I Interviewed Santa Today!

I’m kind of a “utility infielder” at Wisconsin Public Television.  I’ve been there 21 years now, and for the first 14 I was a full-time videographer and editor.  About seven years ago I was tapped to join what is called the Digital Innovations Unit, mostly because I know about computers and such, but I still shoot and edit fairly often.  And today was one of those days I filled in.

The News Department uses “person-on-the-street” interviews as bumpers in our weekly news wrapup show, and today was my time to shoot them.  I went out with an audio person and an intern (all anonymity will be respected) to a local mall.  We were asking the passers-by about budget deficits and an impending snowstorm, and before long we had enough answers to wrap it up.  But guess who else is in the mall in December?  Yep, Jolly Old St. Nick!  So we figured it might be a good idea to ask Santa what he does when the weather gets rough. 

His response was as flat and monotone as the dialog in any Dragnet episode you’ve ever seen:

“I get on the Web, go to Priceline, book a $35 room at the Mayflower Motel, and hunker down.”

Whaaaaaaaat?  (Note:  The Mayflower is a local flophouse motel.)

We gave him another shot at it.  I mean, it’s Christmas, right?

“Well, I usually have to get rid of all the snow myself.  Nobody helps.”  Pause.  “Well, sometimes the elves help.”

And that was it.

Dude.  Think maybe, just maybe, you are in the wrong line of work?  All he had to do was bust out a big “HO HO HO!  I LOVE snow!  Rudolph’s nose shows up SO GOOD in a blizzard!”  But no, he was a little too wrapped up in himself that he couldn’t be bothered to boost Santa’s image among the handful of people watching WPT at that particular second.

After we left, I started to think about old Santa, and all the times I might have let attitude get in the way of a job, or even common courtesy.  I’m going to try to remember what I saw today, and use the reverse next time I’m tempted to be a little too tart.

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