# Bad Santas and scarred childhoods **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 1999, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973 "1999-12-13T13:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/1 "1999-12-13T13:51:00Z")
\*\ ***Note: This is not the “pedophile Santa” or “Santa hacked my kids to death with a rusty cleaver in the middle of the night” thread** You’ve seen, mocked and been shocked by 'em. You’ve, maybe, let your kid sit on one’s lap. You know who I’m talking about – the discount store Santa. The one that forces you to tell your darling child: “No, he’s not Santa. He’s Santa’s helper.” The askew cotton ball beard; cheap, threadbare suit; black hair showing from under a dirty hat; slightly pudgy with a pillow down his pants; on a folding chair; not an elf in sight; good-meaning-but-not-up-to-snuff Santa. The Santa at the Granite Run Mall in suburban Philly has real white, hair, beard, is jolly, rosy-cheeked, bespectacled, good natured, couldn’t scare a mouse Santa. Shoppers flock from miles around to take their children to see him. The mall owners know this so he is paid _very_ well. So why do the store owners go through the motions if they’re not gonna do it right? I remember visiting a Santa on 69th Street in Philly as a child. One year he **was** Santa. The next year he was **Santa’s Helper** and the year after that he was some guy in a cheap red suit. I know I was getting older, but the Santa was crappier and crappier every year. ::Sigh:: Just a holiday rant… ---
**Author:** ![Santa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Santa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/2 "1999-12-13T14:02:00Z")
Ho, Ho, Ho! ::Santa crosses Chief off his “good boy” list. Extra coal for him this year. And I guess I’ll have to return this new DVD player I had picked out for him. Too bad!:: Santa ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/3 "1999-12-13T14:13:00Z")
Damn it. Screwed up the HTMLs _and_ pissed off Santa in one fell swoop. But seriously, if a Santa isn’t a good Santa, I won’t take my kid anywhere near him. ---
**Author:** ![Inky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d78d45/32.png) [@Inky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/4 "1999-12-13T15:15:00Z")
I actually witnessed security guards dragging away a drunken Santa after he had relieved himself in a Chess King dressing room. He wasn’t the mall’s Santa, but rather one of those freelance bell and kettle jobs that loiter at the entrance. Inky ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/5 "1999-12-13T15:17:00Z")
And how about the parents who force a frightened infant or toddler to sit on Santa’s lap! The poor little kid screams in terror just so the parent’s can have a photo (of their kid crying.) If there was justice, those parents would have nightmares for at least a month afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Santa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Santa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/6 "1999-12-13T16:02:00Z")
Just so you know, those kids usually only scream after I whisper in thier ear a little tale about creepy crawlies under their beds. Santa has to have fun too, you know. As for the peeing in the Chess King dressing room, hey- ya gotta go, ya gotta go. YOU try waiting until you can find a bathroom after drinking a dozen or so Guiness. Just Santas point of view Santa, Ho, Ho, Ho! ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-santas-and-scarred-childhoods/11973/7 "1999-12-13T20:26:00Z")
Just the kinda Santa I was referring to.