The Wall Street Egg

Share this post

Mall Santas begin new year in therapy after lying to thousands of children

wallstreetegg.com

Mall Santas begin new year in therapy after lying to thousands of children

The Wall Street Egg
Jan 1, 2023
Share this post

Mall Santas begin new year in therapy after lying to thousands of children

wallstreetegg.com
Share
A mall Santa reading a child's Christmas letter.
A mall Santa pretending to care about a child’s Christmas letter. (Unsplash Photo)

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (The Egg) — The Christmas season is a time of great joy for most children, especially when they go to the mall to see Santa Claus. Unfortunately, the new year begins with immense guilt and therapy for the mall Santas that have lied to thousands of children.

“It’s a busy time of year for us, for sure,” said clinical therapist Eileen McKellin, who runs a weekly support group for Santa Claus actors. “Our clients are usually in a pretty bad mental state after spending weeks shredding the children’s Christmas letters and promising them all sorts of things.”

The typical mall Santa gig lasts about six weeks, and they will see thousands of children by Christmas Eve. After lying to almost all of them, many like Santa Tom, will seek therapy to help process the guilt they feel on Christmas morning.

“I don’t know why I do it, but I get a sick kick out of telling kids they’ll get phones, computers, tickets to games and concerts. I even said I would help some girl get famous on TikTok,” Santa Tom said.

“Just imagine her disappointment when I ghost her … I do feel a little bad however,” he continued.

McKellin’s support group tries to teach the mall Santas that it’s inappropriate to promise children things, but many express they feel “beat down” by them, and some even say the children look like they “deserve to be disappointed.”

“Many of our clients are people I wouldn’t trust with children, but I do my best to help them work out their problems. At least they're not as bad as the elf actors,” McKellin said.


Thanks for reading The Wall Street Egg! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Share


While you’re here: Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or read more about us.

Share this post

Mall Santas begin new year in therapy after lying to thousands of children

wallstreetegg.com
Share
Previous
Next
Comments
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 The Wall Street Egg
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing