Day Seven – A dose of Santa
What happened to Day Six? you might ask… it happened, but I missed it. Yes, for the first time in my life, I missed a shift. I was mortified. The manager said, “It happens.” Really? Not to me. And no one called, so I didn’t even know I’d missed the shift until two days later. It seems that sometimes schedules are changed at the last minute. Now I know.
So Day Seven was a Saturday – the last Saturday before Christmas, to be precise, and the URL was hopping. I raced up and down the stairs of hell a dozen times an hour, maybe more. Most people were very nice, and some were even patient. I tried on sneakers for a man shopping for his wife – assessing the arch support. We went with the black ones. I found snow boot stand-ins for a woman who had recently had surgery on her foot. It needed to be soft and unzip, unlace or unbuckle all the way down, so she could get her swollen foot safely inside. The answer? Mukluks! I don’t think I realized these were an actual brand of shoes until I started this gig.
For my much needed and well-deserved break, I made a bee-line for the mall Santa. Not to sit in his lap and rattle off my list – just to watch. He is one good looking Santa, even with the coccyx cushion. I don’t think the facial hair is real (I wasn’t close enough to tell), but it is very good. And he has the jolly twinkle down to a science.
Most impressive, perhaps, is his sincerity. He listens with earnest attention to each and every child. And some of those kids have a lot to say. One girl of about nine stood before him, weight shifted to her right, in serious discussion for nearly five minutes. Santa was rapt the entire time, focused and in character. There was not one ironic glance. No hint of levity. Santa is listening, and he cares. That is a skill.
I returned to the URL and to hell refreshed and restored. Ready to charge up and down the stairs for a few hours more….