For about five or six years, I played Santa at a local hospital for their annual event. Each year, they told me that they really liked how I did it, and felt fortunate to have me.
I just learned that they don't want me to do it this year. Seems there is an employee who wants to do it, so they're having him do it. No apology, no thanks for what you did. They did say that they really liked when I did it, got lots of good responses from the parents, but, you know, our employee wanted to do it, so we thought this was the right thing to do. And it probably, objectively, was. After all, they don't owe me anything. And its not as if the kids are going to even remember that last year's Santa was better. Santas are fungible.
This is why I tell my daughter not to work for corporations. Or any organization without much of a soul. Including, apparently, a certain hospital. Which, prior to this, I thought was a decent place, and now -- like the SAS 'tray table cleanliness' story -- I think maybe they're not so great.
2 comments:
Oh no! I bet if you start calling around there are community centers - senior centers - YMCAs - after school programs - that could use an experienced Santa. Maybe even the church? Our church has a program for children with special needs and Santa is ALWAYS a huge hit with them.
Maybe this is a sign that it's time for this Santa to move to a different North Pole?
Not that many, actually. I did it at the church one year, and it went well; the next year, they forgot to schedule it. I think schools have a fair amount of fear if it's done by people they don't know. They like to use the same people, year after year. Or not at all.
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