Fast Food, Fast Talk

Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life

Bibliographic Data

ID19904396
EditorsRobin Leidner
Year1994
Pages278
Publication date1994-12-31
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
Reviewed byFast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life, George Ritzer, 1994
Reviewed byFast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life, Ann Duffy, 1994
VenueFast Food, Fast Talk (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/9780520914643
OpenAlexW4389414524
Open LibraryOL29603133M
ISBN9780520914643
LanguageEN
Citations received730

Attending Hamburger University, Robin Leidner observes how McDonald's trains the managers of its fast-food restaurants to standardize every aspect of service and product. Learning how to sell life insurance at a large midwestern firm, she is coached on exactly what to say, how to stand, when to make eye contact, and how to build up Positive Mental Attitude by chanting "I feel happy! I feel terrific!" Leidner's fascinating report from the frontlines of two major American corporations uncovers the methods and consequences of regulating workers' language, looks, attitudes, ideas, and demeanor. Her study reveals the complex and often unexpected results that come with the routinization of service work. Some McDonald's workers resent the constraints of prescribed uniforms and rigid scripts, while others appreciate how routines simplify their jobs and give them psychological protection against unpleasant customers. Combined Insurance goes further than McDonald's in attempting to standardize the workers' very selves, instilling in them adroit maneuvers to overcome customer resistance. The routinization of service work has both poignant and preposterous consequences. It tends to undermine shared understandings about individuality and social obligations, sharpening the tension between the belief in personal autonomy and the domination of a powerful corporate culture. Richly anecdotal and accessibly written, Leidner's book charts new territory in the sociology of work. With service sector work becoming increasingly important in American business, her timely study is particularly welcome

Computer Science · Emotional Labor in Professions · Management and Organizational Studies · Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology · Angestellter · Arbeitswelt · Business & Economics · Case studies · Compagnies d'assurances · Employees · Études de cas · Fallstudiensammlung · Fastfood · Food service employees · Insurance companies · Insurance companies, employees · Labor · Labor & Industrial Relations · Lebensmittelindustrie · Milieu de travail · Organisatiegedrag · Personnel · Political science · Restaurants · Services alimentaires · united states · Versicherung · Verzekeringsmaatschappijen · Werkomgeving · Work environment

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