The role of time in organisational and relational development remains an understudied component of work and employment. In response, this article draws attention to the ways that temporality informs relations between workers and clients in service work. Drawing on data from interviews and observations with hair stylists in salons located in the North East of England from 2016 to 2018, we provide a nuanced account of emotional service work by considering the role of the temporal dynamics of recurrence and experience. Describing that which we label ‘relational trajectories’, we show the role of time in developing more authentic service performances. We conclude that acknowledging time allows for a more refined conceptual understanding of how emotional labour is performed based on an appreciation of how relations develop and change. Emotional labour is positioned as highly nuanced and adaptive in its responses to the specificities of relational trajectories that unfold over time.

时间在组织和关系发展中的作用仍然是工作和就业中未被充分研究的组成部分。作为回应，本文提请注意临时性在服务工作中告知工人与客户之间关系的方式。根据2016年至2018年在英格兰东北部的沙龙中的发型师的访谈和观察数据，我们通过考虑复发和经验的时间动态作用来细化情感服务工作。描述我们标记为“关系轨迹”的过程，我们展示了时间在开发更真实的服务性能中的作用。我们得出结论，基于对关系如何发展和变化的认识，承认时间可以使人们对情感劳动的执行方式有更精细的概念性理解。