Service workers may pay a price for the "customer is king" mentality: power imbalance and increased exposure to sexual harassment and hostility. John Michael Wilyat/Unsplash, CC BYCorporate websites, training manuals, and interviews with business leaders abound with maxims that place the customer above all else. The customer service industry, which includes restaurant workers, call centre employees, hair stylists, and retail employees has a strong tradition of a “customer is king” mentality. The idea is that customers will respond positively to such deference, making them more likely to return in the future. But this mentality has a downside that is less often discussed: it shifts the balance of power away from service workers and toward customers.This shift has become even more dramatic in recent years, as online reviews determine which businesses thrive and which must close their doors. Even for freelancers in the gig economy, reviews and the algorithms that feed on them decide which job gets offered to whom, and even who is allowed to work on the platform. Today, customers have more power than ever. But is that a good thing?Sexual harassment in the service industryTo answer this question, we explored some of the potential consequences of customer power. Our first investigation focused on sexual harassment in the customer service industry – a pervasive yet understudied phenomenon.People who hold more power are increasingly likely to engage in sexual harassment, raising our concerns given the shifting power imbalance in customer service work. We examined two specific risk factors in the service context that might make sexual harassment more likely. First, when the customer is king, employees must adapt their actions and emotions accordingly. They are increasingly expected to regulate or control their emotions as part of the job, a process called “emotional labour”. A restaurant server is expected to remain friendly and cheerful even during the evening rush. A bartender must show interest and offer sympathy to a customer’s tale of woe. These are instances when employees must control the emotions they actually feel and ensure that organisationally sanctioned emotions are displayed to customers at all times.The second risk factor is that these jobs often involve tips and gratuities that employees depend on for their earnings. The extent of tipping varies across cultures, with countries like Germany, the UK and Croatia having stronger norms, whereas in the Scandinavian countries, tipping is fairly uncommon. In the US, where we conducted our research, many tipped workers like restaurant servers and bartenders are allowed to be paid below minimum wage, meaning that tips make up the entirety of their income. We tested whether the combination of emotional labour expectations and a reliance on tips creates a “perfect storm” that makes sexual harassment more likely.In our first study, we asked 142 tipped workers from a variety of occupations about the emotional labour expectations of their workplace, and what percent of their overall pay came from tips. We found that when emotional labour expectations were high and employees were more dependent on tips, customers had more power and were then more likely to engage in sexual harassment. In our second study, we recruited 171 men to take on the role of a restaurant diner in an online simulation. Participants were shown a picture of their female server, who was either smiling or had a neutral display. The men were also presented with the bill, which either emphasised the importance of tips or stated that employees were paid a fair wage and tips were not necessary. When participants saw the smiling server and the bill that emphasised the importance of tips, they were much more likely to report feeling powerful and indicated a greater willingness to make inappropriate requests for a date or phone number. Our results suggest that a unique environment exists in customer service jobs, where emotional labour expectations combined with a dependence on tips may make sexual harassment more likely.Coping with hostilityAnother consequence of the “customer is king” mindset is that it gives people a licence to act in hostile or aggressive ways toward employees. In recent years, there has been a noticeable uptick in hostility toward flight attendants and healthcare workers. Given this, we set out to understand how employees can best handle their emotions when confronted with this hostility.Our paper focused on an alternative school for troubled youth who had been expelled from the public school system. When teachers experienced hostility from students, they were required to file a report to administrators. We attached a short survey to this report, asking teachers how they controlled their emotions during the incident and how they felt afterwards. We found that teachers used unique combinations of emotional labour strategies – like reappraising the situation to “look on the bright side” or distracting themselves and suppressing whatever emotions they felt. We also looked at how these strategies predicted two important outcomes – teachers’ performance during the incident (as rated by administrators) and their well-being afterwards.Our results suggest that to enhance performance, employees facing hostility should try to disengage from the situation. This might mean ignoring or mentally distancing themselves and suppressing their emotions. Yet this approach was among the worst for maintaining employee well-being. Employees wishing to protect their well-being, the results suggested, should try actively to modify the situation while also seeking social support. But doing so was not associated with better performance ratings. In short, it seems that employees faced with hostility may need to choose between maintaining their performance and their well-being. As such, organisations must put a priority on minimising hostile events in the first place, so that employees are not faced with this impossible choice.Moving forwardOur research demonstrates that there are serious downsides to the “customer is king” approach. It creates a toxic atmosphere that makes sexual harassment more likely and puts employees in a no-win situation when facing hostility. In contrast, fostering a culture of mutual respect can encourage a more balanced power dynamic while still ensuring high performance standards. Approaching customer and public service from a place of respect can also empower employees to solve problems and work together with the general public, instead of forming a subservient or adversarial relationship. Let’s move beyond the monarchy to instead encourage employees and those they serve to work together as equal partners. A weekly e-mail in English featuring expertise from scholars and researchers. It provides an introduction to the diversity of research coming out of the continent and considers some of the key issues facing European countries. Get the newsletter!Gordon M. Sayre ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.