Service With a Smile Is Harder for Hospitality Workers in Masks

As you’ve likely discovered from interactions at your local grocery or drugstore, employee-customer relations are a bit strained. Making someone at an establishment feel welcome when both parties have half their face covered isn’t an innate skill. Employees need to be taught how to do this successfully, says Richard Delany, president of the Old Edwards Inn and Spa in Highlands, N.C., about a three-hour drive from Atlanta and Charlotte. A small Covid-19 cluster among the staff led to a few cancellations when the hotel reopened in May, but now business is booming. “We feel really good about the safety procedures we put in place,” Delany says. Here are edited excerpts from a late-July conversation he had with Arianne Cohen.

An employee said to me, “Richard, have I done something wrong? The last couple of times I’ve seen you, you seemed upset with me.” Which was not the case. I’m usually pretty happy-go-lucky, high-fiving people and smiling, but I can’t high-five them anymore, and they can’t see my smile. If someone who knows me cannot recognize my temperament and expressions, then obviously guests are gonna have a hard time doing that with our employees.