GRINCH IS BACK PEACE ON EARTH LACKING AT LOCAL SHOPPING MALLS TENSIONS RISE AS CHRISTMAS NEARS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Tis the season to be ... angry?

The countdown to Christmas has dwindled to the single digits: As the mall crowds have worsened, so has the stress on shoppers faced with a creeping deadline to buy gifts -- and they're increasingly taking that stress out on salespeople.

Joy Garcia grumbled about one salesperson at the Best Buy in Canoga Park after getting the ``runaround'' while looking for a Wii remote.

She couldn't find it on the floor, so a salesperson directed her to customer service. But after waiting behind a dozen people in line she was directed back to the same salesperson who was to check the Wii remote stock at another store. Garcia, 31, of Tarzana, was slightly annoyed.

``I've already talked to him, he's useless,'' she said. Finally, another salesclerk found the gadget in stock at the Northridge store, and Garcia set off to buy it.

Frustrated shoppers and hectic crowds are normal before Christmas, said Best Buy store manager Rich Kelly. But most people shopping this late understand that certain items will be out of stock, even when the clock is ticking.

``People who are out this time of year, they are here to buy something,'' he said. ``Their lists are usually a little more generic.''

Dena Nicotra ran into such intense crowds shopping after work that she took the entire week off to finish her gift buying.

``It's not worth trying to fight the crowds,'' said Nicotra, 40, of Van Nuys as she shoved an electronic keyboard into her trunk.

Merchants from toy sellers to electronics chains have buckled down to deal with irate shoppers. Their strategies vary but the goal is generally the same: to keep customers happy (and from wrestling each other in the aisles) and employees safe.

``We've all done it: I know I've lost my temper, and everyone else has probably done it,'' said Ernest Speranza, chief marketing officer of KB Toys. ``At this time of year, people start out with all the best intentions. They're busy buying toys for a young child. They're happy about doing that. Then they get caught up in the frenzy ... and a nice experience now starts to spiral out of control.''

With shoppers procrastinating even more this year than last year, according to reports, retailers are bracing for an even bigger rush this weekend -- and doing what they can to manage the mad multitudes. Stores have beefed up security and coached their employees in anger management. They're taking the hottest items off the shelves to avoid fights in the aisles. While retailers are reluctant to say how much they're spending to manage the mayhem, they do say the measures are worth it to keep their customers happy, employees sane and stores safe during the busiest time of the year.

Shoppers have become angrier, suggests a recent study by ComPsych Corp., a provider of employee assistance programs. This year, ComPsych has seen a marked increase in the number of acute-stress counseling sessions it provides to retailers related to customer abuse. The number rose 13 percent in 2006 following a 65 percent jump last year.

``During the holiday season, (retailers) bring on people who are less familiar with where products are, how stores operate,'' said Richard A. Chaifetz, chairman and chief executive of ComPsych. ``Shoppers are agitated. Put those together and you create a combustible environment.''

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.

Best Buy 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.

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Christmas shoppers, above, at Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga on Wednesday face increasing stress as Christmas Day nears. At top, shoppers and their kids whip by at the merry-go-round at the mall, one way to release holiday frustrations.

(3 -- color) Holiday shoppers make their way through a busy Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga on Wednesday.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer