Ned Weidner
Paired Observation
ENGL 5870
2/26/09
The Ways People Interact
530 @ Mom’s Café CSU Stanislaus
Watching the café counter and the way people order coffee and the workers behind the counter.
Scene:
There is a Mom’s Java House sign above the counter.
Next to that is an add for smoothies: raspberry, strawberry, cherry
Behind the counter above the smoothie machine is a sign written in chalk it reads, “Thanks for being our guest. Have a nice day.”
There is a cash register at the counter. Next to it is a basket of assorted cookies.
Lights hang over top of the counter.
Mike and I are sitting at a large table in the middle of the coffee shop with a good vantage point of the counter.
The workers behind the counter wear maroon shirts with black pants.
Male worker is worker 1
Female worker is worker 2
Action:
A girl with a hurley jacket , fox backpack and a hat waits at the counter ready to order.
Worker 1 is busy making a smoothie
Worker 2 takes the girls order. The worker is smiling.
The girl gets coffee and walks away.
Worker 1 is explaining something to worker 2
Worker 2 goes to wash her hands
Worker 1 takes the order of the 2 girls while a third girl waits in line on the phone. The two girls are tall.
More students, 2 girls, one heavy set the other a cute blonde with a black haired young guy wearing a backpack get in line.
Now it is hard to see what the workers are doing.
Worker 1 is now making the 2 girls smoothies
Worker 2 is taking the group of threes order
The group and worker 2 laugh
The blonde says “Ok thank you”
Worker 1 says “white mocha”
The sound of the smoothie machine whirs
The group of three walk out and another girl yells out to the black haired guy, “bye Ralph” Ralph says, “C ya”
Worker 2 takes the order of a man
He gives her money and she gives him change
Worker 2 smiles at everyone she talks to
Worker 2 says “Hi how may I help you” to a very cute tall girl in boots and a purple dress
A girl with red and black hair gives me wink as she walks bye.
The two workers are busy making coffee drinks.
Stop @ 551
Reflection
I thought Mom’s was a good place to observe because it is somewhere both Mike and I are familiar with and there is a lot going on. However, the amount of commotion going on was both a positive and a distraction. It gave us a lot to observe and there was no down time, but I had a difficult time staying on task and just observing the counter. My eyes kept drifting every which way. That made it difficult, but I think it was still good practice. I really have to remember to keep adjectives out of my notetaking. They only have a place in notemaking. I have not seen Mikes notes yet, but I am excited to see the differences in what we saw. I anticipate there to be quite a few differences. I am going to my first classroom observation today and I am a bit nervous. In fact, I felt a little weird about observing people in Mom’s. That’s odd. Does anybody know why that would be? I think I was a little self conscious about trying not to be noticed while I was taking notes. That’s probably something every ethnographic researcher goes through when they first start observations. Mike is a little older than I am so I wonder how his notes will be different than mine. It is hard not to read into things when your observing. It is hard to keep your own feelings out of it. Although I think that your feelings can have a place in the final write up just not in the actual note taking because after all the final write ups are our descriptions of what we see. I would be interested in knowing if anybody else felt self conscious about being in a classroom or observing people. It is a bit strange because I have always been a people watcher; in fact, I used to go to airports just to observe, but when I know that they know I am watching it is a little different.
The classroom observation thing is different than a place like Mom’s I think, Question #1 did you tell the people working at Mom’s that you were there to observe? If so, why? It is a public place and permission is not needed, and can only make them self-consious, and if not, why do you suppose that they knew you were watching tthem and taking notes about them? People sit in Mom’s all day, and write in their notebooks and look at the counter, and around the room, and then continue to write in their notebooks.
So there is no reason to suppose that they knew your purpose, you would have been a true participant observer in that case. Part of the scene, unobtrusive. What changes the way you feel–I think from my own experience–is not their awareness of you, they probably didn’t even notice you except as a couple familiar faces at the table over there, but your awareness of your purpose, it makes you feel like a voyeur, which is what you become when you become an ethnographer, and Americans tend to have strong though not often consiously thought about mores and values relating to respecting other peoples “space” and “privacy,” even though there can actually be no “privacy” in a public place.
I would suggest that you think about those feelings, and see if that is not what is bugging you about it. I kind of like the whole idea of being the fly on the wall, particularly since I tend to be flamboyant in my interactions with others when I am interacting with them, but I also like to sit on a bench with a book, and watch the people go by, and listen to their conversations, and speculate as to their intentions and intents. If you sit quietly, anywhere, particularly on a college campus, with a book open in your lap, you become functionally invisible. You can do the same in a car, anywhere, as long as the book is visible to passerby, they don’t question what you are doing. You are reading. Except you are not necessarilly, at least not all the time.
Ned, Good job with the observation. Even though we were observing the same scene we both say things differently. I just posted my observation. Let me know what you think.
Yeah, James I agree that Mom’s is different than a classroom observation. I also agree that it is my awareness of my purpose that makes the difference. Its true people study, take notes and watch other people all day long there. I do too. In fact, I love watching people. Its one of my favorite pastimes. But the fact is that Mom’s was a different place when I was taking notes. You might say that my perception of its aura changed for that moment because I was taking notes, not to mention the fact that I knew a few people in there and they both asked me later what I was observing and why. So people were aware that I was watching them. And isn’t the point of these exercises to practice the art of notetaking. I would also disagree with you that there is no ‘privacy’ in public spaces. My personal space is my own, and while it may intersect with other peoples spaces, I appreciate others respecting it. And yes I am well aware of the capitalist connections and psychological meaning behind what I just said. Also I would like to suggest that you resist from making generalizations and categorizing me into this group of ‘Americans’ that are not conscious of their words, actions and cultural habits. I know quite a few French people very well and have been around a little, and during my travels one of my favorite things to do is people watch and become invisible, as you say. So I can tell you that yes while “Americans” have a certain sense of entitlement and enjoy their ‘space’ as they say, and some other cultures have a more collectivist philosophy they too are aware when it is apparent that other people are watching them, and believe me it makes them uncomfortable too.
OK fair enough, I was not actually meaning to categorize you particularly, I was more speaking in general about how “Americans” as a culture conceptualize “space” and contact through my own experience of being one, and my observations of other “Americans” behavior and pecularities. I think that your observation was good, and certainly did not intend to be insulting to you in any way.
At the same time, I was just responding naturally to what you wrote, not checking references, and not knowing “you” as a person hardly at all, nor was I trying to be considerate, I just wrote down what came to mind–because it was in my mind at the time I wrote it–immediately after reading your observation.
I also make no claim to infalibility, I often miss things, or make connections that were not intended by the author. And when writing informa responses like this, I just call it like I see it at that moment, and let the chips fall where they may. I do not know what expeience you have, where you have been, what you have done, or what you have read, so I can’t make a comment that assumes any particular knowledge or experience on your part, not because you are ignorant, but because I am.
That does not mean that I believe that you are either mistaken, or inexperienced, or niave. So far as I do know you, and know of you, through mutual acquaintences, you are a smart and perceptive guy, a good tutor, and probably an interesting person to be around. You undoubtedly have a zillion other qualities and skill sets that I don’t know about, and probably a whole bunch I don’t have myself.
In regards to the issue of privacy in public places, I was simply speaking of the legal issues involved, not the ethical question which is something else again. The supreme court has found (I believe) that your privacy is not violated by the filming, or recording, or photographing of you while you are ingaged in public behavior in a public place such as a street, public park, bar, coffee shop or restaurant. This judgment is the bread and butter of the “paparizzi” (hope I spelled that right), the only way that they can operate. Not that I like them, just that they can and do engage in surveillance of public venues all the time, and generally get away with it because it is allowable under the law. I love it when a movie star just punches one.
I don’t much like being watched by people I don’t know, taking notes about what I’m doing, and have confronted people who I thought were overstepping the boundaries of my personal space on more than one occassion, but aside from socking them in the nose, there is little I can do about it, and if I hit them, I am likely to be charged with assault and battery. I would agree with you about people in general, even in countries with different ideas about personal space, being uncomfortable with being watched also. While I have never been to Europe, I spent most of a year in Panama, and have traveled extensively in the Carribean, so I can even say that with some non-academic experience of other cultures.
And as far as the note taking goes, yes, I believe that that was what the assignment was about, I was just suggesting that such a detailed observation and logging of the specifics of each interaction sometimes distracts one from the participatory part of the participant observation, and draws attention to the observer, and generally interferes with the process being observed. I’m pretty sure that you are smart enough, observant enough, and have a good enough memory for your notes about an hour–written immediately after the hour was over–to be reliable academic, or even legal testimony about what happened during that time. You can do it however you like, that really isn’t my bussiness, I was just making an observation that I thought might be helpful.