Designed based on careful specifications and regulations, commercial refrigerators can be found in almost all restaurants across the United States. In this article I explore the multifaceted role of the commercial walk-in refrigerator as a space of mediation, secrecy, and pacification among restaurant industry workers in central Florida. I analyze two years of ethnographic research conducted from 2015 to 2017, and argue that the refrigerator acts as a liminal zone within the restaurant, which is used by management to subdue, pacify, and placate employees. To do so I draw on literature by design justice scholars on discriminatory design, to consider the ways in which the physical structure of American restaurant establishments perpetuate physical and emotional abuse of workers.

商用冰箱的设计基于仔细的规范和规定，几乎可以在美国所有的餐厅中找到。在本文中，我探讨了商用步入式冰箱作为佛罗里达州中部餐饮业工人的调解、保密和安抚空间的多方面作用。我分析了从 2015 年到 2017 年进行的两年民族志研究，并认为冰箱是餐厅内的一个临界区，管理层使用它来制服、安抚和安抚员工。为此，我借鉴了设计正义学者关于歧视性设计的文献，以考虑美国餐馆机构的物理结构如何使工人的身体和情感虐待永久化。