This paper examines the tactics utilised by service workers to cope with the emotional dissonance that results from their compliance with the role scripts developed to meet customers' relational expectations. These tactics are examined in the framework of de Certeau's theory (1984) on the basis of field surveys conducted with cashiers working in two French hypermarkets. The concept of tactic helps us to better understand how the cashiers cope with these dissonances. It helps us to shed some light on some types of behaviour which, a priori, seem irrational, and to understand the unintentional effects of managerial policies.