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The Season for Work Jenn Nicholson, 22, sorts Barbie dolls at Kay Bee Toys in the Rogue Valley Mall. Part-time seasonal workers like Nicholson are main ingredients in retail stores' successes at Christmas. Thousands swell Rogue Valley's retail rolls at Christmastime By Dave Preszler It may be early afternoon on a weekday, but the holiday rush hasn't quit at Kay-Bee Toys. More than a dozen shoppers mill in the aisles. A woman asks Angelica Beelleville if they carry a stuffed dog that "licks" you when you pat its head. Beelleville, one of 17 seasonal employees at the Rogue Valley Mall toy store, smiles and leads the woman to a Smoochie Pooch near the back of the store. Rub its head and, sure enough, the cloth tongue moves up and down. "It's fun," Beelleville says of her holiday job at one of the valley's busiest stores. "It's pretty easy to handle, you just help them one at time. They understand we are busy." Retail stores around the valley hire thousands of seasonal workers each year, often paying at or just above minimum wage. These employees work from late October to early January -- the most stressful stretch of the retail year. The lure of extra cash is the general draw, though motivation varies some from person to person. Beelleville, 19, is eight months pregnant. Her husband is a Marine stationed in California, and working at Kay-Bee seemed a good way to help with expenses until a son she plans to name Damon arrives sometime around Jan. 19. "It just seemed to fit with having the baby," she says of the 30 hours a week she spends pointing parents toward the perfect toy. Cindy Patrick of Central Point was also looking for a way to make ends meet when she started working at Harry and David's Country Store, her first venture into the seasonal job pool. Patrick, 50, moved here from Colorado. Her husband is attending Southern Oregon University to become a physician's assistant. "We moved at the time when I knew they'd be hiring for Christmas," she says. "I'm hoping that it inspires me to get a full-time job. It's gotten me in that mode." While some, like Patrick and Beeleville, have a single seasonal job, others juggle several during the holidays. Nicole Kimmelshue, an 18-year-old from Medford, is a seasonal employee at both Kay-Bee and Famous Footwear. Last year, she spent the holiday season at Bath and Body Works. "I've been almost everywhere in the mall," jokes Kimmelshue, who's saving money for college. Kimmelshue's co-worker, 22-year-old Jenn Nicholson, works 25-30 hours a week at the Sunglass Hut year-round and added 30 hours a week at Kay-Bee for the holidays. "I live here," Nicholson says of the mall. "My car could probably drive here on autopilot. "I needed a little extra money for Christmas and I knew they were hiring." Learning a new job -- and facing hordes of hurried holiday shoppers -- can be intimidating for some. "For me, it's been a stretch because I have not been a checker before," says Patrick, who made flash cards and studied at night to learn the system. "I was on a crash course." Others have the retail routine down cold. "I learned this job in a day," says Kimmelshue. "I've done a lot of cashiering." "If you start early enough, you get the hang of it before it gets too busy," Nicholson says. The key to handling the shopper onslaught, several seasonals say, is just being a people person. "I'm used to the fast pace," says Nicholson. "All customers want special attention, and we can give it to them most of the time, but there are a few more customers." "We're encouraged to chitchat, and that's not hard for me to do," says Patrick. "That's what I liked about the store when I first walked in. It was friendly." There are fringe benefits to seasonal retail work -- most stores give in-house breaks on their merchandise that helps employees stretch the extra money they earn. "On my days off I can come shopping," says Loretta Payton, 46, of Talent, a seasonal worker at Harry and David. "One of the benefits here is that you get a discount and there are a lot of nice things." Jumping feet-first into the rapids of the retail river also can have its personal costs. Being submerged in the rush every day can dampen your holiday spirit -- or at least hamper your decorating drive. "I normally am decorated by Dec. 1," says Patrick, "and now I don't have that enthusiasm because I've decorated at work. If I put up a tree, it's going to be a discipline." "I haven't even had time to buy a tree," admits Nicholson. "But I love Christmas. I still go home and play Christmas music even though I hear it here all day." Working holiday retail just fuels some people's festive fires. Take Yolanda VanderVeen, who moved to the Harry and David retail store this year after several years doing seasonal work for Bear Creek Corp.'s production side. "Look at the surroundings," she says, surveying the decorative country store. "It's so neat to work here. There's an excitement here." After helping decorate the store in elaborate fashion, the 46-year-old Phoenix woman literally took the work home with her. "I went home and did my own Victorian Christmas tree," she says. "It's been a lot of fun. You don't get tired of (the work) because you enjoy it." VanderVeen is particularly found of changing the gift displays, something that's done every few weeks at Harry and David as new merchandise featured in the company's catalog hits the shelves. "It's like opening gifts every day," she says. "It's like having Christmas the whole two months." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA