A-h-h-h-h-h-h, the life of a Christmas giftwrapper

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- You think your life is difficult during the "stress-mas" season? Try being a gift wrapper.

Store workers swim in tissue paper, with scissors flying, wrapping paper tearing, double-sided tape sticking, and customers wanting things -- now.

"I need a gift wrap."

"How does this work? My wife told me I could get this gift-wrapped."

"Is that a shirt box?"

"I need one of those. And a shirt box."

"How big is the shirt box?"

Phones are ringing as a walkie-talkie screeches, "Do you copy?"

Even after 10 years of this, Estela Pomare, the beloved gift wrapper at Macy's Women's store in Thousand Oaks, is still smiling.

"She knows how to wrap and she knows how to smile," said Maureen Biberacher, the store's personal shopper.

It's difficult to understand how Pomare stays upbeat amid the frenetic buzz of shoppers, especially when she informs the customer, "It'll be an hour-and-a-half wait."

Over and over, she repeats that dreaded line, which usually draws a sigh or an angry comment from a customer.

Sometimes, Pomare delivers her apologetic follow-up before they can respond: "Unless you'd like to take a box?"

"Forget it," most customers say.

And yet, Pomare insisted: "It's fun, it's fun. I like it."

What's wrong with this woman?

Nothing, if you ask sisters Adriana Walton and Laura Hurley, who visit the store regularly.

"She does such a beautiful job," Walton said.

"She does a wonderful job," Hurley interrupted.

"This woman is just great," Walton continued.

"Every year we come back and then throughout the year, too," Hurley added.

So how often does she get yelled at?

"I think a couple of times a week," Pomare said. "Or, it varies, you know."

Is it stressful?

"Yeah, it is stressful," she admitted, "but I don't let it get to me. I just go on with my life. Now that I've gotten older, I'm more calm."

"I love that," said a waiting customer. "Calm!

"Can I just get a shirt box?"

(Contact Stephanie Hoops of the Ventura County Star in California at www.venturacountystar.com.)