Saturday February 26, 2011
9:15-11:15am
Quantitative
Totals for the morning:
Order drink to go: 12
On Computer: 5
Reading book/ doing homework: 12 (defined as having book and/or spiral and pencil)
Working with computer and book: 1
Visiting: 26 (some of these appeared to have the intention of studying)
Main goal to eat: 23 (these people read a book or used their computer until food arrived. Then they ate and left)
Eating and visiting: 2 (they were eating but that did not appear to be the main goal based on how long they stuck around afterwards)
Collected times for people who left (x means I don’t know when they arrived):
9:24 – 9:44 (2 eating)
9:25 – 9:53 (3 eating)
X – 9:51 (3 eating)
X – 9:52 (3 visiting and eating)
X – 10:04 (2 visiting)
9:54 – 10:07 (4 eating)
X – 10:15 (2 eating)
9:56 – 10:24 (3 eating and visiting)
10:00 – 10:28 (2 eating and visiting)
10:33 – 11:00 (2 eating)
9:23 – 11:10 (1 on computer)
X – X (the regular on her computer)
(Several other people came in during the time I was there and never left. Actually, most came in near the end of my stay and I left before them. Most I assume were there for lunch.)
Qualitative
My location
Near the center of the large room, allowing for a view of everyone in the large room that was in front of me and limited view (don’t want to look too obvious) of the area behind me. I also had partial view of the smaller room where some couches were.
The Employees
This time there were two employees, one of which I recognized as a guy I saw my first couple of weeks at Sweet Eugene’s. A girl came up after us and he asked her if she wanted her usual vanilla java shake. She replied that she wanted to try something different today.
The customers
To clean or not to clean
I noticed a different pattern this week. Some young and some old put their dishes away. Some young and some old left their dishes on the table. I also noticed that the older ones who did put their dishes away (3 couples) tended to put their plates on the bar rather than in the designated area. But they were close.
Popular tables
Same as the other weeks, the same tables tended to be the popular spots. Two interesting things to note: The table I’ve designated as the window table had two girls visiting. They left their dishes, and as they were getting up, a lady and girl who have just gotten their drinks and ordered their food headed for the table and cleaned it off themselves so they could sit there.
I also noticed that as the place got more crowded, people would head to the back where I cannot see, glance down into a different room and then loop back with disappointed expressions on their faces. I haven’t sat in this area since it doesn’t allow me to view much of what is going on, but it seems to be a popular area.
Sticking around for a long time
Only the regular (a girl on her laptop) stayed the entire time.
A place to bring the family
I noted seven different families that had young children. Six of the families had children under the age of about 7 while one family had a child who was likely middle school or early high school age. I would often note parents of the young children toting them around in their arms just to entertain them. They would walk one way, then the other and go back to their table/couch.
Trusting Customers
As usual people left their stuff unattended, but one person I would like to note was a girl who left her backpack (with her computer in it) unattended from 10:16-10:43. I believe she was outside on her cell phone for most of this time and then in the bathroom.
Objective Unknown
I watched one guy enter Sweet Eugene’s through the back door, walk around through most of the rooms, then leave without ever ordering anything or talking to anyone. He had a backpack so I’m assuming he had been intending to meet someone there to work, but I’m not sure.
The Atmosphere
The regular sat to the right of three people visiting. A man at the table was talking quite passionately about politics. As time progressed I noticed the regular leaning further and further away from that table as if the volume bothered her. After they left the regular settled back into her seat.
The girl and lady who cleaned off the window table just so they could sit there were one of the loudest groups I’ve heard. The girl talked openly about relationships. I also noted her saying, “In College Station you can’t throw a rock and not hit a girl who…” [she got quieter for the last part. I’m not sure if she ended that sentence rudely or not.] I later heard her talking about a friend who has a problem with micromanaging her kids. I sat fairly far away from this table, so I was surprised I could pick up on so much of her conversation. I even overheard her conversation on her cell phone with her new employer. She starts training at a new workplace March 21.
At one point someone behind me was watching a video on their ipod. There was a lot of screaming in the video. After a minute or so of this (lots and lots of screaming), I glanced back to see who it was. Then the girl diagonally across from me who was studying looked. Then the guy to my right on his computer looked one after the other. I guess the ipod owner noticed us because the screaming finally stopped.
Differences from week 3
I visited the coffee shop in the morning this time, so there were several differences. I noticed a lot more families and a lot more older people (non college student, high school type crowds). Plus, I stayed from 9:15 to 11:15, so I noted a lot more people coming to Sweet Eugene’s to eat a late breakfast or an early lunch.
 |
| Map of Sweet Eugene's my fiance drew while I took notes. Click it for bigger view |
No comments:
Post a Comment