It is the holiday season and department stores across the United States are filled with Christmas cheer. Jessica Leigh Hester wrote about the temps that Santa brings on to work as elves:

• A large number of the elves you see at department stores are actors in between jobs.
• Many of them have improv skills that serve them well when interacting with children.
• As elves one of their primary responsibilities is to serendipitously learn the children’s names and to covertly inform Santa so that he can surprise the star-struck children when he greets them.
• When parents get upset – over the length of the line to see Santa, or the way that Santa is dressed – it is also the job of the elves to be the face that they yell at, sparing Santa embarrassment.

Read more about the life of a department store elf over here.

Source: The Atlantic