Alicia Love

Once Upon A Time I Was The Easter Bunny At The Mall…

on Apr 06 in Bloggin' tagged Alicia Love, Bunny, Costume, Easter, Easter Bunny, Kids, Mall, Pictures, South Shore Plaza by Alicia

I’ve had a lot of very random jobs. The most random being the Easter Bunny at my local mall. Yes, if in 1997-1998 you sat on the Easter Bunny’s lap at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree Massachusetts then you and I have met. I’ve even had your ass on my thigh, which means I know you intimately. I was very into “photography” at the time so I thought getting a job taking pictures of screaming kids sitting on a giant bunny would look great on my resume. When I applied for the job they informed me that in order to take pictures I would have to get in the bunny suit every once in a while, that was the point where I should have said thanks but no thanks. Obviously I was certain that this was going to be a great career move so I willingly agreed to be the bunny. 

It wasn’t awful, I got to wear gym shorts and a t-shirt under the bunny suit so comfortable was an understatement.  Plus the bunny suit was like a giant pair of feety pajamas, all in all better than wearing a business suit and you got paid more for being inside of the bunny suit than you did for taking pictures. So much for my blossoming photography career, I was about the almighty dollar!

As Easter got closer parents would get more and more frantic about getting their kids on the lap of the bunny. Some kids were fearless and wanted to be best friends with the bunny. Some loved the bunny so much they really didn’t want to leave. Over all the kids were pretty cute. There was plenty of crying from the kids that were terrified and there were plenty of kids that were scared and a bit stand offish but not entirely freaked out. Those kids were my favorite. If there wasn’t a line I would try my hardest to get them to at least stand near me for the picture. One night we were getting close to closing time, there wasn’t a line and this little kid was very hesitant to sit near the bunny. I finally coerced him enough to come up and shake the bunny’s hand. Well it had been a long day and I wasn’t really thinking. I was standing when this little kid finally got up enough courage to come and give the hand shake and I leaned over to get on his level. What I didn’t really think about was the weight of the giant rabbit head I was wearing!  As I leaned down the head began to fall forward and  instead of the head completely falling off it just sort of slid up the back of my real head. Because the little kid was standing there it slid just enough to smash this child in the forehead. When his mom heard his wails of terror she said “Oh well, I guess he’s still too young. We’ll have try again next year!” She had no idea that I may have just given her child a minor concussion and he was too young to really explain what happened. Only he and I knew the truth. I waved as his mother dragged him away, telling him that they had to leave because he was “too afraid”.  I just stood there and said nothing. I mean I couldn’t, it was part of the job, I was supposed to just stand there and look cute!  Besides if I did say something I think the kid would have ended up in therapy instead of just having a little bump! I’m sure this kid never wanted to go near the bunny again. I mean would you want to go near a giant, moving, rabbit if it basically gave you a head butt?

I know I’m posting this a little bit late but no matter what I bet your Easter was better than this kid’s!