Svinhufvud2018

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Svinhufvud2018
BibType ARTICLE
Key Svinhufvud2018
Author(s) Kimmo Svinhufvud
Title Waiting for the customer: Multimodal analysis of waiting in service encounters
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Service encounters, multimodality, waiting
Publisher
Year 2018
Language English
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 129
Number
Pages 48–75
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2018.03.002
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The paper examines the activity of a salesperson waiting for a customer to make up his or her mind in Finnish and Finland Swedish service encounters in bakeries. In service encounters, studies have usually focused on the waiting customer. This paper concentrates on the salesperson waiting for a customer to choose a product. In these cases, waiting is a form of availability on the part of the salesperson, who nevertheless maintains some discretion. It is a professional posture that relies on an unfocused monitoring of the customer. Waiting is sometimes described as inaction or idleness, a sort of a non-action that continues until the primary activity can be initiated or continued. Multimodal analysis of waiting shows that, in reality, waiting involves systematic employment of embodied resources, such as standing and holding the arms in a particular way and withdrawing the gaze. In this way, a salesperson carefully demonstrates availability while simultaneously avoiding the initiation of any action or exerting any pressure.

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