Publications

Publication details [#64408]

Svinhufvud, Kimmo. 2018. Waiting for the customer: Multimodal analysis of waiting in service encounters. Journal of Pragmatics 129 : 48–75.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Elsevier

Annotation

A salesperson waits for a customer in a particular embodied manner, showing availability and shunning rushing the customer. The waiting posture consists of standing and holding the hands in a specific way and shunning direct eye contact. The customers frequently project waiting, either verbally or by moving in the space in a specific way. Waiting finishes quickly, when the customer directly approaches the seller, pointing out that the salesperson is observing the customer while at the same time shunning rushing him or her.