Elves On The Assembly Line
Henry here. How does Santa’s workshop operate? Does it function like Henry Ford’s invention, the assembly line, or is there another model? Lucile Ball has given us the archetypical image of what it is like to work on the assembly line in her skit about working at the chocolate factory.
She cannot keep up with the steady stream of chocolates coming down the line and tries to eat the extras but ends up stuffing them in her pockets and the front of her dress. An example of automation gone mad!
But what happens at Santa’s? Do the elves like Lucy get overwhelmed by the line, or is it a more humane system? Any inventive glimpse we have into the workshop always has everything functioning in a very humane and friendly fashion.
In all the Christmas movies about Santa, the elves seem to be cheerful, patient, energetic, prompt, efficient, and generally happy little workers. The one thing that I would say is that they seem to get along with each other and to accept themselves.
Someone with my interest in psychological type might say that for the elves to display such acceptance of themselves and others they must have a very deep understanding and acceptance of their own and their coworkers’ psychological type…something that can be very useful to all of us who are trying to get along with people at the office who stubbornly insist on being different.
Since it is all a fantasy anyway it pleases me to think that, as well as being awesome workers, they are experts on type.