Telling tales: online comic and gripe story‐sharing by service workers about difficult customers

Abstract

The article extends previous research on the storying practices of service workers, workplace humour as resistance, and workers' autonomous use of social media. Discussion strings from two hairstylist forum storylines, exemplifying comic and tragic story-sharing about difficult customers, were analysed using Gabriel's notion of story-work. Processes of coping, entertainment, identity-construction and learning are clearly evident in the discussion strings and social media is confirmed as a 'new' terrain for the enactment of employee agency. Findings emphasize that service workers are engaged in contradictory and ambiguous relations of resistance and accommodation as they learn how to deal with difficult customers. The article's contribution is to show how service workers share their fears and anxieties about difficult customers through storying and humour in generative dialogical poietic processes in social media. Further research is suggested.

‘I didn't feel like I was alone anymore’: evaluating self‐organised employee coping practices conducted via Facebook

“…An emergent context to such practices, however, is the increased uptake of SNSs by employees seeking solutions to the many challenges and problems of contemporary employment (Richards, ). Practices surrounding employee self‐organised coping, moreover, is an important topic in organisation studies in terms of theory, fitting closely with debates critiquing dystopian views of employee agency under new management practices and labour processes (Thompson and Ackroyd, ; Ackroyd and Thompson, ), as well as more emergent debates surrounding shifting loci of employee agency, from workplaces to blogs (Schoneboom, ; Richards, ), and more recently SNSs, such as Facebook, Twitter and community forums (Schoneboom, ; Richards, ; Sayers and Fachira, ; Wood, ). Further exploring employee self‐organised coping practices also commands practical value, mainly because new management practices and labour processes are likely to create an ongoing need for employees to alleviate the tensions and pressures of work (Deery et al ., ; Noon et al ., ).…”

“…Many of such studies, for example, have focused on blogs as forums for employees to share critical accounts of employers (Schoneboom, 2007; 2011a; 2014; Pedersen et al ., ), express conflict (Richards, ), reflect on employment matters and seek advice from similar others (Ellis and Richards, ) and resurrect and galvanise a sense of control and attachment to their own occupational or professional community (Richards and Kosmala, ). Further studies have also begun to consider how alternative SNSs, such as Facebook, Twitter and discussion forums, allow even wider and more inclusive forums for conflict expression (Schoneboom, ; Richards, ; Sayers and Fachira, ; Wood, ).…”

Collective action and provider classification in the sharing economy

“…The relevance of collective action for providers is nevertheless apparent in the use of online communities as a method of gaining social and informational support among peers (Ewing, ; Beyer, ). Research has explored the possibilities for providers to use social networking sites, for instance, to communicate their work experiences, gain advice and permit conflict expression (Richards, ; Cohen and Richards, ; Sayers and Fachira, ; Wood, ). The presence of online support groups can thus benefit providers, even in cases where there is relatively passive engagement (Mo and Coulson, ).…”

Retail therapy: Making meaning out of menial labour

“…RateMyEmployer.ca is a public online forum where past and present employees express their emotions, perspectives and diverging opinions about their place of employment. Online interactions through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and discussion forums have been found to expand and fortify employee resilience in retail trades, especially where widespread fear among staff emboldens resistance to union organizing (Cohen and Richards, 2015;Richards, 2008;Sayers and Fachira, 2015;Schoneboom, 2007;Wood, 2015). The anonymity of some online spaces also allows for the expression of viewpoints which might be socially unacceptable, such as those with racist or sexist sentiments.…”