Mental Health at Work: A Case Study on Handling Difficult Clients

This case study examines a scenario involving a hotel receptionist, Emma, and a demanding guest, Cusimano, to identify signs of mental distress and analyze the impact of workplace stress. The case explores Emma's reaction to the guest's behavior, highlighting the natural stress responses in high-pressure environments like the hotel industry. It discusses potential conflicts arising from difficult customer interactions and the negative effects on employee mental health, including burnout and decreased performance. The analysis emphasizes the importance of patient and respectful communication, suggesting strategies for handling challenging clients, such as calmly explaining the situation, involving senior management, and adhering to organizational policies. The study concludes by underscoring the need for organizations to support employee well-being in the face of demanding customer interactions.

Running Head: MENTAL HEALTH IN WORKPLACE 0
Mental health in workplace
JUNE 12, 2018

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Mental health in workplace is identified through the video clip which raises certain
questions which are to be answered describing the scenario of the bossy attitude of the client
approaching the receptionist and disturbing the workplace.
Q1. As per the video depicting the scenario of a hotel guest complaints depicting the
signs of mental distress in the conversation between the customer ‘Cusimano’ and the
receptionist ‘Emma’ who arrives at the reception desk to enquire about the room booked
already, she was in hurry and wanted to check in as soon as possible because of some pre-
arrangements, but due to some issues there the receptionist, Emma was unable to resolve her
queries, got nervous at the situation and started panicking, with the difficult behaviour of the
guest therefore showing the signs of mental distress (Powell & Enright, 2015).
Q2. The response or the reaction towards the behaviour and Emma’s stress level is
natural , the way she behaved with the circumstance and the behaviour of her guest, as it
relates to the scenario under hotel describing the work related stress because the nature of
work in the hotel industry includes hard deadlines, unexpected interactions, complex
workplace activities to performed with long working hours day and night often leads to the
stress caused by any minute disturbances occurring in their working, which is a natural
phenomenon. Many of the times, there are certain factors at personal level also causing
occupational stress (Caruso, 2015).
Q3. The conflicts or the disputes caused among the relations between the client and
the receptionist Emma due to the difficult or upset behaviour of the guest, as she mainly aim
towards calming down the irate guests with their rude and unreasonable behaviour, by
maintaining herself calm and polite under such situations but if these problems arise most
frequently they may upset the mental health of the person(Emma) developing a negative
attitude towards work and the people , feeling like withdrawing or quitting from the work

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since the stress makes them think below their potentials which might distract her from the
work and unhappy (American Psychiatric Association, 2018).
Q4. The way client approached the receptionist Emma was not right, the client should
have dealt patiently with the problem stated by the receptionist and on behalf of the client I
would have informed about the urgency or the requirements from the hotel to be fulfilled.
Aggressive behaviour often leads to the hostile relations, which is usually not beneficial on
the both the ends, making the situations worse .Therefore, one should approach in a reliable
manner and listen properly and wait for the solution for the problem. As the behaviour of
client or guests affects others, along with themselves, it can disturb the mental health of the
person (Ward, 2016).
Q5. Analysing the whole scenario, the troublesome client overpowered on the
receptionist and resisted towards listening her and understanding the real problem behind the
discomfort caused to her, therefore in order to make understand the pompous client, one
should have made her sit, and relax properly explaining her the reason behind the
inconvenience caused to her or consulting other staff and the senior managers in the
organisation to overcome the situation could be another solution. Also, mentioning about the
organisational norms and policies would also act as resort to any problems.

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REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (2018). Warning Signs of Mental Illness. Retrieved
from: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/warning-signs-of-mental-
illness
Caruso, C. C. (2015). Reducing risks to women linked to shift work, long work hours,
and related workplace sleep and fatigue issues. Journal of Women's
Health, 24(10), 789-794.
Powell, T. J., & Enright, S. J. (2015). Anxiety and stress management. (1st ed.).
London: Routledge.
Ward, D. (2016). When the customer is not right: how to prepare your hotel staff to
deal with rude guests. Retrieved from:
https://www.hcareers.com/article/career-advice/when-the-customer-isnt-right-
how-to-prepare-your-hotel-staff-to-deal-with-rude-guests