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For the ethnography project, I immersed myself in the McDonalds culture at Washington Mills. On two different days I had to become a part of them, the McDonalds people. We call them McDonalites. It was a very strange and different environment, and you wouldn't know it was the same place. The first day was very different from the second.
Before I went to McDonalds to observe the McDonalites I knew it would be very different from what I was accustomed to. I thought that there would be many young to middle aged people there on the first night, because it was Friday during dinner. I expected some chaos, and the second time I expected more mellow people. Elderly people would be there on Tuesday afternoon, I knew.
The first day I went to M cDonalds was Friday. The time was six-thirty PM. The weather was rainy, when I walked in there was an old woman reading, two elderly folk drinking coffee, a McDonalite working eating alone, and a few people in the back. Sadly, I did not go into the back to observe. I thought the front would be more interesting.
I went up and ordered in as to not be seen as an outsider so the behavior would be the same as if I was one of them. I sat down and noticed the behavior varied among the McDonalites. The first woman mentioned earlier, was underlining in her book upon further investigation. The two elderly seemed to be staring at me whenever I looked over, apparently they were curious. The workers appeared to be doing what they were supposed to be doing; work. The front section was initially quieter than the back. As more elderly people walked in, I noticed they were all speaking to each other. There appeared to be cliques within the McDonalites. The elderly people always bought coffee, and even if they were sitting a distance from each other it didn't matter; they still would talk. The elderly were also friendly to me, and accepted me as another McDonalite.
After a while, there was a strange occurrence. A buse drove by in teh parking lot. I eagerly anticipated what would happen next. what was on teh bus? Were they going to join the McDonalites? Soon my question was answered and several girls walked into the society, wearing soccer jackets. They ordered and sat down and the area became very noisy. A girl was giving away her change to a teammate for no apparent reason. This was all very interesting for a while, but I noticed a little boy and apparently his grandfather walk in. I watched the boy closely, and his hand was glued to his butt. Not literally of course, but his hand would not leave his butt. And henceforth I gave him the title of Little Buttboy. I also noted that his grandfather had a cane with flame designs on it. Very interesting.
Back to the soccer team, the girls ordered a lot of food. Over the course of their stay they ordered more and more. This got me thinking, were they a real team? Do athletes really need this much McDonalite food? Randomly after a while there was a sudden silence in the room. It didn't seem to have a purpose and lasted only a few seconds, but there it was. Mysterious...
The soccer team found me quite interesting, I observed, as they kept staring at me until I decided to stare back. Then they whispered about each other and I, being paranoid, assumed it was about me. The girls continued to stare at me throughout their stay, and I got quite annoyed but didn't do anything about it. It wasn't my place to have any confrontation with McDonalites.
I noticed Little Buttboy go to the bathroom, and later he came out and his grandfather cleaned up their table, evidently ready to leave. Then they ordered sundaes and to my surprise, sat back at the same table they had cleaned. This seemed strange to me.
Back to the soccer players again, they appeared to be gossiping and lauhing lounder than necessary. They seemed to me a primitive race. One girl even had recieved a phone call and I heard her loudly ask "Where are we again"?
" Even though the bus appeared local, she had no idea where she was. More sophisticated language from the soccer team included "Oh my God, I'm gonna slap you" and "I don't want the ice to melt on the table."
Later on, all of the elderly people left. At exactly the same time.. Interesting. A "bag lady" soon comes into the civilization and sits down. She has plastic on her head, so I look outside and observe that it is no longer raining. She didn't order anything for a long time, and she went through her purse occasionally and looked around, perhaps paranoid, at nobody in particular.
Suddenly some muddy people walk in, and they are speaking a different language to each other. It is clearly Bosnian. This society is one where cultures come together in harmony. The one Bosnian woman sits down and stares at me while her companions go up to order.
Soon I decided it was time to leave, I had spent enough time for one day in this society. It was 7:36 pm and upon leaving I realize that the underlining book lady was still there, and she had a guest. I found myself curious, but I left anyway.
For the next day I found myself at McDonalds, the weather was sunny. It was 3:25pm on Tuesday. It was warm. I entered, ordered, and sat down as previously practiced. I sat at a different place in the front, I don't believe anyone was sitting in the back. There weren't many people in the front, there were some older people and there was music playing in the background. It wasn't good music. Two older men were sitting at a table together, papers out, most likely doing business. It seemed to me a strange place to do business. As before, there was one worker all alone, eating. Some uninteresting and quiet people come and go. One notable person who entered was an older guy wearing a uniform.
Workers talked casually amongst themselves, and guide each other about coffee holders burning if you leave the machine on when there is no coffee. I found this to be obvious, but some McDonalites needed help. An older man walks in, goes b ehind the counter. I hear strange conversation ebing "best steak bagel". Not entirely sure what the rest of the conversation was about, they were far away and I couldn't hear. Over the course of time I notice people coming from the bathroom, and I hadn't noticed them walking in. Perhaps I was unobservant, or maybe McDonalites can make themselves appear in the bathroom. You never know with these people.
I wait for something interesting to happen, or something interesting to walk in. It never happens, so I leave, bored with the McDonalites at 4:09pm.
I attribute the changes between day one and two by the times and dates. Friday is much more popular than Tuesday. Some of the things I expected of this society were true, but some things I couldn't have imagined to happen did.
I compared my notes and findings with my companion who I went with, on the same dates. Most of our findings were the same of course, as we sat together to avoid being the creepers with the notebooks watching people. This also enabled us to order at different times so we may appear to be fitting in with the culture, having food at the table.
Overall I find the McDonalite civilization to be primitive but efficient and interesting. Further study should be taken upon this society, as I do believe there would be more fascinating and different activities happening every day.
 Unbelief · Wed Jun 17, 2009 @ 02:50am · 0 Comments |
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