20131223_me_santaland_diaries.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1052&d=439&p=3&story=255550048&t=progseg&e=256468107&seg=18&ft=nprml&f=255550048

You might not expect "Santa's Helper" to be a career-altering gig, but for David Sedaris, it changed everything. The writer and humorist spent a season working at Macy's as a department store elf. He described his short tenure as Crumpet the Elf in "The Santaland Diaries," an essay that he read on Morning Edition in 1992.

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