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Smiling Under the Mask: How Emotional Labor Shapes Restaurant Workers' Experiences during COVID

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dc.contributor.authorThompson, Victoria Isabelleen
dc.contributor.committeechairSedgwick, Donna Annen
dc.contributor.committeememberCalasanti, Toni M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberWilliams, Heidi M.en
dc.contributor.departmentSociologyen
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-14T08:00:12Zen
dc.date.available2024-06-14T08:00:12Zen
dc.date.issued2024-06-13en
dc.description.abstractThis study examines whether front-of-house workers' experiences of emotional labor affected their turnover intentions while working a food service job during COVID. To investigate, I asked a sample of 14 tipped workers and two general managers about their experiences working in restaurants during the lockdown and reopening phases of COVID. I learned about participants' experiences working and their reasons for staying and quitting their job during the reopening phases. From interviews, I collected data on workers' perceptions of health mandates, their customer interactions, and their own assessments of COVID-related risks. I analyzed interview data to assess how organizational changes during COVID affected workers' performances of emotional labor and whether their reasons for leaving related to emotional labor being altered. Findings show that workers had to manage customers' heightened emotions while handling their own. From decreased income, increased negative emotions, and mask interference, workers' experiences of emotional labor were significantly changed. Importantly, organizational changes made many workers uncomfortable in their workplace and in following organizational demands, both related and unrelated to emotional labor. These experiences led seven participants to ultimately quit and six to desire to quit without doing so. I conclude that emotional labor was intensified for workers' whose wage predominantly rested on their capitalization of interactions with customers. Evidence reveals how organizational changes led to increased feelings of stress, emotional burnout, and exhaustion. However, the widespread occurrence of these feelings and intensified emotional labor make it unclear whether increased and intensified emotional labor directly created or heavily influenced desires to quit.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralMy project aims to ask restaurant workers about their experiences working through COVID. Many people called workers "lazy" or complained about them quitting to use government assistance. However, I believe that workers quit for reasons unrelated to individual laziness or reliance on assistance. To investigate, I asked front of house restaurant workers about their experiences interacting with customers and their job conditions. I also asked them what it was like for them, as restaurant workers, to enforce mandates while trying to keep a customer happy for a tip. I interviewed 16 people that worked in a restaurant between November 2020-2021. I chose this period because during this year millions of workers were quitting their jobs. After interviewing workers, I analyzed what they said to see whether interactions with customers and their efforts to maintain tips pushed them to desire quitting. I found that workers' experiences in restaurants were changed greatly by COVID. Specifically, their incomes decreased, interactions were seriously impacted by the mask, and work became more emotionally exhausting. Many of the workers I interviewed wanted to quit while working with a mask on their face. It was clear that working during COVID was the only option for many of the workers I interviewed, and it often cost them their mental health and well-being to stay financially stable.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:40830en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/119437en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectEmotional laboren
dc.subjectrestaurant worken
dc.subjectcontingency theoryen
dc.subjectprecarityen
dc.subjectCOVIDen
dc.titleSmiling Under the Mask: How Emotional Labor Shapes Restaurant Workers' Experiences during COVIDen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineSociologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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