• tab There once lived an elf that spent his years being joyful and merry. His name was Jack and he enjoyed making toys that came from their factory into children’s living rooms. He spent from September through December working away while humming his own delightful tune, “Sweet Home California.”
    tab Contrary to popular belief, elves don’t live in the North Pole, they just work there. Once the toys were completed and shipped off, they said goodbye to their workmates and went their separate ways to families who waited for them all over the world. Jack picked California to stay in because, as much as he liked the brisk, winter air, California provided that warmth and solitude that Jack needed after so much work.
    tab Although Jack liked taking time off, once he got to the North Pole, he was very serious about what he did. It could be even argued that Jack was the most hard-working elf in the entire North Pole because he worked tirelessly from the morning into night and morning again!
    tab The elves spent their years being guided by the one and only Santa Claus. Santa was a merry fellow and spread this feeling among the elves.
    tab The elves loved Santa because he kept up their morale when it seemed they weren’t going to make the toy deadline (the winter of ’97 was way too close for comfort) and praised them for their hard work.
    tab Once the toys were completed, Santa would pick up his magic red bag, and stuff all the toys for the good little boys and girls. He would then climb aboard the red sleigh, pulled by twelve (equally as merry as the big guy himself) magic reindeer, and fly away yelling, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” This is the way it was done for countless generations.
    tab One year, however, Jack noticed something was wrong at the North Pole.
    tab The first warning sign came as Jack was working on his first set of toys. Usually, Santa would come out of his office, make his introductory speech, and welcome back all the elves. Jack thought maybe Santa was busy doing something important and couldn’t come out of his office.
    tab The second warning was that everything at the toy factory seemed gloomy. The elves used to work with such cheer, but now, as Jack looked around at them, they seemed to work without happiness. They were like robots, just work and not have any fun.
    tab Had Jack missed some kind of memo? He was going to find out.
    tab Jack stopped working and walked up the stairs to Santa’s office. Before he knocked on the door that held Santa’s nameplate, Jack heard a voice. An evil voice that couldn’t have belonged to Santa!
    tab Jack didn’t knock. Instead, he knew a secret path that led to Santa’s office through the air duct and took it. Jack and the other elves would use this duct as a way to get around the factory without being seen (just in case the situation called for it).
    tab As Jack got closer, he heard the angry voice become louder and louder. Jack looked down into the room through the duct’s screen and realized, the man yelling into the phone, really was Santa.
    tab Jack listened to Santa’s conversation:
    tab “I want that money, and I want it now!”
    tab Although Jack couldn’t hear the person on the other line, he realized fully what was going on as the conversation continued.
    tab “No, I don’t care about those elves, nor do they know about my plans for the future.” “What are you trying to imply Mr. President? That I, Santa Claus, would steal from your government?” “Yes I know the U.S. is in debt, but my work here will earn us trillions!”
    tab Jack gasped and backed away from the entrance to the despicable man he once admired. Santa’s maniacal laughs continued to engulf Jack, even though he returned from the vent and ran to the other elves.
    tab Although the elves were still working, they did notice his absence and the way Jack was when he came back.
    tab “Jack, what’s wrong?” one of the elves said.
    tab Jack had told the story with precision and without embellishment. The elves were stunned, but then grew angry. This led to cries of hatred from all of the elves.
    tab Just then, Santa came from his office with an angry snarl.
    tab “What are you elves doing? Get back to work!”
    tab “No!” the elves shouted.
    tab “Get back to work this instant, or I will force you!” Santa spat back.
    tab “You can’t force us! We have a choice to be here or not. And we pick not!”
    tab The elves then did something they have never done: they walked out of the factory. They walked until they got to the outskirts and stood there, in the cold, defiant of working under a corrupt Santa.
    tab The elves stood in the harsh, cold September air for some days. They didn’t care about the weather; they were adjusted to it, knew how it could hail one day, and snow the next. The only thing the elves cared about was changing Santa back to his old self, and this was the only way they knew how.
    tab Santa, by this time, was having trouble. They elves had gone on a strike against him, which left the factory like a ghost town. The toys still needed to be made by December (only a quarter of the total amount of toys had been made) and, the news of the elf strike had reached the United States causing a dangerous uproar among the people. Santa was getting mail, e-mail, and phone calls about how much of a fool he was and the consequence of no Christmas would lead up to mass riots.
    tab The U.S. government denied any affiliation with Santa, which left him alone, wallowing in self-hatred. Santa had to do something, and fast, or the life he lived will amount up to nothing.
    tab Fortunately, Santa did do something about this predicament. He went outside into the freezing air to where the elves stood, staring. He walked up to them, paused, and said, “I’m sorry, okay?” Santa pleaded for the elves to come back, that he had changed, and that he wouldn’t think of the elves the same way as he had.
    tab The elves thought this over for a short time and said, “Okay Mr. Claus, we’ll come work for you again.”
    This prompted several celebratory “hurrahs” and “hoorays” from the elves. In later interviews about this elf strike, and why did the elves come back to work with Santa, some said, “Because he proved himself to us that we can believe in him again... and we we’re getting kind of cold.”
    In a short time, everything was back to normal again. All the elves went back to work, including Jack. He was glad to be back working and humming his little tune.