Stress plus deadline equals very angry shoppers

People are “pushy and rude,” said 18-year-old Cheryl Warshauer, while shopping in New York. “I try not to be. But they’re all so pushy, you have to be pushy back.”

This season, fewer retail workers will bear the increased aggression. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people employed in the retail sector slipped in November, compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, workers employed by general merchandise stores has dropped to the lowest number since 2002.

To diffuse an incendiary situation before it sparks, KB Toys’ Speranza said the chain has stopped putting the year’s hottest toys on the shelves altogether. Fisher-Price’s T.M.X. Elmo — one of this season’s most fought-over items — didn’t make it onto shelves until just this week, he said. Instead, KB Toys created a waiting list and called customers one by one as shipments arrived.

Meanwhile, Toys “R” Us Inc. said it puts hot products on display but tries to be sure supply meets demand, said Ron Boire, president of Toys “R” Us in the U.S. Still, there have been periodic shortages of T.M.X. Elmo, Nintendo’s new Wii gaming console and Sony’s Playstation3, he said.

To keep customers under control — lest a stressed-out shopper become a violent shopper — Boire said the chain beefs up security during the holidays, including hiring plainclothes officers to police its aisles and checkout lines.

Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. preps its employees for the holiday rush with preseason rehearsals.

Customers who normally come to browse or toy with Best Buy’s interactive displays, “during the holidays, they come with a purpose,” said Ryan Seymour, general manager of a Best Buy store in Alexandria, Va. “They’re aggressive.”

So a few days before Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving that marks the start of the holiday shopping season — Best Buy stores do a “dry run” of the frenzy. Seasonal employees are made to wait in their respective departments when, at once, the other employees bully their way toward the department with a flood of questions. Employees are “armed with a strategy” for organization and inventory, Seymour said.

And the crowds won’t be going away after Dec. 25. The nation’s retailers are set to expand hours next week to accommodate the post-Christmas shopper rush, which has been increasing in recent years with the popularity of gift cards. That means the stress on employees continues, and retailers are keeping holiday season measures intact.

At a street vendor’s table in New York, Lourdes Maria Gonzalez haggled for a bottle of perfume. After settling for the $10 price, she hurriedly stashed the canister in a stroller where her 3-month-old son slept and slung a large bag of wrapped presents over her shoulder.

“Everything is a rush,” she said. “I’m behind. After Christmas, I’ll still be doing Christmas shopping.”

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