{"id":157,"date":"2023-09-19T05:46:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T05:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=157"},"modified":"2023-09-19T05:46:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T05:46:11","slug":"the-smiling-employees-fight-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/business\/the-disneyization-of-society-by-alan-bryman\/the-smiling-employees-fight-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Smiling employees fight back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Worker resistance in the Disney theme parks can take several different forms which to a certain extent are affected by the kind of job under consideration. One response is to \u2018switch off\u2019. According to Van Maanen, when feeling too tired to smile but still having to, ride operators simply switch off. Various names are given to this sensation: automatic pilot; going robot; can\u2019t feel a thing; lapse into a dream; go into a trance; checking out. He describes these as passive forms of resistance \u2013 ways of preserving an element of individuality and of retaining self-respect. However, more active forms of resistance are also in evidence. One is to become difficult or overbearingly polite. The latter essentially entails exaggerating emotional labour with the clear implication that the worker clearly does not mean it. As an example of the latter, a cast member may respond to a difficult visitor by saying in an exaggeratedly Disney voice \u2018It\u2019s been our pleasure to serve you.\u2019 A good example of being difficult while simultaneously not transgressing Disney rules or ways of doing things is the following remark from a cast member:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to smile at a guest no matter what he does. It\u2019s really a way of controlling what you\u2019re really feeling. That smile has to be there. But it\u2019s also the one way we can fight back. For instance, if someone\u2019s really snotty with a credit card you can take all the time in the world because their signature doesn\u2019t match. \u2018Oh, gee, I\u2019m going to have to see some kind of ID.\u2019 You know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More outright forms of resistance occur when cast members take direct action against visitors for their mis-behaviour. Van Maanen lists several forms of retribution meted out by ride operators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n