. One boy was with a school group, and screamed for 5 minutes in his mother's arms. The entire time he was in the presence of Santa he was crying and screaming. His mother tried to take a picture with Santa with him on Santa's lap. She tried with him on her lap. He did nothing but scream, and she kept trying. Shortcake said multiple times that maybe she should just let it go. The kid was obviously terrified, and it was only getting worse. The second boy wouldn't come in the house. He hid and cried. The usher elf finally got him inside, and he just stood next to Shortcake hiding his face against the wall. After Shortcake took the picture of Santa and the boy's mother and brother, she told him it was over, then escorted him out of the house. But to get out of the house, he had to go past Santa. So Shortcake told him to hide his face in her smock, walk right next to her, and she walked the entire house with her back to Santa, blocking his view. Once they were outside, the kid stopped crying, and Shortcake told him it was over. She gave him to his mother, and went back to work.

Someone asked if there was a point where elves step back and say "not in my job description." Crying kids aren't those times. At that point in time, it's all about protecting the kid from Santa, even if the kid isn't technically in harm's way. It doesn't matter; a kid is terrified, and all Shortcake wants to do is calm the kid down. If that means walking sideways, hiding a kid's face in a smock, then that's what happens.

Shortcake was put in two of the slower positions today. Both positions consist of telling people where to go to exit after seeing Santa, which means people pass by, but inconsistently. Shortcake had a lot of time to entertain herself. She danced, flapped around her sleeves, decided having an opposable thumb is awesome, tangoed, waltzed, sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and tried to turn a broken button into a monacle.

It is one week to Christmas.

Rewards

There is a juvenile system for rewarding elves for good work. It is similar to the Gold Star system from Kindergarten. If an elf does something well, or something deserving of recognition, they receive a button. These buttons are put on the elf's hat, and different buttons represent different achievements. Wearing the buttons on the hat allows for public recognition of excellent work, along with giving the elf a physical reward.

Is this childish? Yes. Does Shortcake get excited every time she gets a button? Yes. Does she strive to earn more of them? Would she work just as hard were she not to receive buttons because she has a strong work ethic? Yes. It doesn't matter that Shortcake knows these buttons are manipulative and based on a juvenile reward system. She is proud of the FOUR buttons she has earned:

Pace - for working in the village on a busy day and keeping the line moving
Multi-Tasking - for manning the camera at the Town Hall/Bear Band part of the maze
Above & Beyond - for staying late last Saturday to help out Special Santa even though it was
after her shift was over
Crowd Control - for her work on Saturday keeping the crowds amused in HR while they stood
and stood in line

Shortcake wears these buttons with pride, and when people ask where she got them, she says she earned them by being a good elf.