This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bishop, V. Articles by Hoel, H. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Customer is Always Right?

Exploring the concept of customer bullying in the British Employment Service

Manchester University, UK, victoria.bishop{at}manchester.ac.uk

Helge Hoel

Manchester University, UK, helge.hoel{at}manchester.ac.uk

Drawing on in-depth qualitative data from the British Public Employment Service (ES), this article sets out to examine the concept of customer bullying, an aspect largely overlooked within the literature. Highlighting the subjective, socially constructed nature of bullying, this article found that certain customer behaviours that were consistent with definitions of workplace bullying were not labelled as such by the ES frontline staff, but instead were seen as `part of the job'.

Key Words: customer abuse • customer violence • emotional labour • harassment at work • service work

Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 8, No. 3, 341-367 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1469540508095303


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?