Llewellyn, Nick and Hindmarsh, Jon (2013) The order problem : inference and interaction in interactive service work. Human Relations, 66 (11). pp. 1401-1426. doi:10.1177/0018726713479622 ISSN 0018-7267.

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Abstract

This article analyses the work of issuing tickets to queuing customers, thereby contributing to the literature on interactive service work. It draws analytical attention to artful practices through which employees infer ticket orders from local configurations of talk, gesture and bodily movement. It reveals not only the practical reasoning deployed by the service worker, but also the agency of the customer in the course of encounters. Drawing upon video recordings of over 200 separate transactions, the demands of remedying problem orders are analysed to reveal how staff infer and clarify social ‘facts’, such as the customer’s age, their nationality, employment status and willingness to pay the higher ‘Gift Aid’ price. An image of interactive service work emerges that emphasizes the peculiar and skilful articulation of sociological categories in the course of apparently routine low-level work. The concept of ‘inferential labour’ is introduced to capture these processes, which resonates with studies of categorization and emotional labour in interactive service work.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title:	Human Relations
Publisher:	Sage Publications Ltd.
ISSN:	0018-7267
Official Date:	2013
Dates:	Date Event 2013 Published
Volume:	66
Number:	11
Page Range:	pp. 1401-1426
DOI:	10.1177/0018726713479622
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published

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