Customers are the new workplace bullies for service workers

Friday, 27 February 2026

Customer abuse and bullying are becoming routine parts of the job for hospitality staff, with workers in the firing line as delays, understaffing and tight margins collide.

The latest MBIE hospitality and tourism employment survey found 35% of workers had personally experienced bullying or harassment in their current job, up from just over 20% three years ago.

If you work in hospitality and have experienced abuse from customers or at work, contact reporters@press.co.nz

In most of those cases the bully was the customer, not the boss, with customers identified as the main offenders in about 60% of incidents.

The survey, which includes responses from thousands of workers across the country, also shows the toll on mental health. About 40% reported feelings of hopelessness and intrusive thoughts after difficult encounters with customers.

Unite Union assistant secretary Gerard Hehir, whose members include staff at major fast-food chains, said customer abuse had become the “major issue” in hospitality.

“It’s been on a steady increase for the past four or five years. That’s what we’re hearing consistently across the board, particularly around fast food,” he said.

Hehir said chronic understaffing and labour-saving rostering systems were a big driver.

“If you go into a drive-through and the queue is already long and they’re understaffed, you’re trapped,” he said. “By the time the customer gets to the window, they are often incandescent because they can’t get out.”

“Persistent understaffing is a major cause of customer delays, and that’s a major cause of abuse.'

High turnover and a constant flow of inexperienced staff into frontline roles meant mistakes were inevitable, he said, further fuelling tensions in queues and over counters.

“Abuse has become so persistent that people just accept it’s part of the job, and they shouldn’t. They don’t have to put up with that,” Hehir said.

He said some workers were now too anxious to turn up for shifts they knew would be severely understaffed, after watching colleagues pull out in group chats.

Hehir said abuse was worst in big brands and multi-site franchises, where the people with the power to change things were furthest from the front counter.

He said many large operators now had CCTV covering public areas and audio recording at ordering points, particularly in drive-throughs.

“We’ve had people report customers throwing things through the drive-through window, screaming abuse, and you’d think with cameras and number plates they’d be trespassed,” he said. 'Instead, the focus is on clearing the complaint list.”

Similar concerns have already pushed some supermarket chains to issue staff with body cameras to record abusive customers, as retailers grapple with rising aggression at checkouts and self-service lanes.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Kristy Phillips said the findings showed a workforce that was still “highly motivated and proud of the work they do”, but agreed the jump in bullying and harassment was “an area of concern”, with customers identified as the main offenders in most cases.

“Too many people in hospitality are experiencing customer abuse,” Phillips said. “This is disappointing, and an issue we need to keep working hard to address to make sure hospitality remains a career of choice.”

She said businesses were working to create safe and supportive workplaces, but argued customers also had to take responsibility for how they behaved towards staff.

“Respect and courtesy should be a shared expectation,” she said.