“Restaurant work tends to be long hours on your feet, doing physical work. “Emotional labor is not something we talk about—the toll it takes on us,” Norton said about hospitality workers. For instance, if a customer gets abusive or even rude, the server or host has to deal with it professionally, she or he can’t react the way a “civilian” could. Bartenders are subjected to customers’ confessions and problems, Norton said. While the back-of-the-house workers don’t usually deal with customers, it’s still a “pressure cooker,” Frederick said, because they have to execute at a high level day in and day out. Both front of the house and back have to cope with too many butts in seats (rushed orders) and too few (lower tips).”
— Nancy Weingartner Monroe, Jul 31, 2019, Food Service News
