Fired San Francisco Santa Gets Back To Work
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) - The department store Santa, fired from the Union Square Macy's over risqué comments, started his new job Friday – following a barrage of media interviews.
John Toomey, who took toy orders from children for 20 years as the Macy's Union Square Santa Claus, was let go last week after an adult couple that sat on his lap complained about a remark he made. The refrence to "bad girls and boys" that got him canned was made out of earshot of children.
On Friday, he sat on his new throne at Lefty O'Doul's, a bar and restaurant on Geary that offered him a gig. Lefty's owner gave Santa a job at twice the salary that included a bigger throne.
"They're cheering me every where I go," said Toomey during his first appearance for Lefty's Friday. "It's doing just wonderfully."
Santa's mission now is to use the international publicity about the case to help Lefty's collect toys for the annual Firefighter's toy drive. He kicked that effort off with a parade around Union Square Friday. The parade happened to pass by his former employer. Macy's said they won't comment because it's a personnel matter.
Toomey was featured in a Mike Sugerman report a few years ago on how to act like Santa. See the video below:
Rather than giving away toys, this Santa will spend every afternoon until Christmas collecting gifts for local children.
Visit the website for more information on the Firefighter toy drive.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
