For much of the movie at least. Scott was in shock and had no idea what was going on. Reading a small card in no way explains what's going on. Yet Bernard is yelling at him and impatient and plain rude. Always annoyed me as a kid when I watched it and it still does.
Obviously still a fun family movie but he's just so unnecessarily douchy. I know he has a place to run but damn have some understanding for a new guy.
Santas are human and mortal, elves live thousands of years. If the elves were working with the real St. Nicholas' replacements since the fourth century, and if Santas had an average working time of say 15 years each, Bernard would have had to deal with close to a hundred replacements.
I'll cut him some slack, he probably had a bit of job burn out...
Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.share
You do realize that it was his job to catch Scott up on the Santa job and act as a sort of Assistant Santa until he was caught up. Otherwise, the North Pole would have fallen apart during Scotts denial phase and none of the kids would have gotten toys. The poor guy was probably stressed out of his mind.
shareYou do realize Scott was now finding out his entire life was going to change against his will and he understood none of it because a small card only gave a cryptic clue that nobody would ever think meant you were forced to become Santa. Bernard could have understood that.
shareYou do realize Scott was now finding out his entire life was going to change against his will and he understood none of it because a small card only gave a cryptic clue that nobody would ever think meant you were forced to become Santa. Bernard could have understood that.
Bernard was awesome....I had a crush on him when I was a kid
___
I think Bernard was initiating Scott by acting like a jerk. I don't think he was genuinely mad at him. Look how his attitude totally changed when he talked to Charlie. I would add that he might have been showing off to the other elves. It would be the only opportunity for him to mouth off to his boss and get away with it. Look how submissive he is in the second film.
shareSpeak for yourself, Bernard is a total package. Yes he may be a hostle to Scott when he first arrives at the pole. But under all that anger related stress, is a compassionate goofball. We still love him anyway. Crushed on him since 12 years of age ??
shareHow many centuries has Bernard struggled his way up the corporate ladder to become Chief Elf, and now he has hit the glass ceiling. No matter what he does, they only hire into the CEO spot from the outside and there is no competing company to whom he can send his resume. No wonder he's a dick. I cannot help but sympathize with him.
You must have learned by now that it sucks to be in middle management. To be condemned to it for eternity is a huge load to carry. The only position I can think of that is worse than Bernard's is to be the head Sith under the Emperor. You would have nothing to look forward to except to eventually being killed by an offspring.
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.
I think Bernard had job burnout. Happens to the best of us. And who can blame him? He'd probably been asked the exact same questions for thousands of years. That would drive anyone insane.
It's possible that the previous Santa was demanding and treated him (and the other elves) like sh!t
Think about it, none of the elves seemed the LEAST bit concerned about his disappearance, implying that they didn't miss or even like him that much.
My guess is that Bernard was just fed up and took his frustration out on everyone, but Scott (and Charlie) bought out the best in him:)