Appliance technicians don't face the stress of first responders, but the cumulative toll of abusive customers and difficult calls can shorten careers and affect their mental health and families. Doug Major reviews four common coping strategies against the research: reframing ('it's not about you') helps, while suppressing feelings, repeated venting and surface acting are linked to burnout and depression. The healthier playbook is to reframe in the moment, keep venting brief, and genuinely switch off from work after hours.
Let’s be clear. Appliance service personnel don’t suffer the kind of emotional and mental stress that front-line first responders do. But the cumulative effects can be career-shortening — and they affect the mental and emotional health of the technician, and the people close to them.
What does it feel like on the doorstep?
Years ago, I was standing on the step of a beautiful home in upscale Calgary. My customer had followed me out. A few seconds earlier he’d seemed amiable — we’d solved his problem without incident.
Now? Wow. “I want you to get back in there and get my range working.”
It was under warranty, but not a product we were authorized to touch. He’d mentioned it while I worked on the other appliance, and no doubt he had reason to be upset. But jabbing his pointer finger into my chest, demanding I void his warranty for free, was never going to get his range top fixed.
By the time I escaped to the truck, I was shaking. Verbal, mental, physical — abuse. And I acknowledged it and minimized it in the same breath.
I refused to ever go back to that house, that customer. Years later, after starting Vantage, I was back. Same fridge, new range. The customer didn’t remember me at all. No mention of years earlier.
He’d probably forgotten me within the hour. I carried it for a lifetime.
Why do the best technicians burn out?
It’s a regular thing: a technician calls to vent about a customer, or a situation out of their control. I could tell you a hundred of those stories. I’ll spare you.
But here’s what I’ve noticed. The ones who vent the loudest are usually the ones who care the most — about the repair, and about the customer. They put themselves out there, every day. Exactly the person you want in your home. And exactly the person who can be driven right out of this industry by those same experiences.
And honestly? In-home techs have it easy compared to the office staff, the ones dealing with the anonymity of the phone and the internet. You don’t have to look someone in the face as you crush them over the phone, or in a review.
Is “be the duck” good advice?
My strategy has always been to be the duck. Calm on the surface, paddling like mad underneath. I’ve said before: “Remember — even if the finger is pointed at you, it’s not about you. Not by a long shot.”
Turns out, as I dug into the research, my strategy and reactions might not be good mental-health advice for those in the appliance repair industry. I’m a technician first, not a mental or emotional health expert. But let me tell you what the research says. Fair warning: I’m about to grade myself.
1. Cognitive reappraisal — “Don’t take it personally. It’s not about you.” This is the single most reliably healthy emotion-regulation strategy in the literature (Gross & John, 2003). It lowers anger and reactivity and correlates with better wellbeing.
2. Expressive suppression — be the duck. Let it roll off and paddle like mad. Gross’s research shows suppression does not reduce the feeling. It just hides it, while raising heart rate and blood pressure and impairing memory. Habitual suppressors show more negative emotion, less social support and higher depression. One 12-year study even linked high emotional suppression to a 35% higher risk of early death (Chapman et al., 2013). That is the version that quietly costs you.
3. Co-rumination — serial venting. Brief, supportive venting to a trusted coworker builds connection and helps. Rehashing the same grievance over and over predicts higher anxiety and depression, even as it bonds people (Rose, 2021). It can deepen the rut.
4. Surface acting — calm on the surface, churning where the world can’t see. Masking the outward reaction while the felt emotion goes unprocessed is the single emotional-labour strategy most consistently tied to burnout and exhaustion (Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011). Suppression doesn’t erase the feeling. It just drives it underground, where it lingers.
I just scored one out of four.
What example am I setting?
I used to tell my children, “I am happy to tell you my mistakes, so you don’t have to repeat them.” Nice — except people generally live by example. If you were living my example, sorry. You’re one for four.
I’m going to adjust my approach, so the example gets better.
What should technicians do instead?
Here’s the healthier playbook, and it’s shorter than the list of mistakes.
Reframe it in the moment: it’s not about you. Keep that part.
Keep any venting short and supportive. Don’t loop.
And the one secret sauce I’ve leaned on but never named: psychological detachment during off-hours. In my words, compartmentalization — though my definition wanders a bit from the textbook. Genuinely switching off from work when you’re off the clock is one of the strongest predictors of recovery there is. Not switching off predicts exhaustion and depressive symptoms (Sonnentag & Bayer, 2005).
Leave the job at the job.
Where can you get help?
If you work in this industry, take this moment — right now — and think honestly about your mental and emotional health.
If you need help, there are good resources, many of them free. Sadly, the insular nature of this trade means you may have to go looking. So here’s one to start with: in Canada, you can call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time. Same number in the US.