Post 2: Observations

Descriptions
To observe people, Gabby and I went to Chipotle on Friday night. While we were waiting in line to order our food, I noticed that everyone was engaged in small talk. With that being said, chatter filled Chipotle, but it was not overly loud. I also noticed that people arrived at Chipotle with at least one other person; rarely did I notice someone walk in by himself or herself. At one point, Gabby and I were the last two people in the line that reached the door. We noticed the instrumental music playing in the background, clearly lacking words. Besides the employee on break, there was only one other man sitting alone; he was working on his laptop. Everyone dressed casually; however, there was a man dressed in a suit and tie sitting at the table to my right with three girls, so he was an exception. The line finally died down around 8:20, which was twenty minutes after Gabby and I arrived. The ages of everyone at Chipotle varied; there were people there ranging from girls in their teens to adults in their 50s. Finally, right around the time we were getting ready to leave, I noticed that the police and EMS drove by Chipotle outside.

Interpretations
Everyone was engaged in small talk, so they did not have to stand in awkward silence as they waded through the line. When people finally sat down to eat their food, they were not going to sit there uncomfortably just looking at each other, so that could explain the noise level in Chipotle. Perhaps people were showing up in pairs because they are simply insecure to go by themselves. The reason the line was so long was because not only was it a Friday night, but also Chipotle is a popular chain restaurant in the area. The music in the background was for the enjoyment of the customers, so they had something to listen to while waiting in line if they were not chatting with someone. I saw the man who was working on his laptop have a document open, so perhaps he was grading an assignment from a student or writing a doctoral paper. The man in a suit was perhaps taking his three employees out to dinner after a long weeks worth of work. Chipotle appeals to everyone of all ages, which could explain the wide range of ages there. Finally, I thought that maybe the police/EMS were cutting through Legacy Village to get to their destination quicker or someone in Legacy Village was actually injured and needed assistance.

Parking Lot
Three aspects from my observations at Chipotle belong here. I noticed that only females from minority groups worked the line; a Latino woman prepared my food, while an African American woman checked me out at the register. Also, there was a group of four teenage girls in front of Gabby and myself in the line; their actions annoyed me so much. The one girl from the group kept going up to the guys in from of them just to seem cool so her friends could Snap Chat her doing this. Finally, Gabby and I came up an interpretation for the man working on his laptop; at one point, we thought he was trying to avoid his wife, if he was even married, or simply trying to avoid going home. After looking back on my observations, I think the two interpretations of the man on his laptop are slightly uncalled for.

Reflection

From this observation exercise, I learned quite a bit about myself. Like Gabby, I realized that I am quick to judge people. I feel the need to constantly remind myself that I do not know what is going on in their lives. If I knew exactly what was going on in their lives, though, then I would have a clearer idea as to why these people were acting the ways they do. I hope I can work this fault when I am in the field interacting with students. By no means do I want to assume things about the students I will be observing. I will try my best to get to know the students before I jump to conclusions about them. I need to also work on not giving into the stereotypes society forms about people, considering I saw a Latino woman working behind the line. I am aware that Latinos work other jobs besides the ones offered by the restaurant industry; it is just hard to keep that in mind when I see it with my own eyeballs. Again, I will try my best not to let stereotypes interfere with my observations in the field; after all, Ayers encourages his readers to look beyond the labels placed on students by their disabilities and truly get to know that student for who he or she is and what he or she has to offer the learning environment. I hope that through the observation hours, the barriers these labels and stereotypes form will come crashing down.