Kenny Peppers carefully laid out his objective and his background. He listed outstanding references. He checked and rechecked his spelling. He tweaked the formatting and used fancy paper.
And like so many job seekers, the 8-year-old Kenwood boy got a soulless rejection letter. From the North Pole. In regards to his letter to Santa.
“It’s such a crock,” says Peppers. “I was perfect for those toys. I don’t think Santa even read my letter.”
Santa’s response to Peppers doesn’t even mention the boy’s name and instead opens by addressing him as “Dear toy seeker.”
It continues with: “though your qualifications and wish list are impressive, we were fortunate to have interest from many outstanding candidates who we believe are better suited for the position of receiving toys this year. We will keep your letter to Santa on file in the event a position that fits your skill set should become available. We wish you the best with your future toy requesting endeavors.“
It’s the second major economic wakeup call for Peppers this year. After failing to persuade his lemonade stand co-workers to take furloughs, he was turned down for government bailout money under the TARP program. Just like that, the lemonade stand he once claimed was “too big to fail” had to shut down.
Peppers isn’t sure about his next steps with the holidays coming fast.
“Going back to school isn’t really an option. I’m eight. Maybe I’ll try Judaism. They could probably use the membership boost.”
