It’s that time of year again.

Can you hear the melodic sound of cash drawers opening and closing? Do you smell the aroma of carmel apple cider and eggnog lattes coming from Starbucks? Have you seen the fake snow framing the windows that house mannequins clad in thick coats and colorful scarves? If you have been taking in these sights, sounds and smells, it may be because you are out and about enjoying the season, spreading cheer and buying presents. Or, maybe you work in the mall.

The ring of a cash register is the sound they hear all day. They go to Starbucks on their twenty-minute “fifteen” to spend an hour’s pay on a soy mocha and a scone because they need a caffeine and sugar rush after pulling an all-nighter studying for midterms. You might hate fake snow, despise it even, because you knew that as you were decorating that window you were ushering in all of the snobby women, sweater-buying grandmothers and annoying kids into your place of employment and inviting, no begging, them to make your very existence a complete living hell for the next two months.

About a month before turkey time and at least a week before Halloween, stores began decorating for the holiday season, playing Christmas music and overstaffing their sales floors.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics about 20 percent of employed 16 to 24 year olds work in retail. That percentage is higher than in any other industry. Many students right here at SF State are facing the challenge of balancing, or juggling rather, a retail job and a full course load.

Naima Bryant recently transferred to SF State from City College. For nearly four years, Bryant worked in retail, attended classes and attempted to maintain some kind of social life. This semester, however, Bryant says her social life has been basically none existent.

“Look at my back pack,” Bryant said, swinging her overstuffed, worn-in, light blue Jansport to the front of her body. “Do I look like I have time to go out?”

Bryant worked for three years as a salesperson at Nordstrom in downtown San Francisco. Last holiday season, she said, the only things she liked about work were her co-workers, several of whom were SF State students.

“I hated the long hours,” she said. “Working early, working late. The music was horrible. There’s that one song, something about snow. I hated that song. And ‘Santa Baby,’ you could just picture her lying across the piano. They just played it too much.”

This semester Bryant is working 30-plus hours a week at Sleep Train, a discount mattress store. Bryant, a black studies and psychology double major, is also taking 12 units. While it is her first holiday there, she is anticipating a fairly busy season.

“They (co-workers) tell me that business picks up because people come in to buy mattresses for their family who are coming into town – just the cheap stuff,” said Bryant.

One might wonder what would motivate a student like Bryant to work in retail. She offered a one-word response to the question - “rent”

Seema Patel, a triple major studying corporate finance, financial services and decision science, also explained in one word why she has a retail job - “bills.”

Patel works at Limited Too, a clothing store for “tweeny boppers.” During Christmas, she doesn’t hear the sounds of retail favorites like TLC’s “A Very Merry Christmas.” She won't be rocking out to “A RuPaul Christmas.” Patel said that Limited Too’s Christmas playlist is made up of America’s favorite blondes, artists Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and Hillary Duff.

“It’s not too bad,” said Patel about the music. What is bad for Patel is the holiday schedule.

“They have these blackout periods where no one can request time off. The shifts are longer - eight hours. No more four-hour shifts.”

Those four-hour shifts and weekend hours were what first attracted Patel and others to the world of retail sales. Clothing stores like Nordstrom and Limited Too are open for several hours on both Saturday and Sunday, giving students who are not available during the week a chance to make money.

Retail jobs have a high turnover rate and therefore stores are always hiring. In today’s economy retail jobs are often the only jobs a student can find that will work around their schedule.

Paula Thermidor is the top salesperson in the Nordstrom company for her department, TBD, which sells such labels as Seven For All Mankind, Citizens of Humanity and C&C California. She is a student at Laney College in Oakland considering a transfer to SF State.

Thermidor receives health, vision and dental benefits through Nordstrom. As with a lot of other employers, in order to be eligible for benefits at Nordstrom one must work full time.

Thermidor has a two-year-old son and makes enough at Nordstrom to support them both. Still, she says she understands why there is such a high turnover rate in retail.

"It's just stressful, and people are really demanding," said Thermidor. "It's hard when you are young and you want to go out but you work every weekend."

It is hard for Patel and Bryant to remember what attracted them to retail jobs in the first place, especially when the flexibility that may have drawn them in is taken away during the holiday season.

Whatever the reason, "tis the season," and college students who lead a double life as retail workers are bracing themselves for days full of class, sales, homework, wrapping paper, finals and fake snow.