Literature Review: Serving Up Stress
Serving Up Stress
Following the 2020 study from Taylor et al. on the typical mental health impact of theCovid-19 pandemic, it is now imperative to understand the mental health impact of working in the restaurant industry under normal conditions; Wesolowski (2016)provides an introductory overview of the issue. This study applies a qualitative approach to mental health research. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted for a small group of participants according to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Fourteen front-of-house workers from Peterborough, Ontario were interviewed (p. 3).
Via Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, four distinct meta themes were identified in the dataset. One, work stressors are emotional, physical, and organizational; two, coping is a feeling of emotional control and a way of normalizing work stressors; three, wait staff speaks about health predominantly in emotional terms; and four, wait staff internalize feelings of helplessness (Wesolowski, 2016, pp. 5–8). From these meta themes, it is clear to see that waiting tables is an emotionally laborious profession. It stands to reason, then, that the industry would be heavily impacted by the added challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and its complex, interconnected stressors.
In addition to these larger meta themes, the smaller, more specific stressors prevalent in the restaurant industry are of note to this current study. Wesolowski (2016) identifies excessive workload, long work hours, inconsistent schedules, (perceived)shallow career development potential, customer behaviour, job performance, in- and out-groups,hierarchy, and discrimination (pp. 3–8).
Wesolowski (2016) notes two major limitations regarding her study. Firstly, none of the fourteen participants were able to be reached for follow-up interviews, thus introducing uncertainty regarding the participants’ interpretation of their experiences (p. 8). Secondly—and more noticeably—the scope of this study was very small. Given the nature of the methodology, only 14 participants were reached for interviews, and those few all came from the same city—Peterborough, Ontario. The undeniably small scope limits the study’s generalizability (p. 8). However, because the scope of the present study is also limited to a single Canadian city, it is reasonably likely that the results will reflect those found by Wesolowski. A more relevant limitation to the present study, perhaps, is that Wesolowski’s research only concerns front-of-house staff whereas the present study will accept participants from kitchen staff, managerial staff, delivery staff, and front-of-house staff. This is an important consideration as the challenges faced by kitchen staff—for example—are expected to differ greatly from those faced by the front-of-house staff. In this particular case, it is expected that front-of-house staff will perform significantly more emotional labour. By extension, it would be expected that kitchen staff and front-of-house staff respond differently to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even with these limitations in mind, “Serving up stress” is an appropriate addition to this collection of literature. In essence, Wesolowski’s (2016) efforts have established foundational expectations for the present study. Knowing which stressors are prevalent in or unique to the restaurant industry allows the researchers to better separate the effects of Covid-19 on the restaurant industry as opposed to the public in general. Furthermore, Wesolowski’s insights into the nature of mental health challenges in the industry illustrate the acute threat posed by theCovid-19 pandemic and reaffirm the importance of the present study.
