> The benefits to keeping up this ‘emotional tone road show’ as Hochschild calls it, was obvious to their profit-seeking corporate employers. But the costs to the employees themselves were more hidden. Their emotional labour, according to Hochschild, was leaving employees dangerously alienated from their own feelings and perilously at risk of burn out. In the early 1980s, Hochschild estimated that a third of jobs made ‘substantial demands for emotional labour’; today she thinks that figure is more like half. Perhaps the most notorious example recently is the ‘enforced happiness’ at coffee chain Pret A Manger, which requires its servers to have rapport with one another, and enthusiasm for their (low-paid) jobs.
I don't get this. What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude? There are cultural norms which we all have to obey in a workplace. The classic example is don't talk about politics or religion. Others include don't be rude, don't heat up smelly food in the microwave, keep a clean workspace, don't yell or put people down, don't make unwarranted advances to coworkers, etc. Just control your emotions regardless of where you're working.
I admit that the extra work around house maintenance usually born by women (e.g. birthdays, keeping stock of things, etc) is difficult and goes unappreciated. But I don't think extending that to "I must control my emotions in the workplace" is right.
> What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude?
A customer service job where you can be merely polite and professional without also having to be artificially cheerful and enthusiastic. Or, if you must put on a show, at least be paid appropriately for the extra work you're doing.
Well, being polite and professional where one is sad or angry is still emotional labor (but it is probably a reasonable expectation from employees, as 'dealing with sad/angry co-workers' is also emotional labor).
It's not "extending" anything, that's the original definition of emotional labor. It's been extended to refer to around-the-house maintenance
> What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude?
There is a lot of room between "faked niceness" and "rudeness". Nothing bad would happen if employees were allowed to behave neutrally towards customers.
>What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude? There are cultural norms which we all have to obey in a workplace.
Yes, it is a cultural norm. It varies from culture to culture.
There are lots of countries / cultures where "neutral" customer service - say, at a restaurant - is perfectly fine. Others have a baseline expectation for "friendly" service. To the latter, the former might come across as rude...
When visiting the US, I time and time again started telling service staff about how my day was, because they seemed so sincerely happy to meet me and interested in how I was doing.
I've had jobs where I was called stupid to my face, repeatedly, and the expectation would be for me to enthusiastically nod, smile, and say "I can see why you'd feel that way, but..." then launch into my sales pitch for an extended warranty on a $70 printer or whatever.
By the end of each day, I was completely fucking drained, and the fact that I was sending out dozens of job applications every day for years to get out of that role was not lost on me.
You set up a false equivalence to judge others more harshly than yourself. All your examples about "controlling emotions in the workplace" are things to avoid doing. The article is talking about actions that must be performed.
> I don't get this. What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude? There are cultural norms which we all have to obey in a workplace.
Different jobs require very different degrees of emotional labour.
I have to be civil and professional with a boss and colleagues who'll be civil and professional with me. That's true of almost all jobs.
But think of when you're cancelling your cable TV, and you have to wait on the phone for a long time then go through two different departments who'll try to convince you not to cancel. The workers get bonuses if they convince you not to cancel, and get fired if they don't convince enough people. Can you imagine how much of that job would involve getting yelled at by people, who are frustrated they've been on the phone for 45 minutes and they just want to cancel their damn cable?
> don't get this. What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude?
Create a good work environment, pay enough, and offer enough benefits that your employees are actually happy rather than having to admonish them into faking it. This has the added benefit of creating demand that allows the company to be more selective.
All of your examples are much less effort than putting on a fake persona for eight hours a day. Most of us would be pretty drained after an eight hour, cameras on Teams meeting with our boss' boss and that's pretty much what customer service is.
Hochschild's point in The Managed Heart was that many jobs place outsized demands on workers' emotional lives, beyond workplace names of politeness designed to reduce conflict. There is a massive difference between being asked not to be rude to your coworkers, which is a basic norm of politeness in our society, and having people pleasing become inextricably linked with one's ability to earn a living.
The first time I stood in line for a hoagie, I was intimidated by the 15 options on the menu. Five minutes in line couldn't help me, and the counter person said "well stand aside and let the guy behind you order then".
I can empathize that someone from a place where everyone is politely addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" might find interactions jarring if they don't begin with a "hello, how are you doing today?"
she placed my accent correctly, asking if I was taking the train to New York "like all the other young kids with backpacks". I bellyached about the humidity in July and she let out a deep laugh. she wrapped the sandwich in halves since it would be easier to carry when I already had so much.
I still think about that interaction. I think that the Northeast has a charm to it developed by centuries of their communities existing in such tight quarters (albeit ones with a history of bitter sentiments and actions against Black people like Boston, South Philly, etc.). I wish strangers talked to each other more, because maybe that takes the edge off of directness.
I don't get this. What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude? There are cultural norms which we all have to obey in a workplace. The classic example is don't talk about politics or religion. Others include don't be rude, don't heat up smelly food in the microwave, keep a clean workspace, don't yell or put people down, don't make unwarranted advances to coworkers, etc. Just control your emotions regardless of where you're working.
I admit that the extra work around house maintenance usually born by women (e.g. birthdays, keeping stock of things, etc) is difficult and goes unappreciated. But I don't think extending that to "I must control my emotions in the workplace" is right.