Smiles Manage to Stay Put Despite Crunch of Last-Minute Shoppers

By 12:30 on a rainy Christmas Eve afternoon, Mary Murray already had greeted more than 1,500 customers since she started work at 9:30 that morning.

Pressing the button on her hand-held counter with each cheerful “hello” she uttered, Murray--Mrs. Santa Claus in “Santa’s Faction” at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa--brought a smile to hundreds of tiny customers and their parents who came to visit her “husband” Saturday.

“I love the children,” Murray said. “When you see them smile, it just rubs off on you.”

Murray planned to be on her feet for nearly 8 hours. But fueled by hugs, kisses and thoughtful hand-made gifts--like a little paper Christmas tree--she said she could keep going all day.

While lines were long to visit Santa, some mall employees were waiting for last-minute customers on the rainy eve.

Less Than Expected

“I think everybody shopped earlier this week,” said Karen Golden, a saleswoman in the electronics department at Sears. Still, she said, she had expected a bigger turnout.

“The rain usually brings people in,” she said.

The crowds were large enough for 27-year-old Tony Chargualaf of Santa Ana, a self-proclaimed last-minute shopper.

Chargualaf, who wore a red Santa hat “to spread some Christmas cheer,” said he always saves his shopping for Christmas Eve because the crowds put him in the Christmas spirit.

“It’s like a ritual for me,” he said. “The spectacle is always fun.”

To cope with shoppers who share Chargualaf’s ritual, employees in the fragrance department at the Broadway in Huntington Beach brought sweets for extra energy.

Chocolate Pick-Me-Up

“We’re eating chocolate to keep ourselves going,” said salesperson Laura Speth.

Speth said her department also was keeping morale high by competing against the Broadway’s Laguna Beach store for sales volume. And, ignoring impatient remarks from some customers, she worked at staying cheerful.

“You have to be happy at Christmas,” Speth said. “Some people come in spending their last dime. You have to smile for them.”

Smiling was tougher in the gift-wrapping department, “an absolute mad house,” employee Maria Lawrence said. Nearly 50 people waited in line to get boxes or have their gifts wrapped. Earlier in the week, lines were even longer, she said.

Lawrence, who was tying red bows around a box filled with $500 worth of store gift certificates, said she remains patient and can even relate to last-minute shoppers.

“Some of us even have to shop ourselves,” Lawrence said. “You’re working here and you never get a chance to shop.”

Gift wrapper Lucille Kufchak, said she enjoys making presents look pretty but sometimes is “ready to scream.”

“There’s so much noise and talking, and then you have to force your smile,” Kufchak said.

But after 4 years at the job, she said, she has developed “a lot of self-control. After so many years, you can take almost anything.”