One dry cleaner now knows how to get on Santa's naughty list - lose his suit.
After Christmas last year, Max Weisberg took his red velvet suit to Royal Cleaners, which accidentally gave it to someone else.
The family-owned business acknowledged the mixup and offered to pay him half the value of the nearly $US400 ($A468) suit, said Jean Hwang, who
said she is the owner's sister.
Weisberg, 54, a civilian employee of the Navy, took the business to small claims court and won a $US396.50 ($A463) judgment to cover the suit and court costs.
But he had to collect the money himself. So Weisberg decided to do it with flair. His wife's public-relations firm notified the media that he would drop by the shop.
Donning a new red velvet suit with soft white trim and shiny black boots, a jolly Weisberg burst into the dry cleaners with television cameras rolling.
"Merry Christmas! Have you been a good girl?" he asked a smiling Hwang. She promised to put the cheque in the mail to Weisberg the next day.
Weisberg, who has been playing Santa at events for about a dozen years, made a promise, too: If it did not arrive, he would be back to protest again.
