Page 134 - The Disneyization of Society

PERFORMATIVE LABOUR

connection with aesthetic labour as well. Pine and Gilmore were noted at the outset
for their recommendation that the performative aspects of work should be boosted. 100
Similarly, according to Eric Kuhne, an American retail architect: ‘Everybody is discov- 125
ering now in contemporary retailing that if you don’t excite the senses, if you don’t
create a bit of an experience of a theatrical performance, you’ve lost it.’ 101
In addition to such general views about the importance of conveying a sense of
service work as a theatrical performance, specific examples of the circulation of
the performance metaphor are growing:

• At Sea World in California in 1992, large posters pinned up in the backstage areas were
entitled ‘Showtime!’ and, according to the vice president for food services were there
to remind the worker that he or she is ‘a player on stage’. 102
• At the American fast-food chain, Au Bon Pain, applicants are required to audition for
their service roles and are observed for their acting ability. 103
• Following a visit to the Disney Company, the Harrods personnel manager became con-
vinced that ‘like Disney, Harrods is theatre’ and that staff should realize that they are
part of an ‘amazing’ and ‘spectacular’ show for their ‘guests’ in order to push through
the store’s commitment to customer care. 104
• At Girl Heaven, one of the co-founders informed an interviewer that ‘staff don’t see them-
selves as sales assistants but as performers, or as co-ordinators of a leisure experience.’ 105
• When Deborah Keily was appointed to a temporary Christmas job at a Body Shop out-
let, she was told that the shop floor is ‘onstage’, the cash room was the ‘box office’, and
the stockroom was ‘props and backstage’. 106
• Similarly, in the upscale fashion retail company that formed part of the investigation of
aesthetic labour by Witz et al., a distinction was drawn between onstage and backstage
regions. 107
• At the themed restaurant, Smoky Joe’s, new staff were given a handbook entitled ‘It’s
showtime!’ which instructed them to contact their ‘show director’ if they encountered
problems. In addition, the shift roster was called ‘cast performances’. The application
form specifically asked for information about acting experience and in fact several staff
had such experience and used these skills in connection with their work. 108
• In her account of Niketown in Chicago, Peñaloza describes the work of the staff in terms
of providing a performance where there is a clear distinction between ‘frontstage acti-
vities’ (greeting visitors, answering their questions, etc.) and ‘backstage activities’ (such
as discussions about schedules and sales figures). 109
• In Las Vegas’s themed hotel-casinos, some staff are costumed according to the overall
theme and are encouraged to interact with visitors as though performing a role in line
with their attire. 110

A further prominent form of theatricality in service provision is the tourist per-
formance, where the tourist worker enacts and in the process embodies some
aspect of the site in question. For example, as living museums have become more