For 30 hours a week since March 10, Oakland University junior Logan Heivilin works in a bunny costume.

Heivilin works as one of the Easter bunnies at Great Lakes Crossing. 

The suit stands about eight feet tall, including the ears. The job of the Easter bunny includes waving to children, interacting with them and posing for pictures.

Heivilin said it’s not exactly a dream job, and it’s certainly not permanent, but it does pay and there are some perks. 

 “It’s not a bad job,” said Heivilin. “It pays minimum wage and it’s really easy. I only have to wave to little kids and take pictures with them all day.”

He said the worst thing about being the Easter bunny is the heat.

“With all the people in the mall and me constantly moving around, it gets to be really hot in there,” Heivilin said. “The more people in the mall, the more body heat, and I definitely notice the difference between weekdays and weekends.”

During the week, it’s about half as busy as it is on the weekend.

“The Friday and Saturday before Easter is expected to be three times as busy as any other weekend,” said Heivilin. “Luckily I only work the morning and afternoon that Friday and not Saturday too. Saturday is going to be crazy.”

Heivilin was able to get the job because he knew someone who was in charge of hiring for the set. There wasn’t any formal training involved.

“I went to a meeting for maybe two hours and they went over everything,” said Heivilin. “They talked about how to act and react if a kid cried or screamed, things like that.”

Even though it’s a pretty easy job, the kids don’t always cooperate.

“It’s fun to see that all the kids are happy when they see me, even though to them I’m an Easter bunny,” said Heivilin. “It’s not fun when some of them scream though. Some of those little kids have ridiculous lungs.”

Heivilin’s also experienced a few extraordinarily rude people. 

“I’ve had two younger kids flip me off for no reason,” he said. “Another guy walked up to me and said, ‘What some people do for money.’ I thought that was totally out of line. I wanted to tackle him. I was ready to make news headlines the next day: Easter bunny attacks.”

Besides those couple of incidents, Heivilin has had good experiences.

“I haven’t gotten puked on or peed on, and others that are in the bunny suit have, so I consider myself lucky.”

Heivilin also sees being around the little kids as good practice. 

“I hold a lot of little kids, varying from weeks old to a year old,” Heivilin said. “I’m going to be a father in a couple of weeks myself, so being around little kids for so many hours each day gives me some insight about what to expect from my own little guy.”

The mall hires four different people to rotate in the bunny suit.

Easter bunny hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday. 

The display will be up until Saturday, April 3 in the food court portion of Great Lakes Crossing.