Customer service employees tend to find it irritating to maintain a fake smile while dealing with an annoying customer. However, most remain relatively un-phased after the experience, so long as they have a way to vent.
A Verizon Wireless employee, Dylan Allen, 28, says that fake smiling is second nature. “Nine times out of ten it’s no big deal, smiling is what I’m accustomed to.” However, on particularly bad days, it may be more difficult. “When you’ve been dealing with crappy customers all day, it makes an eight-hour day last like a year,” he says with a laugh.
Denver West
Denver West, a shopping center located just off of I-70 and Colfax Avenue in Lakewood, Colo., is home to the Colorado Mills mall, as well as many other customer-service-oriented businesses. The mall, located at 14500 W. Colfax Ave. was relatively empty at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, considering the dinner hour. However, this didn’t prevent the employees from smiling as a seldom customer walked through the door.
"Fake Smiling"
The New York Times recently released a study that claims that fake smiling is bad for your health, resulting in decreased motivation and work ethic. The conclusion of the study was based on bus drivers and their mood in relation to the amount of fake smiling that took place each day. These results don’t remain the same for all customer service employees, a field which also requires a lot of smiling.
Customer Service and Paid Smiles
Most employees seem mostly unaffected by the practice of fake smiling. While nobody likes to deal with an unhappy customer, it seems that work ethic is based more on the individual employee’s optimism, not the
amount of fake smiling that they do.
Khael Hopkins, 19, is an employee for Journey’s, a skate-shoe store. He says that, while the occasional bad customer may get under his skin, it’s easy for him to “blow it off.” He says that dealing with a bad customer while smiling does not make him feel less motivated to work. However, he does say that he occasionally feels drained after a day of bad customers and fake smiles.
Jory Zimmerman, 17, an employee at Spencer’s, a novelty gift store, says that the quality of his customers does affect his work ethic. He says that the day tends to feel much longer when dealing with bad customers, and he would rather spend the day folding shirts than smiling at people who are rude.
Most employees seem mostly unaffected by the practice of fake smiling. While nobody likes to deal with an unhappy customer, it seems that work ethic is based more on the individual employee’s optimism, not the
amount of fake smiling that they do.
Khael Hopkins, 19, is an employee for Journey’s, a skate-shoe store. He says that, while the occasional bad customer may get under his skin, it’s easy for him to “blow it off.” He says that dealing with a bad customer while smiling does not make him feel less motivated to work. However, he does say that he occasionally feels drained after a day of bad customers and fake smiles.
Jory Zimmerman, 17, an employee at Spencer’s, a novelty gift store, says that the quality of his customers does affect his work ethic. He says that the day tends to feel much longer when dealing with bad customers, and he would rather spend the day folding shirts than smiling at people who are rude.
Similarly to Zimmerman, Megan Franke, 17, of Cinnabon says that fake smiling at a mean customer puts her in a bad mood. “I just go in the back and chill for a minute,” says Franke, while describing how she deals with bad customers and bad moods.
Wetzel’s Pretzels, which is attached to Cinnabon, adjacent to Johnny Rocket’s in the mall corridor, is where Eric Swanson, 18, goes to work five days a week. When asked if he fakes a smile at work, he responded with a frown, “I get paid to smile, so I pretty much have to smile.” However, he claimed that, while smiling at rude customers is “annoying,” it only minimally affects his work ethic.
Even while some customer service employees felt minimally affected by fake smiles induced by bad customers, some felt that they were completely unaffected. Scott Petitclerc, 24, of Hot Topic, and Emily Blair, 17, of Zumiez, both felt that fake smiling was simply a part of their job and had no reason to even think twice about a bad customer. Blair said that after dealing with a bad customer, she just wants to “dance it out.”
Julian Vigil, 29, a server and host at Chili’s, located next to the Burlington Coat Factory in the mall, felt obligated, yet willing, to smile. He said, “We’re told when we’re hired that it’s required for us to smile.” However, when asked if a fake smile affects his performance for the worse, he said with a genuine smile, “If I let one table ruin my day, then every day’s going to be a bad day.” Besides, he’s used to it. “I fake smile to my wife all night when I’m at home.”
Jamba Juice, a smoothie shop right across the street from the mall is very colorful, from the decor to the employees, and even to the drinks themselves. Chelsea Brown, 20, and Taylor Rogers, 17, seemed to be having a lot of fun during their shift. They were excited to describe a “crazy customer” that they had just dealt with. But when asked if smiling at the angry woman was difficult, they both said no, they just shook it off. Brown said, “Being the manager, I can’t be the negative person, or else they’ll [the employees] will follow me.”
Most employees seem mostly unaffected by the practice of fake smiling. While nobody likes to deal with an unhappy customer, it seems that work ethic is based more on the individual employee’s optimism, not the amount of fake smiling that they do.
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