Steve was given a brief tour of the break room and the time card machine. He was punched in and began a brief shift... Mr. Wright gave him a suit to wear. it was light weight and breathable going over his clothes without causing him to overheat.
Steve and Mr. Wright traveled the behind the scenes corridors and Steve learned how to reach all the restrooms in the mall quickly...
"So depending on your availability and definitely on the Sit with Santa events, you will be working with Elf actors who's job it is to hype you up and draw attention to you." Mr. Write explained.
"It seems weird to me that you don't bother scheduling us to make sure we are all here at the same time." Steve said.
Mr. Wright gave an amused look. "Santa has many many operations to manage, its silly to think that he would always have an entourage of the same elves with him. Do you honestly think Santa doesn't understand middle management? He's been doing this a long time."
Steve had no idea how to take this but dropped the topic. "So, we are pre Thanksgiving, I need 12 hours by end of day next Saturday. And I don't want to scare off the guests by coming on too strong. So how do you want me to interact with the guests currently; I'm guessing the 'Ho ho ho's' are an after Thanksgiving thing?"
"Correct. You have good instincts for this." Mr. Wright said. "For now, eye contact, a smile, and a wave will go a long way to brightening days and warming people up to the coming season. Shall we let you give it a try?"
With a turn they were at a door and beyond it they were at a quiet offshoot of the main mall path. Despite the disparity between the back corridors and main mall Steve had somehow kept a concept of the whole layout and was able to point out to Mr. Wright 4 ways to disappear and reappear within 300 steps, as well as the nearest two restrooms.
"You're a natural at this! I'm so glad we found you!" Mr. Wright said, his demeanor had changed from the initial interview and had slowly gathered more and more steam. Initially emotionless, upon Steve's return he had gone from crestfallen to nearly bubbly as the conversation continued.
Steve carried on the conversation and began his work smiling, waving, and engaging people with eye contact. Some people immediately lit up at the sight of him, others shot back tired glances and half smiles, some averted their gaze, and still others scowled. Steve never before realized how powerful simply exuding kindness and seeing people was. It was in that moment that Steve realized he was probably going to like this job. At some point Steve looked back to realize Mr. Wright had disappeared and he was walking the mall alone, but Steve knew what to do, where to go, and how to get there.
Steve noticed it was after dinner time and since it wasn't actually the Christmas season yet the number of mall patrons was dying off quickly at this hour on a Sunday. Steve decided to end his shift at 730, which was a weird concept for him. All his other jobs were very strict about being late and staying till a specific time but Steve liked what he considered his new superpower and wanted to spend his time using it, not walking empty mall halls. Besides, he had school tomorrow.
Steve disappeared into the labyrinth that the customers don't see and quickly made his way to the timecard after removing the suit. In the locker was an envelope addressed to him and the cash signing bonus with a note from Mr. Wright was there.
"You are exactly what we've been looking for and are sure you will bring extra magic to our holiday season!" the letter read.
Steve was overjoyed as he went home to share his experiences with his family and prepare for school the next day.