This was much worse during the earlier patches, such as the BETA. So there has been significant strides towards improving this.
However it remains an unwanted part of the game. You often find a rummage through your bag of presents will cause the Earthling chasing you to wander off & lose interest in you.
There are definitely times this saves you a life, or a valuable present that no longer needs opening to bail you out, but it's certainly a bug that breaks the immersion of the game and significantly reduces the difficulty of Hard mode.