We are now over half way into the grotto's lifetime.
Whilst it's been lots of fun and we all enjoy working together, we are all also getting a little tired. The twinkling of the trees doesn't seem so bright anymore, you could say. And we all, we suspect, are going a little crazy.
We continuously sing 'Santa Claus is coming to town', even on our breaks, we hear our jingle bell hats and children's cries in our sleep, and we now all think it's normal to repeatedly shout 'smile' and shake a rattle in toddlers' faces.
We are all also slowly beginning to hate the human race.
I wouldn't be surprised if some day soon we go awol. There will be ripping of tickets, breaking of rattles and shouts of 'That's a ridiculous name of course I can't spell it / How can I get a good photo if your child hates Santa? / MOVE OUT OF THE WAY / I DON'T CARE ABOUT KEYRINGS, MAGNETS AND PHOTOS JUST MAKE A DECISION / WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THERE'S 50 OTHER PEOPLE IN THE QUEUE / YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY PRESENTS FROM SANTA'
I'm looking forward to the day Santa goes awol.
I feel your pain - I was living the same life 5 years ago! I'm pretty sure from your grotto's description it's the same one too! I am still in touch with Santa, so tell him hello from me (Cathryn) - I was his chief elf in 2006! You do start to go a bit bonkers after a while. When I was elfing, it was an American company running the grotto and a lot of things went pretty badly wrong. For one, the original Santa got deported! You should ask Santa about that one! I was only saying the other day to my partner that while walking through that particular shopping centre I often look down at my feet and wonder why they aren't jingling!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good luck for the rest of the season and enjoy it - I've never had a job quite like it again!
Seasons wishes: A retired chief elf!