Trouble in Paradise? - Couples in the Modern Jungle

Week 7 Observations

I came on a Wednesday afternoon (about 12:30 PM) this week and came in through the feeding hole entrance. Once inside, I decided to grab a corn dog meal from Vierniershniezel and sit in between two tables where two older couples are sitting and eating a meal from the same place. I immediately recognize the older couple in their late 70s sitting at the table to my right from my observations during week 2 of field work. They seem much livelier than they did a few weeks ago when I saw them sitting completely silent and seemingly exhausted. The man reaches across the top of the table and gently grabs his wife’s left hand and holds it in the center of the table which illustrates their relationship as husband and wife.  I hear the man mumble something under his breath and look at the wife with a sneaky grin and they both laugh and continue to eat their corn dogs. Judging by their reappearance to the Jungle, their habits reflect how eating together influences one’s culture or relationship with one another; it strengthens the ties between two people.

Now that I finished my meal, I begin to walk towards the Honey Bee Bookstore and I hear a man’s angry voice travel through the air. When I turned towards the noise, I saw an older couple (probably in their mid-40s) standing at the cosmetics booth and arguing in front of the same man I encountered a few weeks ago when he tried to sell his product to me. I decided to walk towards their direction instead of the bookstore to figure out what was causing such rash and upsetting emotions. The salesman was obviously trying to sell his cosmetic product to the woman but the man (possibly her husband, maybe her boyfriend- I did not see a ring, but by the way the man is trying to control her actions, I assume they’re in a relationship) was upset and I could tell by the way he is talking to her, he does not want her to buy the product.

I can tell the salesman is anxious or nervous because of the look on his face as he watches the couple argue and I cannot help but think I would have the same reaction. In the end, the wife dismisses herself from the cosmetics booth and walks off, leaving the man standing by himself. From my point of view, it seems like an extremely awkward situation for the salesman because he was only trying to do his job, but somehow he set of a spark that ignited that argument. Once the man walks off, the salesman wipes his hand across his forehead as if to relieve himself of such a stressful situation and then continues on with his job, trying to lure in customers.

I am in a sort of shock from what I just witnessed because it was so public which would have made me severely embarrassed if I was in that couple’s situation. Moving on, I turn back around in the hallway and walk back towards the feeding hole. It has already been an hour since I first arrived and the feeding hole is still pretty crowded and full of people. However, now there are more teenagers and young adults compared to the amount of older people. This week has made me more aware of the apparent relationships between people, specifically couples and how they treat one another.