"Disrespect and Verbal Abuse"... Customer Mistreatment Targeting Women, Young Adults, and Part-Time Workers

Three Out of Ten Employees Report Experiencing Customer Mistreatment
Most Common: Disrespectful Language, Verbal Abuse, and Throwing Objects
"Need to Eliminate Blind Spots in the Labor Standards Act"

Three out of ten part-time workers reported experiencing unreasonable demands or mistreatment from customers.

According to a survey commissioned by Workplace Gapjil 119 and conducted by Global Research from June 1 to 9, 2026, among 1,000 employees aged 19 or older nationwide, 30.3% responded that they had directly experienced customer mistreatment.

Convenience Store. The Asia Business Daily DB

The rate of experiencing customer mistreatment was higher among women (35.3%) than men (26.3%), and was most prevalent among those in their 20s (46.8%). By employment type, 45.0% of part-time workers and 39.6% of daily workers reported such experiences.

The most common type of mistreatment experienced was being spoken to disrespectfully (61.4%), followed by verbal abuse such as swearing (44.2%), having items, money, or cards thrown at them (31.4%), demands for services not covered by the manual (29.4%), abuse of power or hierarchical pressure (20.8%), and sexual jokes, unnecessary physical contact, or requests for personal contact information (17.2%).

Meanwhile, 67.8% responded that they had witnessed customer mistreatment toward workers. The types most commonly witnessed were being spoken to disrespectfully (36.8%), verbal abuse (26.9%), and having items or money thrown (18.9%).

When asked about the most serious issue among unfair practices by store owners, wage-related mistreatment such as not paying full wages ranked first at 51.7%. This was followed by forced unpaid work at 39.8%, imposition of fines or wage deductions at 30.3%, unilateral reduction of working hours or sudden schedule changes at 28.6%, and either not providing rest breaks or forcing employees to serve customers during breaks at 24.2%.

Attorney Hyunjun Yang of Workplace Gapjil 119 explained, "Mistreatment of part-time workers is not just the deviation of a particular business owner, but a structural problem," adding, "It is necessary to eliminate blind spots in the Labor Standards Act, such as businesses with fewer than five employees or freelance workers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.