No-Show St. Nick Is Cause for Crying, Shouting, Pouting

Rent-a-Santa was a no-show, and Bruce Mercado of San Gabriel was in a tight spot.

He had to explain to 22 tearful children and their increasingly anxious parents that Santa’s sleigh had passed on their Christmas Eve party.

“4:30 came and no Santa,” Mercado said Tuesday, recounting his holiday nightmare. “5:30. No Santa. 6:30, 7:30, 8:30. With 22 kids it got out of hand. There was lots of crying.”

Under a city-sponsored Rent-a-Santa program, Mercado had paid $40 to hire Santa Claus and an elf to entertain for an hour at the Christmas Eve party for his 4-year-old daughter, Amber, and 21 of her playmates.

When Santa didn’t show, Mercado called San Gabriel City Hall. He got no answer. He called the police, who were sympathetic. But they said they knew nothing of Santa’s whereabouts.

Finally, Mercado sent the disappointed little guests home with their parents.

On Tuesday, city Parks and Recreation officials apologized for the mistake and promised to send Mercado his $40 back.

“Basically, we screwed up,” said Robert Harris, assistant director of the Parks and Recreation Department in charge of Rent-a-Santa, which employs part-time city workers as Santas and elves. “I feel awful. But right now, I don’t know what to do.”

Mercado, a 31-year-old marketing coordinator, said a refund won’t go far enough. For one thing, he said, he spent at least $600 on the party, including fees for a commercial photographer he had hired to videotape the children with Santa. The photographer initially had been hired for one hour, but stayed until 8:30 p.m.

“What was I going to do? Send the photographer home and then all of the sudden Santa would have shown up?” Mercado asked.

But it’s more than just the money.

“It was only $40, but it was more symbolic than that. I thought it was kind of rude. I feel cheated, too. I wanted the kids to have a good time.”

There also was the ruckus touched off by Santa’s non-appearance. “It’s hard to keep that age bracket under control,” Mercado said. “I was the scapegoat for the parents. They were real disappointed. They still had screaming kids they had to deal with. Trying to do a good thing just got me in hot water.”

And of course, there was the sheer disappointment, which ran deep. “How do you put a price on the happiness of children?” Mercado asked.

By Tuesday, however, Amber Mercado was taking Santa’s absence much better: “He don’t have time for all the children.”

Harris said this is the first time in the 10-year history of Rent-a-Santa that a Santa and elf pair has failed to appear as scheduled. “I truly don’t have an answer as to why they didn’t show up,” Harris said.

So far, he hasn’t been able to reach the errant Santa Claus for an explanation. “He’s on vacation now.”