POLITENESS STRATEGIES OF BANK CUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICERS AT BRI BANKS

This thesis deals with Politeness Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers at BRI Banks. The objectives of this study were to identify types of politeness strategies and to examine the politeness patterns used by customer service officers in customer need identification process. The approach used in this study is based on politeness theory of Brown and Levinson.This study employed descriptive qualitative design. The data were the transcription of recorded observation and interview using recorder to three male and three female customer service officers of BRI Banks under BRI cabang Kisaran namely, BRI KCP Indrapura, BRI Unit Indrapura, and BRI Unit Kebunkopi, North Sumatra. The findings indicate that only three of politeness strategies used by customer service officers, there were bald-on record strategy, positive politeness strategies, and negative politeness strategies. Positive politeness strategies were dominantly used by bank customer service officers. Some factors were considered in using politeness strategies in identifying customer need. The factors were Social distance and closeness, relative status of participants, and amount of Imposition or degree of friendliness. By awaring these factors, the officers could safe the hearers face in order to enhance the customer satisfaction. The realization of these politeness strategies by the speaker were aimed to minimize Face Threatening Acts to endeavor a harmony in social interaction.