Lucy Blake (pictured) has accused Sports Direct of ‘stealing Christmas’ from son after a staff member allegedly told him Father Christmas was dead
A mother-of-three was left furious after a Sports Direct worker allegedly told her eight-year-old son Father Christmas was ‘dead and buried’.
Lucy Blake has accused the retail chain of ‘stealing Christmas’ from her little boy, after he visited its Basingstoke branch, on Saturday.
She has now called on Sports Direct to train its staff members in the importance of the festive holiday to younger customers, so that their ‘worlds are not sent crashing down’.
Ms Blake, who also has two daughters, posted a lengthy rant on the retailer’s Facebook page where she said the incident left her son ‘really disturbed’ and googling ‘is Santa dead’.
She fumed: ‘I’m genuinely sad to write this. I wish on this busy shopping weekend my only gripe would be a badly packed shopping bag or a incorrectly sized item on the wrong hanger, but no… today a Soccer Sports team member/grinch almost stole Christmas.
‘My eight-year-old son was in your Basingstoke store and was told that Father Christmas is dead by one of your members of staff serving him and his dad.
‘My husband was horrified and quickly said “no he’s not you’ve got that wrong”, your member of staff continued to say “yes he is, don’t you know your history?”
‘Again my husband tried to brush him off before the cashier then went on to say more of the same rubbish, but this time adding where Father Christmas’s bones were buried. You couldn’t make it up.
‘My son is really disturbed by this thought and the first thing he did was tell me and his sisters, who are four and six, what had been told to him.
Ms Blake has called on Sports Direct to train its staff members in the importance of Christmas to younger customers, so that their ‘worlds’ are not ‘sent crashing down’
‘I expect he’ll go on to tell his school friends too, despite us trying to reassure him the man was just being silly.
‘I have already caught him googling “is Santa dead” my heart skipped a beat at the thought of what he was about to come across googling things like that.
‘You see, Sports Direct, childhood is very precious and the magic of Christmas no matter what your beliefs are, are exactly that… magic, but magic appears in a puff of smoke and disappears just as quickly.
‘I have already caught him googling “is Santa dead”
‘Today your member of staff may have stolen a precious piece of my son’s childhood with the wisdom he felt the need to share whilst scanning sports clothes.
‘He very nearly took my little boy’s last few precious years of truly believing in magic and miracles.
‘Luckily the magic will never die in our ‘I have already caught him googling “is Santa dead” my heart skipped a beat at the thought of what he was about to come across googling things like that.home and my son will eventually forget about what was said to him by the silly man that knows nothing, as even for myself at 33 Santa is very much alive.
‘Other families might not have our approach to Christmas or other special occasions, so perhaps a bit of festive staff training or just general understanding of what might make a child’s world come crashing down is in order.
‘Ultimately Christmas is a time for goodwill so on that note we wish your worker a very merry Christmas and hope that Santa doesn’t forget him Christmas Day.’
Ms Blake’s comment was shared by 352 times by angry parents, who slammed the staff member’s behaviour as ‘appalling’ and awful’, with 138 comments and 298 likes.