Customer mistreatment—the poor-quality interpersonal treatment of service workers by customers—is a widespread issue linked to employees’ diminished performance to customers in general. However, little is known about how employees treat the customers who actually perpetrate mistreatment toward them. This study explores how perpetrator characteristics, specifically perpetrator status, influence what employees do and feel during mistreatment events. Drawing from social information processing theory, we propose that high-status perpetrators of customer mistreatment receive more perspective-taking and ultimately more perpetrator-directed help from targets of customer mistreatment, while also reinforcing job-related stigma and eliciting perpetrator-instigated shame in the focal employee. We conducted two studies to test the proposed model, with Study 1 using an experiment with high-fidelity audio-recorded vignettes, and Study 2 using the critical incident technique to solicit detailed descriptions and ratings of real-world customer mistreatment events. Our theoretical model was supported and remained robust to adjustments for alternative explanations. Implications for research in customer mistreatment events, the role of the perpetrator, and the influence of perceived perpetrator status are discussed.
