Music Distractions

Today is a hot day at might field site even though the weather doesn’t really play a factor on my location since I’ll be inside the building anyways. Although the weather won’t affect me directly I’m anxious to see if the weather has an effect on the amount of customers that are present.  Since last week at my field site it was a bit colder and the amount of customers seem like there were more than usual, there were more “to go” customers than there were customers who sat down to enjoy their purchase.

Even though it is hot outside, inside the building it is cold like how it always is. There are a few customers but for the most part it seems like there are more individuals sitting down conversing or on their computers than there are people waiting to purchase something. I’m now also starting to wonder of coming in the evening to my field site is the cause of activity that is present in the store. When I observe in the mornings it seems like there are more customers trying to purchase an item than there is customers sitting down enjoying their meals. I have been observing at my field site for literally thirty minutes and not one single event has happened other than the occasional shopper passing by. I am now starting to notice that there are quite a bit of individuals that are just browsing by items in the materials department instead of actually purchasing anything. It’s like their just walking around waiting for something to happen or just too simply pass time. As I reflect on my past observations it seems as if the mornings is when the business gets the most customers probably because coffee is their number one selling item. In the evening it’s like this is where all the college students go to do homework or any individual trying to get some quite time out of their day. Even though there is music present, the volume is low which allows people to get in tune to the tasks they have at hand. If I had to guess I would say that at least ninety percent of the population is younger or middle aged individuals. There is a mix between genders and races to where not just one type is obvious. Actually as I look around I see nothing but Hispanic or Caucasian type of individuals and literally not one African American. The lack of diversity I think is due to the area we live in the U.S. Mostly everyone that is present at my field site has headphones in besides two individuals that I can see. The two individuals who don’t have headphones on seem like they are more in tune to what they are doing on the computers that the other individuals. This brings the question of I wonder if listening to music while at work increases or decreases productivity. Although it might be soothing I can see music as being a distraction simply because when I listen to music I listen for entertainment not to focus or zone me out. In other words this is how I can relate to those individuals if that was the case. The individuals who are sitting down seem to be more relaxed and set on “auto pilot”. It is like they are just coasting through their tasks with no real worries of progress or lack of time efficiency.

As a result is was a very slow evening at my field site. I’m guessing this is due to the fact that I came to observe in the evening instead of the morning when this organization is obviously more popular in the mornings through my observations. There wasn’t much activity besides the occasional shopper so I found an interest in why certain individuals have headphones in while others don’t. By focusing on this task I have found that from this week of field notes that individuals who are listening to music while performing some tasks seem to be more relaxed and not worried about what task they have at hand. On the other side individuals who weren’t wearing headphones seem to be more in tune to their assignment.