CISS Affiliate Sunny Kim Studies the Effects of “Service Sabotage” on Workers
If you’ve ever worked a service job, you’ve probably faced a customer who pushed you to the limit: rudely questioning your competence, complaining about a long wait you didn’t cause, rolling their eyes when you explain store policy. You smile anyway, because that’s what you’re trained to do… But according to a new study coauthored by a Boston University researcher, the stress of those encounters does not always stay at work.
Sunny Kim (SHA & CISS Affiliate) and her colleagues found that when hospitality workers cope with rude customers by quietly retaliating—a phenomenon known as “service sabotage”—the strategy can backfire. Instead of offering relief, it can trigger rumination, even disrupt sleep, as workers replay the incident over and over in their minds…
To read more, visit THE BRINK where this article originally appeared on March 12, 2026.