For the people watching that I did for this assignment, I had been eating lunch at a nearby restaurant called Agate Alley. It wasn’t extremely packed but it was good enough for me to people watch.
The first person of mine of whom I was watching was the waiter that had been waiting on my table and I. From what I had seen, I was able to tell that he was a very hard working individual. I saw that his sleeves had been rolled up from running around a lot and also beats of sweat coming from his forehead. He was a very personal guy as he continued to make eye contact with everyone around the table and continually came back to our table to check up on us. He was dressed in all black, as was everyone else waiting tables there. I saw a lot of the same values and beliefs in him that I have myself. He seemed to be a clean-cut person with a personable attitude, who I was able to tell valued hard and perfected work. Some assumptions that I was making while observing him was that he seemed to be a younger guys, and since he had been working hard at what he was doing, I kind of assumed he was there so he was able to work his way through school. Being clean cut as he was and with a personable characteristic, I assumed that he was in a good emotional condition and didn’t seem as if anything could ruin his day.
Another person that caught my attention was a girl that was up sitting at the bar with what seemed to be her boyfriend. She had been dressed in a tank top and shorts. It looked as if though there was swimming gear underneath her top in which I made the assumption that they were out in the water before coming to agate alley. I assumed because of her age that she was rather floating the river than swimming in a pool based on knowledge that younger people I feel as if rather go floating down the river than swimming in a pool. I believe that her health conditions were perfectly normal because she had both been swimming and was also up at the bar ordering a drink. I also think that her emotional conditions were just as fine because of how she seemed to be in a good mood due to the guy that she had been with. There seemed to be a lot of smiles and laughter throughout their conversation.
The last person that I observed was a man sitting alone and what I assumed he was doing was working because of how he had been putting a lot of focus on his laptop and other various papers. He had been wearing a long sleeve button up which made me believe that he was either on lunch break from work or had just gotten off. A couple of values that I think I share with this guy are that I was able to tell that he valued his alone time. Observing that not only was he eating his meal alone with a beer, he also seemed to be content and more focused without any distractions. I think that he also beliefs in having a hard working attitude because there was only or two times that I saw him look up from the computer for something that was other than his meal.
Hi Tyler,
So jealous you got to go to Agate Alley- it’s one of my favorite Eugene hot spots! They have amazing mac-and-cheese!
Your first paragraph describing the waiter sounded like what you would expect a typical male waiter to be in Eugene. Just younger, hardworking because a waiting job can be very difficult in itself, and probably a little “hipster” considering it was Agate Alley in Eugene. Did he do anything that made you think he was a perfectionist? It is also difficult to judge a waiter because the rules that come with the job are so uniform across every employee.
The second person you described also sounds like the average college student in Eugene right now haha. Every I know seems to be spending their days in their swimsuits floating the river or laying outside. Just out of curiosity, what signs was she showing with the guy to make it seem like her boyfriend? Rather than just a friend, or a hook up, or whatever. I’m just wondering in general how people can tell when two strangers are in a relationship, just starting to date, are just friends, etc.
This last description is my favorite. Every time I see a person eating by themselves or “just-got-off-work” look, I always wonder about their lives. A lot of people think it’s sad when people go to restaurants to eat by themselves, but I don’t mind. Sometimes I’ll go and read a book by myself or just do work to be by myself and be productive. Was the man older or younger? Did he seem to be visiting out of town or was he a local? If he is drinking a beer with his meal, I suppose you could also assume he had just gotten off work. But then again, some people may drink while working. There’s so many different ways to observe and judge people’s values, it’s very interesting.
Hi Tribecca,
You made some very valid points and I probably shouldve explained myself better on a couple of topics throughout it, but yes I know Agate Alley is delicious! I will have to try there mac-and-cheese next time, I usually go with the chicken ceaser wrap with some cajun fries, never seems to fail me. But back to the discussion, one of the actions that he did that made me think that he was a perfectionist or good at his job was that he never wrote down any of the orders that my party and I had ordered. Even after, he would come back with all of our orders exactly how we had ordered them. Usually waiters or waitresses have to write down each and every order and yet sometimes still miss something. For the couple that was up at the bar one thing that I dont think I mentioned, which I should of, but one notification that I got that they were either in a “fling” or a relationship was that at the end the guy had taken the bill and paid for it. From the smiling between the two and laughter along with the guy picking up the bill kind of gave me the feeling that they were together of some sort. For the last person, I would completely agree that I don’t mind eating alone as well, I actually have eaten there plenty of times alone. But to answer your question, he was a bit older and I feel as if I have seen him there before. For the local or out of town question, that is a good one because I feel as if Agate Alley is locally known and feel as if more college kids and locals go, but at the same time I thinks it so well known locally that it would be one of the first restaraunts to come up for out of towners looking for a place to eat.
Hi Tyler, I were read your post. Your analysis on the three different people was very interesting because not only by your physical observations but also by your assumptions. I like the waiter that you were watching, I agree with you that he may not only hard work on his job maybe also hard work on his school work. I think that person maybe hare work on everything in his life. I believe that people who work hard in the life will get the award from life.
You made some very interesting observations and assumptions based on the people that you saw. I think that in your first person viewing experience that you made some interesting points. I wonder why it is that you decided that the waiter was working his way through school? Do you think that this may be an extension of your own life that you see in others, or is this something that you think this person was doing based on a way he was acting? The second person also intrigued me because of the interpretation you had based on her clothing. You assumed she was floating the river simply based on the attire she was wearing beneath her top layer. This seems to be a large step in logic to me as this is not something I would normally assume, and then I must ask what is it that makes you think this way beyond what people our age do?