A job as Santa Claus during the holiday season isn’t so weird, but it is if you have to adhere to the following rules:

• No handing out lollies
• No patting children on the head (for fear of insulting religious beliefs)
• No children on laps unless parents give permission
• No photographs taken with youngsters unless your hands are in full view
• No ho-ho-ho’ing in case you frighten children
• No coming out from behind glass screens separating you from the children

Ok, the last one isn’t true but some Santas think that’s the way it’s going. Meanwhile, some are asking for extra helpers to act as witnesses in case a complaint is made.

Maybe it’s not the Santas who are weird, but the paranoid parents.

The New Zealand Herald, December 6, 2005