Dealing with throngs of little kids, parents, and holiday shoppers must require a high annoyance threshold, but one mall Santa in Maine is without a job because he apparently missed the memo mandating that Old Saint Nick be “jolly.”

The mother of a 6-year-old says that when she opted out of the $20 photo op with Santa, he rebuffed the little girl’s attempts to sit on his lap.

“He just put his hands on his lap so I couldn’t go on,” the youngster tells Portland’s WGME-TV.

“He didn’t ask if she was good or any of that,” says the mom. “He just kind of snubbed her.”

After she posted about the incident on Facebook, the mom learned her daughter’s was just one of many.

The Facebook post received more than 1,000 likes, with other mall visitors chiming in that they found this Santa to to be the “rudest man I’ve ever met.” One woman said she tried to get a hug from Santa but, “He gave me and my friend a dirty look.”

The negative PR was enough for the mall, which kicked the bad Santa to the curb and is replacing him ASAP, presumably with someone who won’t terrify children of all ages.

“My mom says he was being a grumpy elf,” says the 6-year-old.

We have a hunch this grumpy elf isn’t going to receive the outpouring of community support given to the San Francisco’s Macy’s Santa dismissed in 2010 for making a saucy joke to some adult shoppers.

Since WGME doesn’t allow embedding of their news clips, we’re just adding this possibly NSFW scene from Billy Bob Thornton’s finest role:

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