Business as Usual on Christmas : Holiday: Having to work has become an accepted routine for many, some of whom celebrate a day early.

Asphalt was visible in the shopping mall parking lots for the first time in days Tuesday and the freeways looked almost as deserted, signs that most businesses were closed for Christmas and that most workers had the day off.

But for Newport Beach lifeguard Brian O’Rourke and other public safety and service workers in Orange County, Christmas was just another day on the job.

“It’s not even like it’s Christmas today,” said O’Rourke, 23, while watching beachcombers enjoy the sun from the lifeguard headquarters at the base of the Newport Pier. “It’s just another day at the beach.”

O’Rourke said he volunteered to work on Christmas because he isn’t married. He said he was planning to celebrate the holiday after work with his family.

“I don’t really mind working Christmas,” he said. “It’s slow. It’s been like that all week. And because everything’s closed, you can’t do anything.”

Fellow lifeguard Lt. Craig Farmer, 35, said he, too, volunteered to take the Christmas Day shift because “I don’t have kids. Christmas is meant for families and kids opening their presents.”

Business was also slow at the Orange County coroner’s office, which operates at full staff on Christmas Day.

“It’s just like any other day for us,” said Kurt Murine, 30, a technician at the Orange County coroner’s office, just before taking X-rays of the body of a drive-by shooting victim from Santa Ana. “We start at the same time and end at the same time.”

Working Christmas isn’t as painful as it could be, Murine said, because his family has traditionally celebrated the holiday on Christmas Eve. Of course, since he worked Monday as well, long visits with his and his wife’s family Monday night allowed him only a few hours of sleep before he had to be back at work at 7 a.m. Christmas Day, he said.

Working on Christmas has become routine for some in the coroner’s office because of the nature of the business.

“I’ve been married for 25 years and I’ve only had five Christmases off with my family,” said technician Alonzo Leckie, 52. “We work 365 days a year here and something’s going on all the time.”

To accommodate working on Christmas, Leckie and his family also celebrated on Christmas Eve, he said.

“It’s a way of life, especially if you’ve been in this business for a while,” he said.

Bill King, supervising deputy coroner and the day watch commander, said those working Tuesday simply had the misfortune of having their regular shift fall on Christmas Day.

“This is a regular day--they couldn’t squeeze out of it,” King joked.

“Working Christmas is an inconvenience,” he said, “but if it wasn’t an inconvenience to me it would be an inconvenience for somebody else.”

Not all Christmas Day workers were in the public-safety business, of course.

John Campos, manager of the Wherehouse store on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa, said working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day stalled his regular holiday visit to his parents’ home in the San Francisco Bay Area. The store closed at 9 p.m. Christmas Day, two hours earlier than normal, but business was steady all day.

Business also was brisk at a Fountain Valley 7-Eleven, said George Relation, 42, who worked behind the counter all day Tuesday.

Relation said volunteering to work on Christmas Day allowed him to do a favor for other store workers.

“Working allows the ones that have families to stay home and celebrate.”