You really learn from experience
Aside from coping mechanisms, upon closer examination, I found that more experienced frontline service employees actively sought solutions to make their jobs run more smoothly. These solutions were often learned from accumulated on-the-job experiences, and not necessarily derived from corporate employee training, which tended not to cover the range of potential incidents that can occur during interactions with many different types of customers. One assistant store manager, who has worked in convenience stores for the past eight years, explains:
Yes. We get training, but you really have no idea how many different things can crop up. There are so many unexpected things that can happen on any given day…You…show more content… However, some aspects of this research have led us to take into consideration that there are also many drawbacks to this type of widespread, all encompassing convenience. One significant drawback is that these chain stores have taken over the primary business and residential streets of the country, forcing the closure of many independently owned, family-run shops. Moreover, aside from the social and cultural implications of the disappearance of these inimitable shops, the widespread availability of convenience may have other connotations for Taiwanese society, as the average citizen becomes heavily reliant on this type of readily available convenience. Some of our initial findings demonstrate that assumptions of convenience may lead some people to demand instant gratification, develop low tolerances for waiting, and perhaps be more inclined to be more impatient and agitated, especially in instances where there is an unexpected and unoccupied…show more content… Secondly, waiting in line, which is an unavoidable occurrence in most retail settings, causes consternation for both the customer and employee. Thirdly, frontline service workers must be adept at managing a wide range of people and situations. Other studies on service interactions, such as Gutek (1995) makes the distinctions between two types of service interactions; relationships and encounters. In the first type of interaction, employees routinely encounter the same customers, and are motivated to build and maintain positive customer relationships. In the second type of interactions, customers are transient, and speed and efficiency and uniformity take precedence in the service experience. Interestingly, given the social and cultural climate of convenience stores in Taiwan, the service interactions are a hybrid of these two service interaction types, and workers must deftly traverse between these two interactions. In this process, they employ considerable implicit emotional labor and invisible skill to carry out their roles effectively. Skills such as their ability to sense individual customer needs, or the ways that they may instinctively guide customers to use