The Workplace Experiences of Waitresses: Exploring the Nature of Emotional Labour

In western developed economies, it is service work that is increasing most swiftly; thus as westerners, we are now more likely to experience this sector as either workers or clients (McDowell, 2009). This paper explores the working experiences of three young female waitresses in order to better understand the nature of the service sector in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand society. This exploration incorporates a literature review covering the nature of interactive service sector work, as well as findings from in-depth interviews. The interviews focussed on the management-worker-customer triadic relationship that characterises interactive service work. The interviews were also used to explore how exploitation and alienation can be experienced in service sector workplaces. Each of the three women described times when they felt the power of others (employer, co-workers and/or customers) imposed upon them through poor management practices, workplace bullying and conflicts, and negative customer interactions. The findings demonstrate that their relationships with co-workers and managers were far more important than those with various customers, with the former being reported as the source of higher levels of workplace strain and distress. This challenges the literature’s emphasis on both the customer and the employer negatively affecting workers when they are engaged in emotional labour. The interviews also indicated some support for Bolton and Boyd’s critique of Hochschild’s arguments on emotional labour, in relation to the young women’s expression of agency. This is because the women expressed that there were times during their work in which they were able to make decisions independently. This is demonstrated by the moments of autonomy the women indicated they experienced when they were at work, as well as their descriptions of how they were able to exercise agency in relation to the flexible nature of their jobs. Most significantly, however, it was the young women’s description of how they managed their emotional labour by holding their service sector identity as a temporary part of their life that indicated their internal agency and ability to resist the more negative aspects of their jobs. The women also indicated that the‘enjoyable aspects of work’, including the benefits of gaining industry based skills and qualifications, and finding personal enjoyment in positive interactions with customers, also helped mitigate the more negative aspects of their work life.