It’s not all milk and cookies
By Katie Pelech
Jack Sims (or “Santa Jack,” as he’s known to his pint-size admirers) has spent the last seven Christmas Eves making house calls in St. Louis. It’s not easy. Restaurants aren’t open. The roads are icy. And how are you supposed to use the bathroom? “Merry Christmas, children! Where’s the john?” would kind of ruin the illusion.
Of course, the compensation makes a full bladder a little easier to bear. Santa Jack charges $100 an hour for an appearance during the season and $100 for each 20-minute Christmas Eve appearance. It’s a vast improvement over the $15 an hour he made as a mall Santa at the Galleria.
In that line of work, you’re hired through companies that also provide photo services and elves via carefully negotiated contracts. One of the largest such companies, Santa Plus, is located in O’Fallon, Mo., and marketing director Rick Eggesiecker says that the competition is fierce: “You need to know all the popular toys, and you certainly need to know all the reindeer’s names.”
That’s no problem for Santa Jack. He got his gig because he was willing to grow a genuine beard (he’s a member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas), and even when off-duty he’s careful not to drink in front of children. However, there is one downside to being the most beloved man in the world:
“On December 25th, I’m just an unemployed bearded man who looks like he just climbed out from under the railway tracks.”
