Until this past season, the mere thought of the holiday season could have been enough to make many retail workers cringe. Stores are typically crammed wall-to-wall with pushy shoppers determined to fulfill lengthy gift lists for friends and families.

Never-ending lines form in front of each cash register and mountains of clothing are left behind in fitting rooms for workers to clear out when the mobs finally subside. Lunch breaks for associates often become non-existant, and extended shopping hours delay their rest even longer.

This season, however, told a different tale. Consumer spending rose justslightly above three percent between Thanksgiving and Christmas — the leastincrease since 2003, according to MasterCard Advisors.

Although MasterCard reports showed that online spending rose 22.4 percent,the virtual spending did little to help the desolation felt by major stores such as Macy’s and Nordstrom throughout December. Clothing sales increased even less, settling in at just about 1.4 percent.

Meager sales forced many stores to pull out their clearance signs in desperate attempts to gain customers. And although discount stores such as Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx did relatively well according to the New York Times, Target struggled in sales. Wal-Mart and Best Buy came out on top for economical and electronic gifts.

“I waited in line for four hours outside of a Best Buy in 30-degree weather and accomplished all of my Christmas shopping on Black Friday,” Taylor Beringer, a junior in business finance, said.

Despite a strong demand at the start of the season for a handful of electronics, such as digital picture frames and portable GPS navigation systems, the trend faded as the days passed in December, according to the NY Times.

“The people I worked retail with were just as grumpy as overwhelmed last-minute shoppers during the holidays — it’s nothing I ever want to experience again,” said Jacqueline Bailey, a junior in political science who worked part-time at Nordstrom in Durham.