By:
Tri Siwi Agustina,
Lecturer in the Management Study Program and Head of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Industrial Relations, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga

For nearly three weeks, the Indonesian culinary world has been abuzz with the viral sensation of Karen's Dinner Restaurant. This restaurant's concept differs from that of most restaurants, where staff are expected to serve customers in a friendly manner with beaming faces and be agile in order to satisfy them. Instead, this restaurant is characterized by unfriendly waiters, who serve customers by hurling harsh words and acting lazily. Immediately, a public response of both pros and cons criticized the restaurant's service, which ignores the motto "The Customer is King."
To date, the pros and cons have not yet subsided, but recently, news about the restaurant has shifted to customers who are already prepared to face the shock of the waiters. If the waiters are "warned" not to engage in body shaming, mechanical fights (for example, throwing or intentionally breaking cutlery) and bullying customers, what about the customers? Conversely, what about the customers? Where does their control come from to refrain from body shaming, mechanical fights, or even bullying the waiters? In a YouTube video on Nadya Alaydrus's channel, Bella, a waitress at the viral restaurant, shared that one of her friends experienced bullying from customers while working.
From a business ethics perspective, this clearly addresses ethical issues, which are a company's obligation to its employees. Ethical responsibilities extend beyond providing salaries and wages, but also include the obligation to safeguard the physical and mental health of its employees. This article aims to inspire entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, as it's common in Indonesia for successful and popular businesses to be imitated. Therefore, to avoid simply copying restaurant business concepts, it's important to consider the employee's perspective, especially the waiters, who are the key players in the uniqueness of the restaurant business. Business owners should avoid the risk of losing their profits to their employees' mental health. Business owners can simply think: if customers become bored and lose interest in their restaurant's unique service, they can easily change their business processes or move to another city. However, what happens to workers who are no longer able to differentiate between the emotions that accompany their role in the workplace and their true emotions (felt emotions) and their impact on themselves and the people around them?

Emotional Labor and Emotional Dissonance
Emotional labor is commonly experienced by frontline workers such as customer service, cashiers, receptionists, nurses, waiters, drivers, and so on. The challenge they face is when they have to display one emotion (for example, wanting to be angry or annoyed with a customer) while simultaneously feeling the need to show a sincere face with a big smile to satisfy customers and want them to come back. This emotional gap is known as emotional dissonance. Similarly, waiters in restaurants must act antagonistically towards customers but must not be provoked into anger while carrying out their work. Emotional dissonance that is not managed well will impact the individual themselves, for example: frustration, irritability, unprovoked anger, depression, withdrawal from the work environment, a change in attitude from open to closed, and a desire to end the job or resign, which ultimately leads to emotional exhaustion and mental disorders. What is worrying for restaurant workers with this concept is that emotional exhaustion arises when serving customers, so that the boundaries of the roles they carry out become blurred.
Learning from this situation, business owners should be aware of the potential impacts before deciding on a similar business concept. Questions such as "How responsible are they for the mental health of their restaurant staff?" and "What approaches should be taken?" should be considered. Aren't they, like other workers, playing a role in their work? They must be able to manage their emotions while working to satisfy customers. Undoubtedly, helping workers cope with the consequences of emotional labor can improve employee morale and reduce their desire to leave the organization.
Possible Approaches:
Here are several approaches restaurant management can use to help their workers cope with the demands of emotional labor:
1. Socialize the business concept during the recruitment process. When announcing to the public that the restaurant will be opening vacancies, an overview of the restaurant's business concept should be provided. The concept of "judes" for customers is "entertainment" aimed at providing an "experience" that differs from the typical restaurant concept. By understanding the restaurant's business concept, it is hoped that prospective applicants will understand the job demands and prepare both the physical and mental energy to carry out the work.

2. Recruitment through a selection process. The purpose of selection is to find workers who meet the job requirements among a large number of applicants. "Is the applicant capable of performing the role?" Various tools can be used to test the mental resilience and long-term mental health tendencies of prospective employees.

3. Building mental readiness during the orientation period. Orientation is conducted to introduce new employees to the organization where they are sheltered and also to their work. During this period, the organization can reaffirm their business concept, the rules that must be obeyed by employees, for example, unfriendly attitudes towards visitors are during service whose goal is once again to provide an "experience" that is different from other restaurants. Learning from Karen's Dinner, the restaurant management implemented a strategy to protect the restaurant's servers and also maintain the privacy of other visitors by providing written rules and actively reminding visitors before entering about the unique concept of the restaurant's business. So it is hoped that visitors are not easily provoked emotions, engage in body shaming or mechanical fights but focus on the food and drinks served and enjoy the vibe of the restaurant.

4. Actively conduct briefings and warm-ups before starting work. Briefings are held to mentally and physically prepare workers, and supervisors are updated on the latest information regarding new programs and price changes. They also remind staff of service procedures and prevent them from becoming easily provoked. Warm-ups are also used to de-escalate emotions, whether anger or anger. Conversely, a "cool-down" session should also be conducted at the end of the shift or after closing. This is done to prevent negative emotions from carrying over to the office.

5. Facilitate workers' access to convey their concerns. While briefings can be used by workers to express their concerns, they are often held shortly before work begins, resulting in limited time. Therefore, information and worker aspirations can be communicated through WhatsApp Groups or Telegram. If the information is considered minor or moderate, it can be followed up through a briefing. However, if the information is considered serious and requires careful follow-up, it can be addressed through a special meeting.

6. Hold a meeting immediately if any violations are committed by customers. Cases of bullying against waiters must be addressed and action taken immediately. Not everyone who experiences bullying will be able to openly discuss what happened to them. Restaurant management must cultivate openness among employees so they dare to "speak up", respect their willingness to reveal the facts and keep the information confidential from the public to maintain their privacy. Therefore, restaurant management must also have a step-by-step follow-up to protect its employees. For example, activating the role of leaders / supervisors to provide coaching to the employee to help them resolve the problems they face according to their abilities. Of course, this is new homework for restaurant management because it must train leaders / supervisors to be able to act as "Coaches". If the coaching provided by the leader / supervisor is not able to restore self-confidence, the organization can connect with a psychologist. In addition, it is also necessary to consider whether to take legal action, such as reporting restaurant customers to the authorities for unpleasant behavior and violations of rules.

7. Commit to providing vacation and leave rights to employees. Generally, when a new restaurant opens, especially if it goes viral, many people are curious and want to visit. This is certainly a blessing for restaurant owners, managers, and employees. However, rather than simply reaping immediate profits, it's important to consider employees' right to leave. Workers can use vacation time to overcome work boredom and refresh themselves physically and mentally due to the demands of their jobs. Therefore, restaurant management must commit to fulfilling the rights of employees who request or exercise their leave rights. If the restaurant is expected to be busy on national holidays, this can be anticipated by arranging work shifts and leave arrangements. If necessary, in the initial years of a restaurant's opening, schedule a joint leave and outing every three months for all employees, managers, and restaurant owners to foster a sense of togetherness, shorten the power distance, improve workplace communication, and discourage employees from leaving the organization.

8. Instill a culture of sharing experiences. One effective way to help workers come to terms with emotional labor is through shared experiences. Establish a weekly, hour-long gathering to listen to fellow workers share their experiences and strategies they consider effective in dealing with various customer types. Sharing experiences with fellow workers in similar roles fosters optimism that they can overcome similar challenges in their work and is believed to help reduce the risk of emotional exhaustion later in life.

9. Integrate emotional work with performance appraisals. To appreciate the efforts of workers in managing their emotions, organizations can include elements of emotional work management skills and commitment to serving customers in employee performance appraisals. "How do they deal with customers who are unreasonably angry?", "How do they behave towards their coworkers outside of working hours?", "To what extent are they able to tolerate and not easily provoked by emotions when dealing with customers?" Appreciation in the form of awards and incentives can be given to servers who demonstrate intelligence in managing their emotional work. Performance appraisals for restaurant workers can be given in the form of the Best Employee Award every month (Employee of the Month) or the Best Employee Award of the Year.
Once again, hopefully this article is useful and can be used as a consideration for culinary entrepreneurs and their management (especially restaurants) to not just copy and paste and be more careful in determining the business concept to be implemented.

https://www.harianbhirawa.co.id/pengusaha-kuliner-jangan-asal-copy-paste/