<![CDATA[This study examines pragmatic politeness and social hierarchy in Indonesian tile-retail service encounters. It also discusses the use of authentic service data for Indonesian language learning in higher education. The study used a qualitative socio-pragmatic design. Spencer-Oatey’s Rapport Management framework was used as the main interpretive framework, while Brown and Levinson’s politeness model and Leech’s account of indirectness and optionality were used as supporting concepts. Data were collected over a two-year period in participating tile-retail showrooms and modern retail outlets across Jakarta, Bogor, Serang, Cilegon, Cirebon, and Bandung. The observational dataset involved 43 frontline employees observed during selected service encounters. Fourteen of these employees also participated in semi-structured interviews. Customers were present in the service interactions but were not recruited or counted as research participants. The interview transcripts, field notes, and recorded interactions were analyzed through six phases of thematic analysis: familiarization, initial coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and writing the report. The findings show three main patterns. First, staff used respectful greetings, open offers of assistance, mitigation, personalization, consultative recommendations, and face-preserving refusals. Second, staff adjusted their language according to customers’ age, professional role, expertise, familiarity, and perceived status. Third, premium-service expectations increased the need for professional, responsive, and relational communication. The findings suggest that service encounters can provide useful materials for teaching pragmatic competence, register awareness, and ethical professional communication.]]>
