Publication Date
2020
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Kidder, Jeffrey L.
Degree Name
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Legacy Department
Department of Sociology
Abstract
How do bouncers and bartenders utilize interpersonal management scripts to handle routinely encountered trouble customers? My study addresses this question and shows how bar staff remedy trouble behaviors without use of force, as well as demonstrates that bartenders play just as pivotal a role in managing those behaviors as bouncers. The data from in-depth interviewing was analyzed through a framework of trouble sociology and the dramaturgical perspective. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded into thematic categories based on frameworks and emergent themes. From the data, bar staff identified three major types of trouble customers (entitled, inebriated, creepy) and described four major types of scripted responses (hospitality, guilting, authoritative, avoidance) they employ to handle them. The results of my study represent an attempt to merge the literature of trouble with a literature of scripts and explores the contextual use of such scripts by bouncers and bartenders. Additionally, my findings provide greater nuance and detail for a more holistic understanding of the use of interpersonal management processes.
Recommended Citation
Cusumano, Anthony Paul, "On the Verge of Violence: How Bar Staff Manage Trouble Customers" (2020). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 6955.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/6955
Extent
65 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
