Notwithstanding the assumed role of language teaching syllabi in shaping teachers' emotional conflicts, nuanced examination of syllabus-related issues in forming teachers' emotion labour remains limited. The present study addressed this gap by exploring the emotional dissonance of 15 Iranian and 13 Turkish EFL teachers concerning their syllabi in use. Utilizing a post-structural framework and applying a thematic approach to data analysis, the research identified both similarities and differences in the origins of teachers' emotional responses to schools' syllabus policies. These policies act as “feeling rules”, both generating emotional conflicts and parcelling out resilience strategies to teachers. Drawing on narrative frames and semi-structured online interviews, the study identified three primary areas of emotional struggle: Identity crises, cultural-related struggles, and agency/‌autonomy-oriented conflicts. However, these conflicts manifested themselves differently in the two EFL contexts. Iranian teachers reported emotional strain concerning the teacher-learner affective bond due to syllabus policies. The findings also showed that both Iranian and Turkish teachers develop professional, social, and emotional techniques to cope with these challenges and avoid burnout. It is suggested that incorporating modules on capitalization of emotion labour into policy communication and teacher development programs and calibrating syllabi to localized sociocultural demands of EFL classroom can mitigate negative impacts of prescribed syllabi and foster teacher agency and professional identity, thereby enhancing job satisfaction and teacher retention.