Customer Agency in Interactive Service: Small Talk and Rapport at the Cafe Counter

Abstract

This article draws on fine-grained analyses of video recordings of service interactions at the cafe counter to revisit the notion of rapport and conceptions of the customer in interactive service. We examine customers’ agency in building rapport and how it shapes interactions with staff. The article contributes to three areas of research. For the sociology of work and employment, it sheds light on customers’ agency and pro-active contribution to service through rapport. Second, for interactive service scholarship it shifts the perspective on rapport from solely the service employees’ task, to a collaborative accomplishment, and one that customers establish as much as employees do. Lastly, the article revisits service work in third places, emphasising the staff–customer encounter’s role in the creation and maintenance of sociability. The article thereby recasts the enjoyment of conviviality in service encounters against a utilitarian backdrop.