Thursday March 31, 2011
7:15 – 9:15 pm
Quantitative
Totals for the evening:
Order drink to go: ? (I wasn’t in a good place to view this)
On Computer: 26
Reading book/ doing homework: 21 (defined as having book and/or spiral and pencil)
Working with computer and book: 7
Visiting: 12
Main goal to eat: 5 (these people read a book or used their computer until food arrived. Then they ate and left)
Eating and visiting: 0 (I didn’t notice as many eating tonight. It was a major study night.)
Playing cards: 0
Qualitative
My location
I sat in a new spot tonight - a popular spot that is always taken by someone on a computer who remains there the entire 2 hours that I'm at Sweet Eugene’s. The tabletop is clear with a bunch of pennies displayed underneath. It's a convenient spot since there is a bar right behind it that I can put my leftovers and drink on. It gave me a good view of the back of the coffee shop but there was a wall between me and the front.
 |
| My Crepe Fear - very tasty |
Since it was my last week coming for the ethnography (and since Alyssa had shown me a picture of the crepe she had for breakfast at Sweet Eugene’s), I decided to try out the food. I had the Crepe Fear. It was way too much food for me but it was really good. I recommend it to anyone who goes there. I also tried a new drink, the frozen green tea, and it was good. I wish I had tried it sooner.
The Employees
Two of the employees I did not recognize but the third I did. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and were talking loudly with each other.
The customers
I wrote about the general trends last week, so I’ll report on the few unique interactions patterns I noticed tonight.
The outlet, the hot commodity
Though not exactly unique, more than ever tonight (it was probably the busiest I’ve ever seen the place), the outlets were greatly sought after. As the place filled up, the tables near outlets were the first to go. One girl at a middle table had her power cord stretched out across a main walkway. It tripped several people almost including me. I remembered to watch out (after watching others trip on it) at the last minute.
Extremely busy
As I already mentioned, the place was busier than ever. I would say that nearly all the tables and couches were occupied by the time I left. A group of four came in searching for a place and had to break off into two groups to sit at small tables near each other since there were no places to sit together. Another group of four came searching for a table and discussed where they might sit. After some deliberation they decided to sit outside.
Somehow quieter than usual
Even without considering how many people were there tonight, the place was quieter than usual. When I think about how many people were there, it surprises me even more. There were a lot more people working alone tonight. Some of the groups of two people were sharing ipods – each using one ear bud. There were also a lot of groups of four or more. Usually people in groups spend most of their time talking, but tonight most people seemed to be working diligently.
Customer-Employee Interaction
I haven’t noticed much customer – employee interaction. I think one week I noticed an employee talking with several girls, but other than that, the most words I hear customers exchange with employees are the common pleasantries of “how are you” or some variation of that.
Tonight one of the employees was going around asking if people were done with their dishes and cups (something I’ve never seen before – were they running low on dishes or did he just choose to do that when there wasn’t a lot going on behind the counter?) and near the end of him asking everyone with empty cups, a girl spilt her drink. He offered to clean it up. She said she would. He insisted on cleaning up the puddle of coffee (luckily the cup was plastic). She insisted again and headed to the front to get napkins and mopped up the mess herself.
Ethnography’s effect on me
Dr. Gill mentioned that we should also note the effect the Ethnography has had on me.
Coffee Effect
I’ve never been much for coffee before this project. I don’t drink soft drinks, so the only caffeine I get is from tea. Usually coffee is my secret weapon: when I need to pull a late-nighter, I drink a cup of coffee and I’m good for another 4-5 hours. However, I’ve grown to like coffee a little more as a result of this Ethnography. I haven’t had to pull too many late-nighters where coffee was warranted (usually a deadline is all I need to keep me awake) so I’m not sure if drinking more coffee has increased my caffeine tolerance or not.
Public Study Spot Effect
I’m more of a study-at-home type. Other than the impulse to check my email often, I can usually ignore common distractions in the home. I thought I would be more distracted in a public environment, but even with the coffee shop as busy as it often is, I found it easy to focus the few times that I came there solely to study or work with my group. Even with the coffee shop as busy as it was near the end of my group meeting, I found it easy to focus. While I still prefer working at home, I think I might come to the coffee shop occasionally or at least go through the drive-thru to grab a java shake.
Ethnography effect
I’ve also noticed that I watch people more in other environments outside of Sweet Eugene’s. I recently went to a restaurant in downtown Bryan and found myself watching everyone’s interactions – some were impressed with the quality of the food, others surprised by the price, and some surprised by the selection – and I could identify how many were first-time customers and how many had come before. Even while shopping I note people and what they’re doing – like at Target when I saw a lady on her cell phone and carrying a baby. Usually I wouldn’t pay attention when I passed but she was angry and chewing out her husband for not coming home and going to some lake instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment