You¡¯ve heard of Christmas stockings¡ but for staff in Mount Wellington, Auckland, it¡¯s all about boots this year.
Public Safety Team staff were encouraged to polish their boots and leave them lined up overnight, in keeping with a German Christmas tradition. Yesterday they found their efforts rewarded with candy canes, lollies and other Christmas treats.
More than 30 members of staff left a boot out, with the encouragement of Area Executive Officer Bettina Borchert-Kenyon and Workplace Assessor Senior Constable Cherie Nelson.
German children polish their shoes on 5 December to show they have been good and St Nikolaus visits overnight and fills the footwear with goodies.
The date is the anniversary of the death of Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century Greek Christian bishop who was known for distributing gifts secretly and whose legend has lived on in the form of Santa Claus.
¡°You only leave one shoe out because you don¡¯t want to appear greedy,¡± says Bettina, who is German and practises the tradition at home with her family.
Some people took the exercise very seriously, leaving a boot out for several days after going off shift. Senior Sergeant Steve Samuels, whose boot was the first out, won a special prize for best decorated boot, colleagues having added items to it over a number of days.
Honourable mentions also went to Sergeant David Hoeft, who left out a ¡®summer boot¡¯ - a jandal - and Cherie, who selflessly polished boots for off-shift colleagues who might otherwise have missed out.
¡°PST staff don¡¯t get a lot at this time of year - apart from work - so we try to do something nice for them at the end of the year,¡± says Cherie. ¡°It seems to have found favour so maybe we¡¯ll do it again next year.¡±
Honours board:
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Shiniest boots ¨C Constable Micheal Giles
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Section with most boots lined up ¨C Section 5
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Best decorated boot ¨C Senior Sergeant Steve Samuels
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Boots that made us laugh ¨C Sergeant David Hoeft
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Most boots polished ¨C Senior Constable Cherie Nelson