Author Description

Another comedy by acclaimed author Joe Basara. Set in Cypress Lake, Florida, this time during the eighties, this story shares the frantic antics of working and shopping in a discount store. Santa Claus is coming to the Cmart store on this July morning, but so is the district manager, and this has store manager Don McKeever worried. There is a mountain of merchandise in the stockroom, and there are counters on the sales floor that need filling and straightening. Arriving at the store, he meets three new hires who have come to be trained and oriented by a personnel manager who has unfortunately called in sick. McKeever puts the three to work anyway, filling and straightening. One of the three, Wally Humphery, is nominated to play Santa, inviting children to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. But during an employee meeting Wally meets another new hire-Billy Buffalo, a mysterious, mystical fellow who will work in the garden shop. McKeever wants Santa to persuade the kids to get their parents to buy them something today, and never mind Christmas. The mystical presence of Billy Buffalo though, influences Wally into doing what he wants to do anyway-encourage the children to believe in the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving. This angers assistant manager Tony Pasquale. He replaces Wally with a new Santa, only to have the same thing happen again. Meanwhile, a host of characters are revealed-a man with three noses, an employee who claims to be a customer-avoidance expert, a very inept loss-prevention man, a woman who goes berserk whenever she hears the word "sale," a plant's-rights activist, and many more. The story culminates with a debate between McKeever and Buffalo on the merits of profit versus spirit. All ends well in this comedy about one day in the life of a discount store.