Participant Observation

On Saturday Beau and I decided to go out to a restaurant to complete our participant observation assignment. We walked into the restaurant and I immediately noticed the many TVs scattered across the wall all playing the sports game. The lights were dimmed, shades half closed and blues and mainstream rock was playing in the background. There were beer advertisements on the walls, in the menus, and the servers made beer suggestions. Their "special" BBQ sauce was also advertised by placing bottles in perfect view upon entrance and in the menu. Red, blues, yellows, and black decorated the restaurant and small tin pails were used as light fixtures and decorations. I have been in many restaurants and worked at a few and I begin to realize how much the place caters to its customers.

For the assignment (seen above) I documented the place (Wingers), The actors (customers, waiters, manager, etc), and the activity (eating, socializing, serving). Though this is a very basic and common activity I began to realize things I probably would have never noticed. At one point our server brought our dessert without spoons and said that someone was washing them... 5 min later we finally got spoons. Our ice cream was partly melted and our mouths were salivating like crazy. I thought that as a server I would just go wash my own spoons for a customer and, not to mention, the team focus in the back said "dishes are everyones responsibility". I reality those things don't really bother me but it was neat to notice those kind of inconsistencies. It was neat to realize the differences between what Beau and I noticed. I payed quite a bit of attention to what servers were doing that they shouldn't do while Beau really looked at the atmosphere. In most of the situations I was able to understand what they were doing and draw pretty accurate conclusions but I can imagine that in a place and culture that is very different from ours it will be more difficult to make conclusions. I noticed that sometimes it is had to make observations about your own culture because we just do what we do and don't try to make sense of why we do things. It will be a different experience trying to figure out and ask with out drawing quick conclusions.
Working on the farm in Bylakuppe is most likely a different experience that it is here. I am interested to see how people work together and their theories on gardening. I am curious what part girls play on the farm and working in general vs. boys. I am imagining that observations may be easier there because it is different than what I am use to but conclusion may be much more difficult. I guess I shall find out.