Typical Starbucks

Today, I find myself at the nearby airport ready to travel to Texas. I have arrived extremely early for my flight, and have been sitting by a busy Starbucks drinking a typical Chai Tea Latte. Immediately, I take interest in the woman working behind the counter. She looks to be about sixty-five years of age, and she is wearing a black button-down shirt and black pants with a Starbucks apron over her. When I spoke with her to order my drink, I tried to talk to her in a chipper voice because she had a mean look on her face. Her voice sounded tired and strained, probably from having to get up so early to make coffee everyday. Looking at her face, I noticed something particularly odd. She had a pretty thick mustache growing around her mouth for a woman. I wondered why that was there and why she was capable of growing so much facial hair. And I knew she was a woman because of her high-pitched voice, and her stature. When she put the cup on the counter, I made sure to wish her a good day, but she did not say anything back. She just turned around and started to wash the dishes without even looking at me in the eye. I pondered what it would be like to have to work at a busy Starbucks every day. Getting up extremely early and probably not making much more than minimum wage. I picked a seat near the Starbucks so I could continue studying her. Because it was so early in the morning, business seemed slow. Even though there was not much business at first, the woman clearly still had jobs to do. She washed dishes including blenders, and metal measuring cups. I was surprised to see she was the only person working, probably because the morning shift must be the slowest shift. A few costumers did stop by here and there, mostly women ordering fancy coffee drinks. Each time, the woman was not personal with the customers and she looked very unhappy to be there.

I noticed that she was very good at her job besides dealing with the customers. She made the drinks with ease. She never had tor refer to recipe or a guide at all, and she was very good at using all of the machines. By ten o’clock, a second worker came and joined her as more and more customers came through. I saw a lot of mothers order drinks with small children by their side. These were the ones that would order tall skinny lattes. While men tended to order larger drinks such as a grande Americano. I saw one person order the legendary Venti drink; it should be illegal to drink that much coffee. He was a tall teenage boy with dark brown hair, wearing tan pants and a button down flannel. When he walked away with the largest cup of coffee that I have ever seen, he looked extremely pleased with himself. I knew that there was no way he could finish all of that coffee, and that he was going to have a very uncomfortable plane ride.

Cofee Crazed pt 9

I decided to come in on Halloween this week to see how it would affect the vibe in the coffee shop. When I walked in I saw many customers wearing costumes. One man was ordering a drink and he was a tall slender man who was wearing a long red wig with a leather jacket and he was carrying a big foam sword.

            One man was dressed as Indiana jones, and his toddler daughter was dressed as princess Leia from star wars. They were sitting on the couch and drinking their beverages. The daughter was amazed by all of the costumes around the shop and couldn’t help but smile whenever someone new would walk in. I noticed that whenever someone came in and wasn’t wearing a costume she would do a sort of snicker as if she was upset that these people weren’t dressed up. The father was sitting on his phone texting and not paying attention, he looked like he dressed up as Indiana jones every day.

            Most of the people who weren’t dressed up were the students who were sitting at tables, studying. Whenever a student would walk in but they were dressed up, it meant they weren’t there to study.  It seemed as though the students who weren’t dressed up would look on in envy, as the people in costumes would walk in, full of smiles, and order their drinks and leave.

            The employees were full of smiles when they would see a new costume, but there was a sense that they were upset because, I could over hear some conversations where they were discussing that they wished they could wear costumes, but Red had said that they couldn’t. I also heard them talk about how excited they were for their annual Halloween party.

            One family walked in and none of them were dressed up. The children looked on in awe and you could see in their eyes that they so wished to be dressed up but the parents looked disgusted with everyone wearing a costume. They shook their heads and whispered (in a different language) to each other. They were very quick to get their drinks and leave.

Srcbalbe

Thursday October 30, 2014

5:10 pm I walk into the café and am taken aback by how many people are in here at this time. There is a fairly long line at the register and another crowd of people waiting at the bar for their drinks. Almost every seat or table is taken with people studying of having conversations.

5:11 as I sit down and take a look around one group of people captures my attention. Three women, a toddler, and an elderly man. They don’t catch my eye because they are making a lot of noise, in reality it is the opposite. They are communicating through sign language. All four adults are look as though they are from three different ethnicities. One Asian (with an Asian toddler), one Mexican, and the last woman and the elderly man are Caucasian. My knowledge of sign language is, well, I don’t have any. But despite that fact I’m still amazed by this language, like I am by any other language. I watch them for a while as they sit as a table and converse. After about ten minutes the group gathers their things, signs their goodbyes, and parts ways. Quickly the table they left vacant is filled up by a new group entering the café.

5:25 At the large conference table there seem to be two different groups inhabiting it. One group of four at the far end, and a group of three closer to me. The group of three consists of all girls. Two sit with their back to me while the third sits facing the two. Two of the girls sit and talk away their time at the café while the third studies viciously from a textbook and notes. The two women don’t seem to be talking about anything of serious importance, just gossip of everyday events in their lives. They pass their iphones back and forth showing evidence of whatever they seem to be talking about.

5:30 At the other end of the table the four men sis and talk over coffee and snacks. The four of them seems to be arguing back and forth why a mac is better than windows pc. What is better about the screen and space and what one can do more than the other. Suddenly two of the gentlemen leave and now at the far side of the conference table only two of the men are left, sitting across from each other. After the first two leave the conversation between the two left is dead. They get back to whatever they were working on before. Both these two guys are kinda hipster looking, but then again I can’t really tell forsure as they are a bit far and one has his back turned towards me.

5:36 I finally see what the men at the far end of the conference table were doing. Playing a game of scrabble! I’m sad I missed the details of the game but from the snippet of the conversation I heard before I’m sure it was an intense game. I’m glad I see another activity done here in this café other than studying.

 5:39 MALE: 11

FEMALE: 18

Annoyed...

The morning started out rather overcast, seemed like it was going to be a somewhat enjoyable day. As I exited my vehicle the sun started to peek through what seemed like a giant flat cloud that consumed the entire sky. Shortly after the heat from the sun began to warm me up, I began to feel rather uncomfortable. As I went to the door, put my hand on the handle and pulled, nothing happened. At first I figured that maybe that door was locked so I tried the other, but again, nothing happened. I pulled with great force for a third time and finally the door jerked open. I came to figure that it was the suction from the air conditioner that was sucking the doors shut. I was rather annoyed as I looked pretty ignorant fighting with a door, but anyways, as the hostess was walking me to a booth, a young child about 4 years of age was jumping atop of a chair clinging spoons together. I hoped to god that I would not get seated next to him, but sure enough, I was seated one table down from this misbehaved child. When my waitress approached and greeted me, she asked what I would like to drink, but as I was about to reply the misbehaved child began to scream and cry. Impatiently giving the two women with the child an annoyed look, I waited for a moment of silence so I could reply to my waitress. Finally I replied and my waitress left.            

The child was well dressed and seemed like any other average white mid to high class child, considering that the two women with him were also dressed well, in proper business attire. After a few moments of silence, the child again began to scream and cry for no apparent reason. I figure the child was autistic as he never said a single word but just screamed and cried. As the child just continued to misbehave the two women took the child to the outdoor patio, I am guessing they did so, so his behavior wouldn't annoy the other customers in the restaurant. I was quite astonished at their actions as it seems like any other individual would have simply ignored their child and just let them misbehave being a nuisance to the other paying customers within the restaurant. As I began to think more in depth of crying children and their parents within restaurants, I noticed something. I noticed that it is typically people of low class that ignore and let their children misbehave in public. It is also those same people that typically bring their children into restaurants wearing nothing but a diaper and have their children all dirty covered in grime.

A few tables down to my left, there were two women and two children. The women were about 25-35 years of age and the children ranged from about 2-5 years of age. The two women were obese and dressed poorly in over-sized clothing, I found their appearance rather inappropriate as for one, it was a public place, and secondly, it was a rather somewhat formal restaurant.  They both appeared to be of Hispanic culture and of the lower crust of society and as for their children, a male, looked of African American decent and the other looked white. It looked as if they had been there a while already as they all had empty plates and trash all over the table. The two children were in booster seats and had a huge mess with food and trash all over the table and floor. It looked as if someone had dropped an entire plate of food on the children smeared it all over them and then threw the rest on the floor and kicked it around. The children both had napkins and were ripping them to shreds and they were falling on the floor making an even larger mess, but still, the two women showed no regard towards their kids actions.


It is quite astonishing as to how peoples’ actions differ so greatly just considering ones ethnic background and social status.

Relaxing and Studying

It seems really subdued tonight. The music is clearly heard. The only talk comes from a group of three women who are sitting to my right. Everywhere else, students quietly do their homework. The newbie from last week, the make barista Barry, seems to not want to be here either as he brings the shop’s table umbrellas in from outside.

Even though it is quiet, there are a lot of people. There is at least one person at every table, even the ones outside which I saw as I walked up to the shop from the parking lot. It proves true that teachers like to cram the most work near the end of the semester.

Some talk comes from the main part of the shop. It’s not much though, as everyone is more concentrated on their school work. It’s hard to tell, but it seems that some are just here to relax.

That’s an interesting development. At least one university instructor comes here to get grading done. I understand why though. It is more peaceful here than a place on campus. On campus, one is either in a library, alone in their office, or in the noisy student union. Also, here, one can get coffee with extra expresso to keep them awake.

The group next to me finds  a more comfortable place at a vacant table rather than staying at the small tables near the door.

I wonder what the instructor teaches. Whatever it is, I must be easy enough to allow him to be able to push off grading like he seems to like to do.

And Barry is wearing his apron backwards. I wonder if he knows. Or is he so tired that he hasn’t realized it?

Two high school girls bring some life to this subdued shop. They look like they might be cheerleaders just let out of practice. Well, one might be a cheerleader having a bow in her hair like I’ve seen most cheerleaders wear during a game or practice. The other looks like she does track. Her shorts are a little baggier than those of her companion, the cheerleader.

These girls must have a lot of freedom to be able to be out late like this. That or they’ve just gotten out of an event of some sort which seems more likely at this late hour. I know my parents never let me out this late. They are quiet now as they wait for their drinks.

With Barry gone, doing something or other in the back, Red must man the counter alone. By not many people are in line anyway.

Drinks in hand, the high school girls leave, leaving only a majority of college students in the shop.

Not much is going on tonight. A pair next to me have a conversation over coffee to my right. In the main seating area, students trickle out at the same rate they trickle in. Barry has fixed his apron. It seems to be a never ending cycle, getting coffee and doing homework at the coffee shop. Though, it does look as if there are some students here, just relaxing away from their hectic lives.

Definitely a Monday

It was a Monday, and everyone seemed to be in a grouchy mood.  Mondays of course are hell, but nonetheless, we move on.  It was not very busy today, but there were people who looked quite hung-over coming to grab something to eat.  One guy, he looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties, and had a larger build.  He had quite a bit of muscle packed on him, and was tall, probably about six feet tall.  He was wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of track pants even though it was pretty warm outside.  He got on his phone and he was practically yelling through the phone about how hung-over he was and how “dope” the party he went to was.  I could see that his eyes were bloodshot red, but at least he was able to get out of bed to grab something to eat.  He seemed slightly disoriented, but tried to keep going as best as he could. 

When I got up to grab something to eat, I ran across this other guy.  He was dressed in comfy clothes, a hoodie and a pair of basketball shorts.  He was well over six feet tall, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but he looked like he could be one and a half of me, as I’m five feet tall.  As I stepped off to the side to wait for my food, I was noticing how others were looking at him.  They were looking at him as if he was a unicorn or something, and I assume that was simply because people that tall aren’t very prevalent around here.  After I got my food, I continued to observe him.  I felt bad as there were people staring at him, and he looked very uncomfortable at the table he was sitting at.  He was making faces and hand motions as he talked to his friend.  Eventually, the two got up to leave after they had finished their meals.

I was sitting down eating when a girl beside me starts flipping out at the person on the other line, who I can only assume is her boyfriend.  She keeps half screaming, half whispering many obscenities.  I do not understand what she was upset about until I hear “you are a cheating…”  After I was able to put two and two together, I continued to watch her behavior.  I watched as her friend approached her with a bar of chocolate. The friend seemed unaware of what was happening.  She kept asking “what happened?” and “what’s wrong?” repeatedly.  She wiped her tears away and encouraged her to get up to leave so that she would cease to keep making a scene.  It did not seem like she was too motivated to get up to leave, as she just kept sitting there with her head in her hands, shaking.  I saw her sitting there for a few minutes until she finally got up to leave.  As she got up to leave, a guy passed by her, who was not discreet at all about checking her out as she left.  He seemed very piggish by the way he was looking at the girls who were in line in front of him.  There were two girls who were dressed in tight athletic pants and a tank top, while another girl was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.  She had shoulder length blonde hair, and was fairly tall for a girl.  He was taller than she was, and had dark brown hair.  The girl in jeans was directly in front of him in line.  He wasted no time in finding an excuse to talk to her.  I assume he was flirting with him by the way he was looking at her.  He kept smiling as he talked.  When they had both got their food, he followed her to a table.  She seemed content with the attention she was getting.  He had pulled out his phone which she quickly grabbed from his hands.  When they had both finished, they got up to leave together.

warriors sanctuary

What another lovely day it is outside. The weather is just right eighty degrees with a very light breeze. I step out of the car into the business parking lot. The parking lot is packed with vehicles taking up most of the parking. As I walk towards the entrance of the building I notice an African-American man wearing a Washington Redskin jersey with the initials RGIII on the back. The man is standing next to a group of men in the smoking area of the parking lot. I hear him talking about a football game. I do not remain in the smoking area to listen to the conversation. I walk inside the building and notice instantly a Hispanic gentleman who appears to be worked up. The Hispanic man is nicely dressed. He is wearing khaki slacks with an airborne collared shirt. He is fussing towards the direction of an employee. I notice that he has company with him. An elderly lady is standing to his right side. She looks very unhappy. The man is the one doing all the talking. He is complaining about being here for the last two hours and has not been called to see a physician. He is talking about his mother is very ill and is becoming impatient and how it is not right allowing her to continue to get more sick while they are waiting in the waiting room.

I look away from this commotion and notice the main waiting room floor is intermediately populated. People are sitting in chairs, some people are standing up, I see people eating cough drops, I hear people coughing and sneezing. However, I am not staying in this main waiting room so i continue towards the elevator. 

The elevator opens and immediately I see a young Anglo woman, mid twenties in age, with whom might be her father. What I guess to be her father is a middle aged man wearing a white lab coat. The young lady wearing a long skirt and button up shirt tucked that is tucked in looks sharply dressed. The greet me with a "hello" I resound saying "hi". The young lady and man exit. As the two exit I hear the young lady ask "Is the concussion a contributing factor to early aged dementia, is this the diagnosis: dementia?". I feel bad for anyone dealing with dementia because I am having to deal with a loved one who is diagnosed with this. My grandfather has dementia and it is one of the hardest events I have had to deal with in my entire life. Moving forward, the exit the elevator and I hit the button to go to the next floor.

Today, like last week, I make my way to the TBI Clinic. However, today I am early enough to join the group therapy they provide patients. I enter the TBI Clinic and I see my friend sitting in the waiting area. He and I say hello and he asks me if I am ready to which I say yes. He stands up next to me we walk towards the lady at the window and she makes a motion with her hand guiding us to go ahead and walk through the door. We walk through the door and I follow my firmed to another elevator. We walk in the elevator he hits the button and we go on a quick elevator ride to another floor. When we get off the elevator I follow my friend to a door and next to the door on a normal piece of paper someone had written "testing moved to the 3rd floor". We make our way to the 3rd floor.

The hallway is empty and there are three or four doors. I am still following my friend and we quickly make our way inside a room. 

The room was filed with chairs and about ten or twelve people. A lady is asking for everyone to be seated so group can start. She walks up to people as they are sitting down, in a uniformed manner, and asks for ID and to sign a piece of paper that she is handing to each person. She seems to be effective, but not very personable. She almost seems like a robot. She completes her task and leaves the room. At the same time she leaves a man walks in wearing scrubs. He says that group is going to begin. 

In conclusion group seemed to be effective for the people who attend. Everyone had no issues voicing their opinions on life situations and how they are dealing with post traumatic stress and such. Most of the people who attended this group were men, there was only two woman. I sat quietly listening to the struggles and triumphs they have experienced, most of which were recent events that had taken place. I do not want to mention anything specific that any of the people said. I do want to mention that I enjoyed being there and was able to get an insight on peoples lives. These were all middle age individuals only two seemed to be older than 40 - 45. The man in scrubs did ask many times if anyone had any questions. At one point I did ask, in general, did the people there feel that group helps them with everyday tasks and I asked if they attend regularly. They all agreed that the group helps more than one would think and yes they all do try to attend regularly. I was very pleased to have been allowed the opportunity to listen. I also want to point out that everyone was very nice. They all were happy people too. They made me feel comfortable and they appeared themselves very relaxed and happy to be there and to be alive. 

gym time

It was last thursday when my friends had decided to take me with them to the gym. They asked me if i wanted to go and i said yea ill go i need to get more fit. We ended up going around 8pm i haven't gone to the gym in a while so i knew i was in for a workout. as soon as we get in you hear a lot of noise weights being dropped people breathing hard from their sets and the music being played. we did chest and back that day and rite as we started my arms where dead after the first 3 sets of bench pressing. we had just started and my arms where already dead but i had to push threw the whole 2 hours we where there for. my friends where doing these workouts like nothing but they have been coming way longer then i have but i was still pushing threw to get it done with because i didn't want to not do the same thing they were doing.

after we did everything we had to for chest my arms where tight and dead but we still had back to do but i didn't know how in the world i was going to do it if i bearly managed to do chest. after every set for back we had to do ten pushups and i couldn't even do 5 because of how tired i was from the previous workouts. we were finally done and went home i knew i was going to be sore the next day because i haven't lifted weights in a while. so i did end up waking up really sore but we had to come to the gym again today. today we were going to do arms but i was still sore so i knew i wasn't going to perform at my best.

we get to the gym a little earlier on friday around 2 because the closed the gym at 6. so we got there and did what we had to do to get everything done quicker so we could leave faster. even though i was still sore from my body since yesterday it wasn't as bad as yesterday i kept up with and felt better. so we finished fast and got out of there by 4 so i went home to get some rest. i didn't think my soreness was going to be bad but it got worst but i know it would get better in a couple days. but from here on i have felt better and see if i see results anytime soon.

Weather Confused

The sun is out once again, scaring the clouds away. The change of the season is starting to become more noticeable. In the mornings, the air is abit chiller. The mornings are beginning to be colder than the afternoons. It takes little time for the air to warm though.

            The sound of traffic creeps it’s way into the plaza. The bustling of construction work overshadows the faint traffic sounds. With the dust the construction is blowing up, it should be getting more attention or at least a complaint but no one seems interested. The people are out walking across the plaza, from this building to another. Their sluggish pace reminds me of zombies. They seem distant, tired and slow. The day started too early for them.

            Outside the restaurant, Waldo sits on the outdoor table. He sports a red and white striped shirt and pants. It appears he is a student at the university for he has his backpack next to him and is reading. It would be a strange situation if Waldo wasn’t a college student and just liked sitting in that spot. This suggestion is obviously not true. I have never seen him in that spot during my observations. If I did, I would’ve taken notice.

            The Red Hat sits comfortably on the stairs. She types frantically as if she was in a movie and time was running out to stop the computer virus from infecting the world. The Red Hat is strangely not listening to music. In most cases, students who are sitting alone are listening to music also. She has her coffee next to her, overlooking her sentences. The Red Hat sits there for ten minutes. Throughout the time, she never touched her coffee and typed the time away. After the ten minutes is up, she packs up her laptop and leaves her spot.

            Miss Brunette sits alone at an outside table near the restaurant. Not a surprise that she is on her phone. Most students I have observed spend an incredible amount of time glued to their phones. After a few minutes, Miss Brunette is joined by Glass Man, a student wearing glasses. He has food and starts to chat with Miss Brunette.

             A trio of girls sit at the loner bench. I cannot distinguish if they are friends or strangers. They are not facing each other, no physical contact has been made since I arrived and do not seem to be talking. All the girls are more focused on their phones and do not look up even for a second. One of the girls is wearing a dress and scarf. The other two are sporting pants and Y-shirts. They all have light jackets on. Dress Lady begins talking to the other two but still no eye contact has been made.

Dress Lady is approached by Beige Guy, a male student wearing a beige shirt. They talk for a few minutes. It does not appear that they know each other by the stiffness of the Beige Guy and the departure of the Beige Guy. Beige Guy hands Dress Lady a paper and walks away. Beige guy is wearing a dress shirt and tie. He is possibly from the College of Business. 

Talking About Me?

Chirping of birds can be heard everywhere. The birds are a constant presence on campus. They can be seen everywhere-in the sky, on the ground, in trees. With numerous birds everywhere, I wonder why none of my observations contain someone being pooped on by a bird. In the past field notes, the sound of traffic has always been very noticeable. On this particular day, I can’t hear the traffic. This is quite strange because it is noon time. Most people are usually getting something to eat for lunch. On the other hand, it is a Friday. Maybe people had the day off today. The dominate traffic noise is replaced by the sound of heavy machinery.

The sun is out and happy as ever. No clouds present in the sky. With the warm weather, one could still think its summer.  Most people on campus do believe it is still summer as they wear their shorts and sandals. This is understandable. Yet a few individuals are starting to wear fall boots and fall color clothing. The clock tower chimes off in the distance. There are a handful of people present in the plaza today.    

The lovely spot under the shade of the tree also known as loner bench is occupied. The occupant, Miss Time, has short, shoulder length hair. The length of the hair is unusual. Most girls have long hair that covers half their backs. This particular style is quite easy to maintain and saves time. I can assume she is normally on time based off her hairstyle. She is wearing a pink shirt and black pants. Miss Time watches her phone and holds at it, waiting for a call. She looks worried with a hint of annoyance. Next to her lies her backpack which based off the shape probably only contains a notebook and pencil.

In the corner of the plaza, three people sit at a table. The shade of the trees overhead shields them from the heat, which is a huge plus for reasons further reveled. The Dark Side Group consists of two young women and a gentleman. Based on their body language, they all seem to be good friends who have none each other for at least two months. All appear to be wearing black hence the reason why they are in the shade. One of the girls has a bob cut. A cut that is shorter than Miss Time’s. We can assume the same thing about her as Miss Time. The other girl’s hair is put into a lazy ponytail. A ponytail that is not tight and loose, giving off the impression that she is lazy or tired.  

As people walk through the plaza, their clothes spell sluggish. The greater majority of people had t-shirts and sweats. Only one person was dressed to impress. The rest had on very casual clothing. In most situations, a simple white t-shirt complimented jean shorts.  

Slow Country

As my friend and I enter the cafe, we notice the lack of patrons. Country music is droning on in the background, almost a slow and boring ambience. And the few patrons that are there, seem to make the ambience all the more bland.

The servers behind the counter are cleaning up a bit, stocking up their plastic cups and wiping off counters, mumbling at each other here and there.

A girl in a white lace cardigan, about the age of 19 is waiting by the counter. Soon one of the servers calls out her order, she swiftly grabs her drink, and makes her way to a nearby table, she sits down and begins sipping on her drink and scrolling through her phone.

A man about of about 30 years old, is wearing a grey shirt. He has a full thick beard and is typing on his laptop. I'm assuming a paper for a class or an email?

I look at the workers behind the counter again, they begin talking aloud to one another, not sure about what, but they seem to be in good humor. They laugh and nod and carry on with their work as they talk and socialize a bit with one another.

An older man with a blue shirt walks in with his sunglasses still on his face, he is talking into a bluetooth. He stands in line and waits for his turn. Soon enough it is his turn to order. He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out his wallet. I can't help but notice that he still has his sunglasses on his face.

A gentleman with an evergreen polo shirt and grey cargo shorts is sitting solemnly in the corner, he looks to be of African descent. He is about the age of 40 or so. He is talking on the phone with his arms crossed over the table. He seems to be having a deep conversation as his brow is furrowed in thought and concentration. Soon he hangs up and walks out of the cafe in a state of urgency. I wonder if it had to do with the phone call.

I see two young girls about the age of 20 or so in work out attire. Both look to be caucasian, a bit heavy set. They sit down and talk boisterously about whatever topic they were discussing. They sip on their juices and gatorades and scroll through their phones momentarily before they continue their discussions.

Three young girls of Hispanic heritage walk in. I overhear their mumbles and they were speaking spanish. They looked to be the ages of 18-20 young and very beautiful. They are all wearing sweaters and hoodies and jeans. They congregate around the drink cooler and choose some juices and waters then proceed to stand in line behind two other patrons.

My friend and I soon finish our Jimmy John sandwiches. (Which by the way, they make freaky fast) and we head out to a new adventure.

Make it a double

I'm still in the same spot, scanning the Chinese food place here at stink valley mall.  The same cunning Asian man is working, and I could have swore he keeps saying "make it a double?" even when people are asking for single rice bowl orders. I have to hand it to the man, he sure is crafty. I also noted the same perplexed looks on peoples faces as they tried their very best to handle the situation with grace. Some people, however, weren't so graceful. One man in particular became almost irate with the language barrier, and for a moment I had to hold my breath because he looked as if he was about ready to explode. He sat and argued feverishly with the asian man, who to my surprise, didn't even hardly bat an eye. He simply replied calmly back and eventually the order was corrected. In all seriousness this is one of the most honest exchanges I had seen. As mentioned in last weeks post, there was hardly anyone that bothered to try to break the language barrier. This week, however, I noticed that there were a few more people than last that were animate about getting their point across. I don't mean tot make racial assumptions, but I can honestly say that the majority of the handful of people that bothered to correct the orders were hispanic. Now, I have also taken into consideration the fact that we are, in fact, less than a stones throw away from Mexico. Hispanic is deafeningly the most dominant race here in the city, with anglo, asian, and african american being a minority. Because of this I am forced to question the dignity of my observation as it seems that it would only make sense that the majority of people that corrected short stop were hispanic as this is a culture and area heavily influenced by Hispanic tradition and ancestry.
It was very interesting to get to see exactly how these people confronted language barriers a second time around. I didn't notice as much the first time, but the second time around I found that there were many different reactions. One of the most common in breaking the language barrier seemed to have been great gesticulation with the hands. When short stop started trying to go crazy with the food, most people that were brazen enough to correct it did so by pointing to what they wanted on the menu as well as pointing to the EXACT food items that they wanted. Another reaction I seemed to notice more so this time was that when people caught on to the language barrier between them and short stop, they're approach in speaking changed greatly. For instance, they would talk much louder and much more slowly while taking the time to greatly define their words. It was almost as if watching a grown adult speak in a frustrated manner to a small child who just wasn't getting the idea. Short stop kept a cool exterior, but I couldn't help but to think about what was really going on in his head. It was obvious not only to me that he was certainly from a different country entirely. I couldn't tell you if he was Chinese, Korean, Japanese... I don't know. But I DO know that asian cultures tend to be much more soft spoken and less aggressive than western culture. Because of this I felt a little bad for short stop. He WAS trying to pawn a surplus of food off on people, but at the same time he must have been entirely out of his element. Something told me that where he was form it wasn't normal custom to be shouted at and treated like a small child. No matter what though, short stop always remained polite and with a smile.

Surprised Dinner

I am in restaurant that I have been in previously in the notes. This time I sit near the back; ive found that the back of restaurants is the best vantage point. As I am not bombarded with sensory pollution from the front. The sound in this establishment’s kitchen is not overwhelming. The staff tonight seem docile, as there are not that many customers. The host that seats me is also the store manager. He addresses me with a smile but does not engage in any friendly conversation. He is a middle aged Hispanic man, maybe forty two.

The table beside me hosts a couple. The man has a large beard and a plaid shirt on. He is wearing a hat and has tattoos peeking out of his collar. The woman is much younger looking than he is. She could be in her early twenties. She has long blonde hair and a matching enthusiasm for tattoo placement. Her ears are full of piercings along with her nose. They are sitting and chatting about their days. Most people would judge them as rude or scary, unapproachable people, but from listening to their conversation I have found different. They are not unlike any other couple I have come across. They are laughing and teasing but overall they are friendly and polite. The waiter for our section comes up to them with a check. Couple 1 are friendly and leave the guy a very generous tip on what looked like a small meal.

I am now alone in my section. I take this as an opportunity to analyze the staff. The woman working the register is young. It seems like it is always a young woman in charge of the register. That may be a trend in restaurants.

The bussers are both very young men. They might be in high school. They are both wearing headphones and cleaning tables. They don’t seem to be paying much attention to their surroundings as they drop a few things each in the time that I am sitting there.

The manager that greeted me is handling a customer’s dessert across the store. It looks like he is giving it to them complimentary due to some kind of dispute with their dinning experience. Manager looks like a tired man. Someone who works a lot and takes plenty of flak from customers. He is balding and seemingly overweight. This is also a trend between restaurants. The managers seem to be older Hispanic men with a very tired appearance.