SOCIOLOGICAL OBSERVATION

With the objective of observing a social situation, I walked into a Photo delivery outlet (“Plates”) and sat down on the waiting couch, taking a few minutes to observe the interaction that was taking place.

It was a rushed morning and the customers were queuing up slowly on the right side of the little room. As I sat on a couch inconspicuously, it took a while to settle down to what seemed to be interaction scenes between customer service salesman and customers who were in line, waiting to pick up photographs placed on order (prints of photographs taken on a previous day). As I was positioned on a couch seat directly behind the queues, I was able to glimpse what looked to be social situation among its actors.

I observed a middle aged lady who stood with her younger son, each with two packets in their hand. In the queue parallel to theirs, stood an elderly lady. This lady seemed to appear restless and I deduced by her facial expressions, that she was impatient. She would keep looking around her in an agitated manner, sometimes murmuring incoherently. As she progressed in the queue, I observed her glancing at her wristwatch at least 7 times. She seemed to be in a hurry. After a few minutes, she was next and she moved forward in the line and placed her bag on the counter and started talking quickly. The salesperson (a very young boy with a cheerful smile and a happy countenance) seemed to have difficulty following the sequence of what she was saying. As he politely asked “beg your pardon madam?” she became increasingly angry. He checked his computer earnestly and I realized that he was finding difficulty locating the picture she had ordered. As I rose from my seat and drew closer to where the conversation was taking place, I was able to understand that the lady had placed an order in January 2006 and had come back with the hope of picking it off the counter today (26.03.2008) The sales person with a courteous mannerism to his replies, appeared to be trying his level best to explain that it would take a while to find this picture. She seemed visibly angered by the situation and I realized that she was irritated as she began to raise her voice. As she began to talk to him, I realized that she felt that she was justified in arriving 2 years later as she had after all, a receipt in hand and she vocalized her position by looking to others in the queue for affirmation. I observed that the others had grown silent. They either looked earnestly at this exchange or looked the other way to the left, appearing uncomfortable and noncommittal.

After a few minutes of exchange, I observed the sales person looking worried and nervous as his voice began to falter as he tried to assure her that they would look into it. She stood straight as she spoke to him and her body posture seemed to indicate a determination - to not go home without her picture. Therein, I observed a conflictive exchange between the sales boy and the lady. I deduced that the disagreement or dilemma lay in the justification from the perspective of a customer who seemed to feel she had a right to receive efficient service and on the other, the sales boy who appeared to believe that it was absurd to expect this service as I saw from his gestures and nonverbal behavior, that he saw this lady’s demands to be unreasonable as he began to include “buts” in his answers. The object of contention appeared to lie not so much in the inability to produce this photograph but in the rights of the two respective actors, to maintain their stand. The social exchange didn’t seem satisfactory enough to the lady. I could see during this exchange that the cheerful countenance had disappeared and the sales boy looked stressed. The lady too was adamant.

At this point, a senior manager (a bigger, broader looking man) walked over brusquely. He wasn’t called upon but he soon take over the young boy. He seemed to be defter as he communicated with her as his mannerisms were different. He was firm and polite and asked her for 1 day within which to locate this picture. He took the receipt into his hand and didn’t leave the counter until the lady still angry, seemed content enough to leave, empty handed. As she fumbled with her purse, the facial expressions of the young sales person seemed apologetic as he said “aunty we’ll look into it”. She retorted at once “I’m not your aunty! You better have it ready for me. I have the receipt for the picture” Another firm but courteous assurance from the senior manager had her walking out of the door. The senior manager with receipt in hand, mumbled to the boy and busily walked away.

I observed a social bond between the manager and the boy as there seemed to be a social connection (formed perhaps as a result of the group affiliation of being employees of Plates) as I observed the concept of Integrators –for the activities of the delivery point of Plates division seemed to be in sync with the higher administration as I observed a keen awareness of each others welfare to be evident as the busyness of the manager, didn’t prevent him from realizing that the younger man at delivery needed a hand in handling the customer.

Just as I was beginning to feel that that particular the social situation had ended, I observed that the young man (who stood with his mother) in the queue next to the one the lady has stood in, was trying hard to make eye contact with the young sales person. Finally he managed to look the sales person in the eye and smile broadly. I saw that the sales person was almost immediately relaxed by that simple gesture as he stopped looking down and started looking up again with a less flustered face. His broad smile was back again as he started serving the next in line. There were repeated exchanges of smiles between the young man and the sales person and things appeared to get routine again. It seemed like that social situation had peaked off into a new one (at which point I ended my observation)

As I mused over the social situation, I regathered my thoughts and reflected what I had observed.

I observed a social scene with many social actors. To begin with, the lady (the customer) and the sales boy. Then there were the others in the queue, the less prominent social actors) The young sales manager and finally, the young man in the queue whose smiles appeared to change the mood and tone left, at the end of the incident.

The employers of Plates, seemed to form a network while the customers formed the other. However, I observed, a bond between the young man and the sales person who was at the receiving end of the irate lady’s complaints about the inefficiency of the system. Judging by the compassionate and reassuring smile that the young man gave which wasn’t evident in the faces of the other customers who appeared to belong to different age groups, I observed what appeared to
be a bonding based on the common factor of both customer and sales person being young.

The disagreement or object of contention seemed to be over the fact that the lady was a dissatisfied customer, who had the receipt in hand and couldn’t collect her photograph. However on the other hand, the senior manager seemed to stand on the premise that it had to be understood that a guarantee could not be given as the photograph had been ordered 2 years before. The lady appeared by her non verbal messages of shrugs and sarcastic looks, to feel justified while Plates felt equally justified in not locating a picture that ought to have been collected before.

The conflictive tugs of war that were strong between the lady and young sales person, seemed to weaken with the arrival of the sales manager. Judging by the dimness and toning down of voice by the lady, I concluded that while one social actor (the lady) was not pleased with the situation, she seemed to wear out of resisting the authorities at Plates. Moments before this, it seemed like the lady (the customer) was the authority. I observed what seemed to be a shift in the balance of this tug-of-war.

Interaction webs between the employees of Plates appeared strong as did the social connections (as integrators) between the workers. I felt judging by the sensitivity of the young salesman to everyone’s reaction to him throughout the social situation, that if the integration was weak, he might have been affected by the incident which would have resulted in him fumbling with his computer the way he briefly did when she began to raise her voice. Moreover I concluded that the interaction web between the workers was strong as the difference in designation didn’t have a bearing on the informal affirmation one gave to the other. This was evident to me as the sales person whilst not engaging in much conversation with the young salesman, was on his side as the brief mumble between them was one that I observed, to be a “dig” at the lady’s expense as the mumble was accompanied with a non verbal raising of eyebrow as much as to say that that customer was “difficult”. This helped to ease things because both manager and sales boy smiled and got about their business.

However it was the smile that came from the customer in the adjoining queue that seemed to wipe out the humiliated look that was evident on the sales person’s face when the comment about not being his “aunty” was made.

Thus I learnt through this exercise that a social situation has interesting facets to it by way of the different social connections. Moreover apart from the influencing power of these connections, I learnt too that the smallest of situations indeed have various perspectives to it, as I personally realized through this observation, that no single perspective could be absolutely “right” as the perspectives of the lady, the lady, the young sales person, the sales manager and others in the queue appeared to be based on their interpretations of the particular situation and the personal stand each took in handling themselves and eachother.

© Slow Chills