eXtra Normal

A girl and a guy sit across from each other. They both have laptops sitting in front of them. They do not talk to each other instead concentrating on the laptops. The girls seems more concentrated on her work than the guy. The guy types on his computer than looks around the room.

A girl, Videl, and a guy, Jeff, walk past my table heading to the table behind me. They both hold cups with something warm in it. They hold on tightly to the cups as if they are trying to take the warmth from the cups. They stand in front of their table for a while. They table has many books and a laptop on the table. The both move the bags that had been previously set on the chair and move them on to the floor. They sit and start talking they both take sips of their beverage.

A girl, Miranda, sits by herself she is occupied on her phone. Miranda sits alone for a while until another girl, Claudia, joins her. Claudia seems to be in a hurry she opens her backpack and looks for something then closes it again. Claudia looks around the room for a while than looks down at her phone for a while. After a while she doesn't look as hurried as before. Claudia and Miranda talk for a while. Claudia stands in front of the table and a while later Miranda makes a motion toward the empty seat next to her. They conversation resumes and while talking both of the girls look around the room. Miranda puts her legs on the chair with her and plays with her hair twisting it around her finger as Claudia talks. At some point they both get on their phones. While on their phones Miranda continues to twist her hair around her finger. Claudia puts down her phone and then continues the conversation with Miranda. Claudia plays with the purse sitting in front of her. When Claudia is talking Miranda chews on the strings of her hoodie. Shortly after two girls join, Sandra and Whitney. Sandra and Whitney greet Miranda and Claudia but then both start talking mostly to Claudia. After a while Whitney begins speaking to Miranda. Sandra sees a cup sitting on the table and asks whose it is. Claudia answers that it had previously been Miranda’s but that Sandra could have it because Miranda no longer wanted the drink. Sandra prepares the drink given to her then takes sips from it. Sandra and Whitney finally pull up chairs and sit down. They all begin speaking to one another in Spanish while talking all four leave forward in their chairs. The four girls seems invested in their conversation. Another girl comes up to their table greets everyone at the table then just as quickly as she arrives she leaves.

A man, Bart, sits at a table alone he’s on his phone. While on his phone he eats sweet bread. Bart seems to have the sweetness of the bread on all of his fingers. He only scrolls with his pinky finger. He licks the fingers that have the sweetness of the bread on them. Bart finally finishes up the bread. Once he finishes eating the bread he cleans up the crumbs left behind by the bread. He goes over to trash can and throws his trash away, He goes back to his table and stands by it for a while. Bart looks around the room and then moves to gather his belongings. He stuffs the notebooks that were on the table into his backpack. Bart then walks out of the room.      

Last Day's Thoughts...

It is my last day here at Alderman Ave. Bokhandle, so I suppose today should mostly be a day of reflection. First off, I would like to start off by discussing my location as a whole: cosy, fairly quiet, user-friendly, conveniently located and all-around inviting. It has a certain leisurely charm to it, as demonstrated by the relaxed natures of the clientele, and is large enough to accommodate and small enough to envelope. It caters to people of all races, nationalities, and ethnic groups, and has managed to invite in more than enough persons to keep the lights on and the doors open. It is located in the area that without a doubt needs it the most, and it stocks its shelves accordingly. It manages to attractive the kind of people that will eventually serve as clients, as well as those who simply are looking for a place to sit down, study, and relax (and oftentimes people who just come in to take a load off eventually end up making purchases). Bean and Brew Coffee Shoppe is strategically located downstairs near the front entrance, as to invite people in immediately if only for that (many of whom, again, eventually end up staying and buying something). All of these aspects and more contribute to the overall success of Alderman.
    Second off, I would like to discuss my overall experience at Alderman Ave. Bokhandle. I have been a pretty satisfied visitor, all in all. The personnel are quite friendly (despite almost never being present at the Customer Service counter) and ranging from all ages and ethnic backgrounds, are just as diverse as the customers. I also noticed that they each manage to make people of different races and nationalities all feel comfortable enough to freely call on them (which is to say, the Hispanic customers don’t only go to the Hispanic employees, and the Black customers don’t only go to the Black employees, which is arguably a fairly common occurrence at many other establishments). The diverse range of customers has also given me a chance to see sociocultural customs/norms up close (e.g. the fact that teenagers tend to be the loudest in a store, but many, when speaking in Spanish, tend to lower their voices a tad, or the fact that African Americans were the least likely group of people to come and stay for a while at the store, or the fact that Asians [Chinese, Indians, Koreans, etc.] were the quietest group I observed, even among the teenagers) and has sparked my interest as to why those norms exist, amongst new immigrants as well as the descendants of immigrants. My time at the store has also given me a new spin on the little habits of people. They seemed so insignificant before, but now I tend to notice them more and often find myself trying to rationalize them. I am starting to see the world as not one big whole full of little parts, but as little parts working side-by-side and meshing together to form a whole.
    Overall, I must admit, there were slower days at my location during which I had to scour through the junk of human nature to see the treasure of the human psyche, but many a day was filled with interesting and thought provoking tidbits about people that that have expanded my worldview scope. I mean, even today, where I once would have only seen a middle-aged woman and her companion and about four to six teenagers, I now see about 5-6 people with Bean and Brew (no doubt an integral part of their daily habituation) and a few people without it in comparison who are contented with only their water bottles or nothing at all.

Traveling Companions

My field site was a little different this time but was probably one of my favorites to encounter with and see all the people this place had to offer. My field site was a very popular place to be for everyone to go and relax and have some food before they had to sit on a plane for over an hour. I actually had no choice but to encounter with people around me instead of just observing them because of the fact that I was alone, they sat me at the bar of my field site. Immediately I was asked what I wanted to drink and was given a weird look by the bartender when I said Dr. Pepper. The bartender seemed like he had been having a busy day but still kept a smile on his face while doing his job because what is better than seeing people slowly get drunk at your bar? He started to make jokes at the fact that I was the only underage person sitting at this bar and other people sipping on their drinks started to join in on the laughter. There was a guy that sat down across from me who started to join in on the conversation thinking he was the youngest out of everybody only to come to realize that he was 7 years older than me. He did not look that much older and he actually looked like the famous country singer, Thomas Rhett, but he was very surprised that he was not the youngest one there.
What caused for the end of my field site day to be very interesting was this 29 year old guy that sat right next to me. As soon as he sat down I could tell he has already been here before because the girl close to me was asking why he was back and the bartender said what he wanted this time. I was a little confused and curious so I listened in on their conversation which caused this guy to notice and then he started his whole story over again to me. He ended up missing his flight back to Charlotte, which is where I was going, because the aircraft ended up over booking the flight so they referred him to a later flight. Well when he was talking to me I thought him and I ended up on the same flight and that the plane was boarding at 2:40pm. If it wasn't for that 29 year old, fishing loving, veteran to ask me where I was sitting I wouldn't have looked at my ticket and I would have missed my flight. My plane started boarding at 2:10pm and I didn't get to my gate until 2:30pm, 10 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off. Traveling is always one of my favorite things because that is where I get to meet some of the best people the world has to offer.

The Calm Before The Storm

Date: Saturday November 21, 2015
Location: Mall - El Paso, TX
Time: 2:50 pm - 3:50 pm

It is a warm, yet at the same time cool, November day. There are a lot of cars in the mall's parking lot, so there should a lot of people to observe inside. I get to the mall late today, and my usual place of observing is taken. I go to a place that is farther away from my usual observation point, so some areas I usually observe are obscured from view. I decide to observe from the balcony.

Something I have noticed during the past weeks is that little kids love trying to climb up the glass balconies. They do not even seem to be afraid of falling through or falling over the balcony. A little boy next to me tries climbing up the balcony, but his mother yells at him to get off. The boy does and sits next to his mother.

The cinnamon roll place has a whole bunch of customers waiting in line. The pretzel place has like a couple of customers. The ice cream place gets a few customers. The cinnamon roll place has the most customers as usual.

A lot of families are sitting at the benches today. There are four families sitting at the benches in the rest area, each one with a baby stroller. Three of the families are young (young mother and father), though one young family has the grandparents there. The other family seemed to be the child and his grandparents. The grandparents are having fun pushing the child in the stroller around the area. The young families are just sitting there, adults talking to each other.

The kids play area on the lower level of the mall is filled with kids. I can see the parents/grandparents sitting on the provided chairs as chaos swirls around them. The adults are cool, calm, and collected while the kids run on, climb on, and slide down the obstacles. The kids seem to be having fun.

The ethnic groups this week are: Latinos (majority), Caucasian, black/African-American, and Asian. There is some mixing of ethnic groups this week.

A majority of the people are wearing coats or jackets. Those that aren't are wearing long-sleeved shirts of some kind. I have seen a few males wearing short-sleeved shirts, though.

The amount of people walking through the area is consistently large. There has been some clogging of the passageways between the rest area and the restaurant area. Everyone is being polite and cordial. No one is in a rush, and no one is being rude. Everyone is keeping to themselves.

Security guards roll through the area frequently on their segways. Is there trouble here today? I have not noticed anything strange or suspect, but that is perhaps because the security guards are doing their jobs. No one seems bothered by the security guards' presence.

Verbal/ Non Verbal

Today at my field sight it is an average day. The customers are going through their normal routine and when it comes to the outside environment it is actually a little cold now that the seasons are changing to winter. I don’t believe that climate change has an effect of the population within the organization that I am absorbing but I do think that the time at which I came to observe with alter that factor. I decided to come to my field sight in the evening so I’m expecting slow customer activity. As far as the population that is within my field sight there are a few families but they do seem rushed or busy to go somewhere. As I glance over to the lounge section of my field sight there are a few individuals that are relaxing on the couches that are provided. What I notice is that one individual is sitting on one end of the couch while the other is sitting on the opposite end of the couch instead of sitting right next to each other. That goes to display how people feel more comfortable when they have their own level of personal space when being in contact with an individual they don’t know. As for as actions one of the individuals, which is female, is on her laptop as in she’s doing some type of work or browsing. Her body expression seems a little more conserved as she has her legs crossed and elbows tucked in while she is typing. On the other end of the couch there is a male but instead of being on a laptop he is listening to music and interacting with his phone. His body posture doesn’t seem as conserved but he does seem like he’s not completely comfortable in his situation. I can tell because although he has his legs extended to some point and is sitting more casual on the couch, he is also tucking his elbows is as if he is trying to cover what he s viewing on his telephone. Although this is a simple and common situation that happens on a daily basis I find it unique how people would rather be antisocial instead of opening up to those around them even if the two individuals are not familiar with each other. This is a prime example of how generations have changed as technology is revolutionizing society in a drastic fashion.

Accept our Appreciation With Complimentary Bagels and Mediocre Coffee

The Building smells of coffee. Freshly burned coffee. There are several kettles lined up on a long plastic table. It's Employee Appreciation Day today. There are a few women setting up the table still. They spread out bagels with tubs of cream cheese and a stack of napkins are placed at the beginning of the table. I watch as the three women who set up the table and who are wearing cafeteria uniforms, each grab a cup of coffee and a bagel. They sit down together and eat. 

It's 9:00am now and I see people slowly starting to filter through the line of food and (burned) coffee. I recognize the first wave of people who go through the line as administration. They all wear slacks and button-up shirts or polos. They greet each other with half smiles and handshakes. After they go through the line they sit down and mingle with one another.

While the administration employees were getting their food I noticed the janitorial staff greeting each other near the janitorial closet. They give warm smiles and hugs to one another. They pile behind the administration and grab some (still burned) coffee and bagels. 

I watch as the administration and the janitorial staff greet each other once everyone  has gotten their food and drinks. They all stand in the main area talking to one another for a few minutes before everyone separates and sits down with their friends. In this case, the administration sits with the administration while the janitors sit with the janitors. 

While all of this is going on, there are young students walking in and out of the administration and janitorial staff. They need to cut through in order to get to down stairs where there are open tables and an Einstein's Coffee shop. There is no communication between these students and the employees in any situation aside from a few "excuse me" and "pardon me"'s. 

Now, after everyone has gone through the line for food, the Building's head honcho makes her way to the center of the room. Ms. Watkins. She is an older Hispanic woman. Maybe in her fifties. She has freshly dyed brown hair and some dark lipstick on. "Good morning, team," she says, "I just want to say thank you for all of your hard work. I know how much you each do to make this center as successful as possible. Please accept our appreciation with these bagels and coffee. Keep up the great work." There's a considerably long and awkward pause while people debate whether they should clap or not. They decide to applaud, but it was so weak it was probably best that they kept silent. 

Everyone goes back to chit-chattin' with their friends. 

Students still stumble in and out of the crowd of employees. Both students and employees remain indifferent to one another. 

Looking at the crowd before me, I notice that it is easily identified as two groups. The janitorial staff sit together on the right wearing their matching maroon uniforms. The administration sits on the left in their array of Aggie colors. 

When the breakfast starts winding down to an end, however, I notice that the groups start to mingle again before they separate. They say their good-byes as they finish their cups of coffee. Eventually, by 10 o'clock, the breakfast has finished and everyone parts ways to go back to work. 

Run till you puke

Hardly anyone is here today. There is a guy running his dog around the park but other than that nobody is here. The dog looks like a pit bull. He is a nice looking dog from here. The wind is starting to pick up. It has been blowing all day. The man and his dog are running fast and at a distance. The soccer team is beginning to show up. The coach and his son are the first one here. The boy is kicking the ball in the air and chasing it. The coach is setting up cones preparing for practice. Slowly more kids start to show up. Many of them start playing with the coach’s son but one goes and talks to the coach by himself. After a while the coach looks upset with what the boy was telling him. The coach made the boy start running while the rest of the team starts practicing. I am guessing the boy got in trouble or did something wrong. The coach is making him pay the price now. The team starts a dribbling drill. The objective is to dribble through the cones as fast as you can. The kids are having a hard time controlling the ball with this wind right now. The kid running doesn’t look like he’s enjoying running in this wind either. He is already struggling to breathe as it seems. They do the dribbling drill for a while then they start a shooting drill. They put a new goalie in for the shooting drill today. This goalie isn’t as good as the original but he isn’t that bad. He is blocking some good shots. The coach signals for the boy running to continue running and not to slow down. That is brutal. He is gasping for air now. The wind isn’t helping him at all. It is starting to get cold now so he is really going to have trouble breathing in a minute. The coach calls for everyone to take a water break. Except the boy running. The team then starts doing one on one drills. These drills are interesting because you get to go against someone one on one and see who is better. The defenders are really shining on this drill. Not one person has gotten past a defender and scored yet. The coach looks mighty frustrated with his offense right now. That can’t be good. The boy running is bending over by a tree at the moment. I think he is throwing up. That’s not fun. The coach all of a sudden makes everyone start running. Probably for lack of offense in that last drill. The coach seems to be a real hard coach. The sun is starting to go down. After about 10 minutes running in the wind and cold the coach calls everyone in. The kid that he made start running at the beginning of practice ran the entire practice without stopping except to throw up. I wonder what he told the coach.

All In Favor Of Skipping Winter This Year

A sharp wave of blistering cold whips the ground picking up millions of specs of brown earth and sharp pebbles, then, whipping them upward in one great motion, snaps the debris forward, sideways, against exposed legs, into eyes,  book bags, and open door ways. This was the scene I was met by upon journeying to my observation location. Much dust, cold, and unpleasantness. To my relief the inside of the lounge area is warm and inviting, serving in sheer contrast to the hellish conditions outside. I note that there were a handful of people outside the library walking. In fact I image those inside are more refugees than individuals looking for a place to work. Right off I see Jack and Jill, whom had been sitting at a table closest to the library entrance. As I watch they begin to gather their belongings and stand. Jack stands close to the entrance to the library while Jill enters the library. A few minutes pass and Jill returns to the scene and the two exit out through the lounge together. Almost directly in front of me, (but one chair to the right) sits a man of the same ethnicity as cover. He wears a black hat, and has a red roller desk pulled to him to hold a white apple laptop and water bottle. The man (Let’s call him Green) sits up straight in his plush chair, feet planted firmly on the carpet below, a blue backpack held in-between his legs. Green takes a swig of the water in the few minutes I have been watching him. I note that he, unlike most I have seen in the lounge on previous observations, is not touching his laptop, he merely watches the screen, headphones bridging him to the material online. When Green is not watching the screen of his laptop, I note that he looks at me oddly, perhaps catching onto my observation. To the right of me sits Cap, shoulders buried deep into her plush chair, legs crossed, and the higher up right leg supporting her famous black laptop. She whispers softly into the screen of her device as she rubs her neck and head with one hand. I am close enough to her to see that she is video chatting a young man. Two tables in front of me sits a man in a blue shirt, he sits alone, phone in hand, headphones attaching him to the device, and demanding his attention. (Let’s call this man Plug,) Beside the man’s chair is a black backpack, and another backpack is set on the pulled out seat to his right. A single fast food soda drink resides on the table. The time is now 3:14, a new woman enters the lounge scene, she takes a seat two display cases and four seats to my right. After placing her belongings by the chair she stands again and pulls a red roller desk in front of her so that it may hold her laptop and drink. Upon sitting again, the woman (let’s call her Erika) pulls out a cellphone and begins to fidget on it. At that moment, a woman in a red hoodie comes in through the library and assumes her place in the pulled out desk by Plug. (Let’s call this newcomer Heel.) As soon as she takes a seat, she touches plugs wrist, gets out her phone, and shows him something on it. The two talk in hushed excited voices above the tiny screen. A few minutes later Green packs up his belongings and leaves the scene, as he exits out an assaulting blast of cool air temporarily freezing the library scene, I shiver bitterly in my seat, as I am the closest one to the exit. After, a young man in blue jeans enters from the library, reading one of two jumbled packets as he makes his way toward the lounge exit. A soon stops at the exit and flips through a few pages, reading for about a minute, then exits. A young couple exits through the lounge. Back at Plug and Heel’s desk, Plug seems to now be showing heel a video on his own device, both are smiling. A young blonde girl now enters the lounge, she approaches Heel, making the girl turn her attention away from Plug. The two girls seem to greet each other, the blonde girl takes a seat, and the two talk. The blonde girl soon greets plug and he excitedly shows the two girls a video. Back at Caps video chatting area of the room, I observe that she still talks quietly to the screen of her laptop, despite the screen now changed to a word document. Her posture has not shifted greatly. Surveying the lounge, I also notice that many leaves have found their way into the lounge floor. Likely all of them hitched a ride on the bursts of air sent through the lounge by the open door. A handful of leaves has even reached has far as the center of the room. The new blonde girl by Plug and Heel now stands, the other two follow in her lead and exit the lounge. After, a middle aged looking woman enter the lounge from the library, and takes her time looking at a rotating display case full of articles, she eventually heads back into the library. Meanwhile, in Erica’s side of the room she types intently, her phone no longer compromising her attention. A young woman dressed warmly, reading a cellphone enters the library. Following are two men in a dark pink/purple, who exit through the lounge, the younger of the two holding a latter, and the older holding a tool bag. Next, two young women, followed by two middle aged women enter into the library. To end this scene with only minutes of observation remaining, I would like to fill the audience in on what scene I shall be leaving today. Cap is still taking softly, but now instead of doing nothing but this, she instead types and scrolls on her laptop, a word document open. Erica does the same on her laptop. The inside of the library is full of low talking, and a comforting warmth. This in particular depresses me as I look out the glass doors at the raging wind and brown skies. The outside does not look fun. 

samedi

            This week I noticed right away that business was good when I got to my location. First of all I saw in the parking lot that there were several vehicles in the parking lot. Now, inside I see that there are several people inside. While I was in line I noticed that the worker I am used to seeing is here today. I also notice a group of teenage girls sitting in a booth, in the corner. They all seem to be the same age. Also here today is a woman with three children with her. Sitting at a table not too far are two men. They may be related. One of them has long hair and a laptop. The other man has short hair and is eating his burger with an angry look on his face. Also here is a man woman with a young boy. The boy is probably three or four. Also at the location today is a couple sitting together. The girl is laughing at the man for some reason and the man is looking like he is trying to explain something. The man is wearing glasses.

            At the counter right now is a man all alone with a beanie on, it is pretty cold today. The group of girls in the corner now have an older woman sitting with them. I think this may be a team of some sort and the older woman their coach. Some girls are talking about “beating someone” so they must be a sports team. The three kids with their mother are making her laugh now. She is laughing really loudly. The kids look embarrassed now. Now entering is a woman with a little boy, presumably her son.

            The man with the beanie is sitting down now close to the couple without kids. That same couple is actually leaving now. The girl is getting a refill, and is now following the man out. The mother of the three kids is sounding like she is ready to leave, as she is telling her children to hurry up. The two brothers (I’m assuming they are brothers) are getting ready to leave now. The one with the short hair is standing up and saying something to the other, which has a strange look on his face. The angry one leaves and the brother with the laptop stays a bit longer and finally packs up his laptop and throws away his trash before leaving.

            The parents with the young child are getting ready to leave and the mom walks the child outside. The dad is not far behind. As they leave a young woman and a little girl walk through the door. They are quiet while they order and wait for their food. The group of teenage girls is leaving now and all twelve of them make their way out the door. I notice the older woman, who may or may not be the coach go towards the restrooms. Awhile after the coach leaves the woman and the little boy also leave.

            As the hour goes on the woman with the three kids also leaves. As they leave I can hear them saying something about the Thanksgiving holiday. The lone man with the beanie also leaves as does the young woman with the little boy. Later, as I am getting ready to leave I see the worker behind the counter disappear to the back. Hopefully she won’t cause any trouble for the customers.

 

Cold Weather, Hot Coffee, Coughs, and New Friends

It is one blustery day and everyone is packed into the corner café like sardines. It is about six o’clock at night and there is a lot of people seeking shelter from the crazy cold wind. No one is sitting outside because of how cold it is, so everyone and their mothers are inside. There is maybe two or three seats open out of all the seating. Even the bar area is full. There is no one coming in, but there is also no one leaving, so traffic is slow.

There is some upbeat music playing inside and the lights are low because all the light is coming through the windows. There are a lot of people studying at the tables, this could be because there are “pre-break” exams this week. There are no couples this week, thank goodness! But there are a couple of study groups. The sign language group aren’t here today, which is probably a good thing because those poor people would have nowhere to sit! Aside from the two groups of students, the rest of the people are just here to relax and drink coffee. Surprisingly, there are very few people here that are on laptops and on their phones today… WEIRD!

I had to sit at one of the comfy chairs today and the person to my left is reading a newspaper and the person to my right is just sitting there thinking about life, so it seems. The man to my left is right next to the door so every time someone comes in he looks at the door slightly irritated and sinks a little more into his jacket and chair to warm himself up. The people across from me at the other comfy chairs are also not on their phones or computers. One person is listening to music and enjoying her coffee, the other two are just talking to each other.

Since there is no traffic of people, it is pretty quiet inside because the coffee machine isn’t running. You can hear the baristas talking to the people at the bar. I am almost positive that the people sitting at the bar also work here but they are just not on the clock. The baristas are always talking and laughing and having such a good time, they must really enjoy the fact that they have fun at work! One of the workers is putting out all of the Christmas mugs and there is at least three people looking at them. Mugs with designs on them are the best, and I think people tend to buy them, not only because they are ‘limited edition’ or for Christmas presents, but because they allow them to make hot drinks! Everyone inside the café has a hot drink right now with the exception of two crazy people who got frapps.

There is also a lot of sniffling and coughing going on, including myself. This weather has definitely been affecting us poor southern New Mexicans. And when people start feeling bad or get sick, where do they go? Coffee shops. Whether its to get tea, hot coffee, or to get the cozy feeling and vibe of a coffee shop. That’s why I’m here, I want some hot tea! There are two girls sitting at the table in front of me and they are both in hoodies and sweatpants, such as myself, and drinking tea also! We actually just joked about how we were triplets because we were all dressed the same, drinking tea with honey, and working on homework. This is another example of how people are so nice and how people can get bond over the silliest things. Now, I’m sitting at the table with them and doing homework. Pretty sure they just felt bad that I was trying to write on paper on my leg. But hey! New friends!

Well, that about wraps up my night here at the corner café!