Take a break, or break things?

Over Thanksgiving Break I was talking with one of my friends from home and a story she told me got me thinking. She works as a cashier and stocker at a Bath and Body Works, and she mentioned something about employees PURPOSELY breaking candles. This was intriguing to me considering I was under the impression that breaking candles on the job was a bad thing. So when I asked for details, she told me that sometimes when employees get angry or frustrated (with customers or the job in general), they put a candle that has already been broken into a bag, and they smash it against something. Instantly I thought of the theory of letting employees take a break after customer incivility or job stress. According to my friend, this seemed to help the employees. Though impractical, maybe employers should allow their employees to take their aggression and frustration out on something tangible (as long as it isn’t the customer) instead of just allowing a recuperating break. After all, we’ve always been taught not to bottle things up right?

Service with a Smile? Or Service with a Sexual Innuendo?

After reading about the Hooter’s and Safeway employee cases, I was talking to my friend about her job. She works at a liquor store as a cashier, and she told me that one day when she was ringing up a customer, he made inappropriate comments toward her (I don’t remember exactly what but it was something sexual or flirtatious). Automatically I thought of the previously mentioned articles, and I asked her if she smiled at him; since the claims of the Safeway employees were centered on the emotional labor demands causing sexual harassment, I wanted to see if there was a correlation in her case. Her response to my question was, “Well, yeah, of course I did. It’s part of my job”(or something along those lines). Not that this necessarily proves anything, I just thought it was interesting to see this type of correlation occur on a more personal level. But questions could be asked as to whether other factors such as her gender, or the type of store she works in had any influence on the outcome.

During parents weekend, me and my family went to a local tavern to eat lunch. It was immediatly apparent that our waitress was in a horrible mood and she did not want to be working. As a result of primative emtoinal contagion, by the end of the meal, and seeing her discomfort and annoyance on her face, everyone at the table had started to feel and show the negative feeling displayed by the waitress. It was very confusing why the waitress showed so much negative emotion. The psychological climate of the restaurant appeared friendly and energized. However, as we have observed this semester, a workplaces business is correlated with negative emotion, and as it was parents weekend the establishment was very busy. I will never know what exactly was bothering this girl but she was quite depressing!

Always a warm welcome

I chose this class seminar because I thought it would relate to my work experince, and it has greatly. I serve at a large restaurant owned my a family company. It started as a small gift shop that served food on the side and has grown over the years. The owners really push for friendly service and a family environment. In order to become a server I had to train for a week than take a seven page test. We're expected to promote specials in the dining room and the gift shop. So they take service very seriously. My even says, "Always a warm welcome." I thought this related to the idea of service with a smile.

Service with a smile

In class we have discussed what we expect in a service interaction and how that effects our thoughts on the store, restaurant, etc. If we are not happy with the service we usually don't go back and therefore the store loses customers and profit. This is why managers push for service with a smile and giving the customer the best service possible. I've noticed over the semester that in the commons student employees don't look happy to be there. They often work slow and may not always care about the quality of the food. Of course this is not true for all students or workers in the commons but it's something I've noticed. I wonder if managers in the commons push for friendliness and quality work or if it doesn't concern them because they know they will get the busniss either way. Students go to the commons because of their meal plans and it convenience. However, if there was more incentive to make a profit would there be a push for better service?

When I Notice

So, I guess I notice customer service workers more when they are doing a poor job than when they're doing a good job, and I've come to realize that this is part of what we've looked at in this class. Back at the very beginning, we discussed the effects that emotional labor has on the customer. I had given it some thought at the time, but recently it has hit me that I never notice when the job is being done right, or when the employee is friendly. However, I notice every time the job is done poorly or when the employee is rude to me.

For example, last night I went to eat at Hoss's, and when I walked in there was no one there to greet us, and in fact it looked like there was no one working in the restaurant at all. After a couple minutes of waiting, a man finally walks out of the back and up to the register to take our order. He didn't say a word, he just looked at us and expected us to just start ordering. We ordered and got to the table. From that point on we had great service, but at the time I didn't really even notice it or think about it.

This makes me wonder if people really like the service with a smile so much as service that they don't notice happening. Just a relevant thought.

I found this comic and thought it fit in perfectly with deep acting and surface acting and the disconnect an employee feels when their internal emotion is different than what they're required to display, and the emotional dissonance that accompanies that acting. When employees aren't feeling up to service with a smile, they have to find alternate ways to fulfill their job requirements. Maybe a mask would be the best thing for them!

Would You Smile Like That?

I found this article about a sandwich shop chain that is very interesting and relates a lot to what we have been learning in class. Contrary to the usual unfriendly, hurried service received in many city shops, Pret a Manger, provides quick service in a welcoming and pleasant way that also keeps employees happy. The author of the article spent time in a London shop to gain some insight to their managerial practices. Here are two of the things I found most relevant:

The company uses techniques such as rewarding and offering bonuses for especially good positive behavior. Like in the Tsai article we read in class, this contributes to creating a high physiological climate for service friendliness. By producing this environment, employees will be more likely to willingly practice positive emotional labor methods.

The company advises employees to not hide their true character with customers. We have discussed how practicing emotional labor and having to regulate emotions can lead to stress, but being able to act true to your own personality would relieve some strain. Although employees are still encouraged to act positively, knowing you are not seen as a robot is reassuring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/business/pret-a-manger-with-new-fast-food-ideas-gains-a-foothold-in-united-states.html?pagewanted=all

Lip Service

The other day, I saw a recommendation for the book called Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex, and Politics by Marianne LaFrance in a magazine. The book discuses the science behind the smile, shows how smiles reveal much more than usually thought, and how smiles are very influential in our lives and relationships. It reminded me of what we learned in the beginning of the semester about emotional contagion, duchenne smiles, and facial feedback.

Quote on Customer Service

"We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better."
-Jeff Bezos

Within emotional labor, a lot of what customer service interaction is involves pleasing the customers. Many research has been done as to identify the benefits of “service with a smile.” Although it might not greatly aid the working employee, it does help the overall business profit and run smoothly. So while there may be health cost to individual workers, the function of emotional labor works in favor of business, and each aspect of that business must play their part. So if that means being the best host necessary to help the job profit, then that’s what this quote reflects shall be done.