diff --git a/rattail/app.py b/rattail/app.py
index 0d7622b5726eaa69b0fe06962864a55009df2970..a1dfb573d8b3b94a08d4f754ecbdc09069378040 100644
--- a/rattail/app.py
+++ b/rattail/app.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import tempfile
 import warnings
 import logging
 from collections import OrderedDict
+from functools import partial
 
 import humanize
 from mako.template import Template
@@ -1194,7 +1195,13 @@ class AppHandler(object):
 
     def short_session(self, **kwargs):
         from rattail.db.util import short_session
-        kwargs.setdefault('factory', self.make_session)
+
+        if 'factory' not in kwargs:
+            # nb. usually want to avoid continuum user lookup for
+            # short session, but caller can override if needed
+            kwargs['factory'] = partial(self.make_session,
+                                        continuum_user=None)
+
         return short_session(**kwargs)
 
     def cache_model(self, session, model, **kwargs):