Beyond the Smile and Wave of Petrol Attendants: A Case Study on Male Petrol Attendants’ Use of Emotional Labour

Abstract

ABSTRACT In many occupations, especially in the service sector, employees are required to display emotions such as friendliness when helping customers. Apart from physical labour, the management and display of appropriate emotions such as friendliness as part of everyday work refers to emotional labour. Much of the research on emotional labour focuses on negative outcomes, such as burnout and emotional exhaustion. Despite these negative repercussions, the positive consequences, such as financial gain for employers and bonus incentives for employees for high sales figures, may be implied in the expectation of and reasons why employees perform emotional labour. However, little research focuses on the positive outcomes of emotional labour, where both employers and employees can benefit from it. Petrol stations are environments where emotional labour is part of the job description of petrol attendants. Apart from the physical labour, petrol attendants are obliged to display friendliness when helping customers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and male petrol attendants of a petrol station in Stellenbosch, with the focus on how they use emotional labour to benefit themselves and their employers financially. It was found that petrol attendants use emotional labour for financial purposes, both for their employer and for self-interest.