The Job Comes First

Hi. Joel here. At the Pole, as ever.

Lots of confused elves running around here. Elf Roger’s announcement yesterday has thrown everyone into a tizzy.

Some elves here didn’t come in to work.

They aren’t mad. They just don’t know if they still do what they were doing before. So they stayed home, waiting to see if they need to apply for a job.

Elf supervisors in departments all over the North Pole are busy calling elves in to work.

It was bound to happen.

It didn’t happen to me. I’m here, outside Santa’s office. Doing my usual thing with Santa’s calendar.

There was no way I wasn’t coming to work.

Can you imagine the chaos?

You see, nobody else knows how to do my job. I’ve done it for so long. And I have never trained another elf to do it. If I get sick and can’t come in to work, Santa’s calendar world stops.

Nobody else can manage Santa’s calendar, not even Santa.

We did talk about this last year during my review. I asked Santa, “What if I get hit by a bus?” Santa just laughed. Then he admitted that maybe we should organize a little succession plan for the Santa Calendar Department, as he put it.

He told me to put that on his calendar.

Haha. Santa is such a jokester sometimes.

Anyways, every time there are changes at the North Pole – and there are constant changes – elves tend to freak.

There is a lot of freaking out going on right now at the North Pole.

Every January something like this happens.

I remember the year when Mrs. Claus said the elf hats worn in the North Pole kitchen might not be white any more. She was thinking red would be a lovely change. Well, that freaked out the kitchen elves like nothing else. There were elves seriously shopping for new shoes that very day just because of the possibility of red hats.

That’s why these days important individuals like Mrs. Claus or Elf Roger are really, really careful about what they say in January.

As elves we take our jobs very seriously. Our elf job is part of our elf identity. I like that sometimes but most of the time, it bothers me a little. As Santa’s calendar elf I’m known everywhere here for that.

But I’m not anyone important. I don’t make decisions. I write things down in pencil and erase things a great deal. That doesn’t make me important in any way.

Santa is important.

Not me. Just because I work for the Big Guy doesn’t mean I’m someone.

I often wonder what it feels like to be just a regular guy who is not an elf. Like a bus driver, or something.

In the real world, do people see you and recognize you by your job?

I don’t think so.

If I were just Joel from Toledo, or somewhere, and I drove a bus would they call me Bus Driver Joel? I kind of doubt it.

But here, at the North Pole, I’m Elf Joel – the elf with the office just outside of Santa’s office. Most don’t even know my name. I’m that Santa calendar guy.

That’s so uncool. I don’t like it at all.

But that’s the way it is and I accept it. Heck, I embrace it.

I even called my Mom the other day. “Who is this?” she asked. I said, “It’s me, Mom. Your son, Joel?”

She said, “Who?”

I said, “You know, Santa’s calendar elf?”

“Oh, oh, oh…” she said.

She was just teasing.

She knows I’m sensitive about this. But I took her serious. I always fall for that.

But I took her serious because that’s my job. I’m an elf. I’m Santa’s calendar elf. That’s who I am. That is what I respond to. The job is everything to an elf.

And that, I suppose, is why so many elves are freaking out today.

I get it. I understand it.

But I tell you: relax.

Being an elf is good enough. Or, at least it should be. Being a particular kind of elf doesn’t matter at the end of the day.

You’re an elf. Think about that.

That makes you special.

About this Elf: Elf Joel at the Pole

Elf Joel is a 4th generation elf and grew up at the North Pole. He is a member of Santa's office staff and serves as the keeper of Santa's calendar. He travels with Santa and knows where he is at all times.