On Monday, September 21st, I sat discretely at LOTUS, a self-serve frozen yogurt bar from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm. It’s a colorful and trendy place with pink and green tables and orange chairs. Lotus appeals to a younger crowd with it’s super modern décor. This place also seems to appeal to Asians as apposed to the Starbucks just next door, which seemed to have more of a multicultural mix of customers. I read on a blog that Asians used to go for Boba tea which was imported from Taiwan in the 80’s and quickly became a hit (http://www.8asians.com/author/sharonc/). Now the new trend is “fro-yo”. According to this blog, Koreans have taken over the frozen yogurt empire and transformed the vendors into trendy and fresh places where the Asian influence is apparent. This trend has recently seeped into main stream culture as more and more hip frozen yogurt stores are being opened.
ETHNOGRAPHY OBSERVATION:
There is a white female and black male sitting next to me. About my age (19). The girl has ice cream and the guy does not. They seem to be flirting.
Blonde and brunette females. About 30 something walk in. Get yogurt. Are choosing toppings together. Girl behind counter looks bored. She just saw me look at her and she looked away. Middle aged man sits by himself eating yogurt at a central table. Is talking loudly on the phone.
Young flirty couple leaves. As they walk out the girl asks they guy if there’s a Toys R Us around here. He seems confused. Lonely guy on cell phone’s phone rings. Sounds like old school phone ring. Talks for a shot while and hangs up. He is in a gray T-shit and jeans. Very casual. Doesn’t look like a business man. He is now eating his ice cream and not talking on the phone. The music seems to have gotten louder. Some random indie song that I’ve never heard.
There is a girl in front of me alone. Has laptop and books. Maybe she’s in here because Starbucks is full, like me. A friend comes to meet her. Another female about the same age. 20-ish. Both wearing gray shirts. The girl pulls up a chair. Both girls get up. One throws away her empty yogurt cup and the other asks the girl ho works here if she can pull another table closer to them. She cheerfully says “sure!” They get study materials together and chit-chat.
Cell phone man calls someone. Talking about how he lost two million. Doesn’t specify of what, though. The music is loud so I can’t hear what he’s saying. The song just said “It’s not about love…I am not in love” and is dramatic with trumpets.
The study girls friend gets ice cream and cell phone man is still on the phone. A Hispanic lady and a Hispanic man walk in together. Before they get ice cream he says, “I’ll pay for you”. She is wearing a lot of make-up and is taller than him. He has a baggy red T-shit and baggy denim shorts.
The guy on phone has an iPhone I just noticed. Study girl’s friend pays for her yogurt with a credit card. Hispanic couple is laughing together while they get their ice cream.
Cell phone man gets up, throws away ice cream cup, and goes to public restroom.
Hispanic couple kisses after they purchase their ice cream. They proceed to sit down two tables away from me and speak in Spanish. Girl who works here wipes tables. I get up to buy ice cream because I feel weird just sitting here staring at everyone without purchasing anything. My total was $3.18.
Hispanic girl laughs loudly. Two guys walk in together. Both white. Casual attire. About 20. The shorter one talks about someone being mad at him. They pay together. I know one of them but he doesn’t see me so we don’t say hi. He’s homosexual so this could be a date.
A security guard walks in and goes straight to bathroom. A rock song is now on. An older (by older I mean older than the girl who works at the counter) Indian woman comes out from the back with a money bag and says, “I’m leaving” and then proceeds to talk to bored behind-the-counter girl. Then she leaves. Girl stares outside of window longingly.
Two girls in school uniforms walk in with a woman who seems to be their mother. They sample multiple flavors. They’re Asian. The girls look like twins. Meanwhile, security guard leaves the store. The mother pays for the girls’ ice cream but doesn’t get any for herself. One girl chooses a purple spoon and the other a yellow spoon. They leave.
The male couple leaves. The girl with the yellow spoon runs back in and grabs a purple spoon. There are six different colors of spoons to choose from.
I am left with flirty Hispanic couple and the study girls. They have two tables full of binders, books, and laptops. Hispanic couple is speaking spanglish- combo of English and Spanish. A song comes on that I recognize. It’s on my iPod Sleep Playlist.
Nobody comes in for a couple minutes. Then tall white female with curly short blond hair and an Asian male with long hair and a half ponytail. Both in jeans. Look about the same age. Female pays for the both of them.
Trendy young Asian couple walks in. Curly blonde girl sees a penny on the ground and runs to pick it up. Seems excited. 25 year old female comes in alone. Waits patiently for young Asian couple to finish with the yogurt machine. The Asian man and blonde curly girl are sitting at a table eating together. Both leaning in towards each other. Body language implies that they are a couple.
Meanwhile, the girl in the young Asian couple pays for both yogurts. They leave. Blonde girl pays and sits alone. Two Asian girls walk in. About 30. They have Starbucks and one sits down at a table while the other gets yogurt. Both have glasses. Speaking in another language. Laugh together.
Pilipino man is leaning back in his chair telling a story. Just noticed that the two studying girls have tiny little laptops. I’ve never seen a laptop that small before. They have the same one.
Music is quiet and I hear a rumble of conversations. There are now four groups of two here. Bohemian Rhapsody comes on. Pilipino man leans in close to curly blonde and says something softly. I take a picture with my cell phone of the place. Nobody notices.
White trash man comes in. White “wife-beater” tank and denim shorts. Asks the girl-behind-counter a question, then leaves. Old lady in black polka dot pants comes in. Older black male comes in after. They talk as if they know each other. They sample different flavors then leave together without buying anything. White trash man is back. He whistles to himself while serving his ice cream. Security guard walks by outside for the third time. I take a picture of white trash guy. Jolly balding man with brown hair walks in. Has a back-pack on. He’s wearing pink pants and has a huge smile on his face. Hispanic couple looks at me and knows I’m taking pictures. Oh well. Pink pants man sits down and pulls out a laptop, sets it up on the table. Still has huge smile.
Male security guard comes in. Different from the first one. Gets bright pink ice cream. Caucasian male and female walk in. Both tall. Get ice cream together. Girl has a tattoo on the back of her neck. She’s wearing business casual. He’s in sweat pants and track shoes but a collared shirt. Security guard leaves. Female pays after male presents a coupon. Asian girls, Philipino man and culry blonde, as well as Hispanic couple are still here. The white couple sits right next to me and talks about immigratin laws. The man’s phone makes a chiming noise and he pulls his phone out of his pocket and notices he has a voicemail. He says, “I’m busy they can wait”, and the woman says, “well at least your priorities are straight”.
Three overweight girls walk in and they are with one heavy male. All Caucasian. Two seem to be a couple and the other girls look like just friends going along for the ride.
ANALYSIS:
The first topic I’d like to touch on is lonely cell phone guy. Does he feel uncomfortable sitting by himself with out talking on the phone? Could be something to hind behind that makes him feel secure. Or he could be bored. This generation seems to need to multitask in order to be entertained, but this man was a bit older. Has the invention of cell phones made it so that people feel the need to always be talking to someone if they’re not busy? The mentality is, “there is somebody I could be talking to”, or “there is something I should be doing”. People don’t take the time to sit down and relax. Be alone with their thoughts.
The man who decides to check his voice mail after the date is giving his partner all of his attention and for this she is satisfied. At least technology has not taken over him. Many people sitting at Lotus with their partners were texting other people while trying to have a face-to-face conversation at the same time. It’s comforting to observe this man who is not yet a slave to technology and puts his relationships first.
I noticed a considerable amount of older people (not college age) who were Lotus customers during this hour. It makes me wonder what they all do for a living. Why are these middle-aged people here on a Monday at 2pm? Is this a result of the economy? They could be on a lunch break but they all spent quite a bit of time sitting at the tables. This isn’t Spain, we don’t have Siestas which allow you to be absent from work in the afternoon and return to work at night. I have no explanation for this, it’s just a thought.
The two study girls look alike but I can tell they are not related. They’re peers and friends but not individuals. Same outfit, same hairstyle, even same trendy laptop. This screams out materialism. Both girls are trying to fit in and be accepted and as a result they have become exact replicas of each other. This is an example of culture from above. Society tells us how we should look and what we should have. They’ve both been watching the same commercials, apparently.
Another example similar to this is my observation of the girl who runs back in to choose the same color spoon that her twin sister chose. This could be a number of things. For instance, her mother could have wanted a bite and so she ran in to get another spoon. In my opinion, this girl noticed that she liked the color of her sister’s spoon better and perhaps wants to feel equal to her. She hasn’t developed a sense of individuality but rather embraces the comfort of conformity. It may seem like a stretch, but I drew a connection to American Psycho. Patrick Bateman has no real sense of self and lives his life mirroring others around him, much like this little girl and her twin sister.
As for the heavier-set couple, they are the first overweight people I see. There are two other heavier girls with this couple and I wonder why they all share this common bond. It’s just like the two study girls with the same hair, clothes, and personal belongings. People tend to flock to other people who look like them. This occurs in racial groups as well. This subconscious desire to be around those who resemble us gives us a sense of belonging, and that’s all we really want…right?
I’ve expressed my thoughts on materialism and conformity. Now I’d like to move on to gender roles and masculine versus feminine attitudes.
The red shirt Hispanic guy has a more masculine persona by taking the initiative for the woman by offering to pay for her. This could be because he already feels emasculated because this woman is so much taller than him and has to make up for it in some way.
I finally have my trendy young Asian couple that I was hoping would come in and prove my point about the demographics of a fro-yo place, and once again the girl pays for the guy. In class we compared a scene of Anchorman to a scene of Fatal Attraction. In one case the man was perusing the woman, and in the next the woman was after the man. Today, women feel that it is more appropriate to pursue a man rather than waiting around for him to come to her. This is why I observed so many women paying for their dates. In these times it’s okay for women to take on a more masculine role in the relationship, just as it is okay for men to be a bit more sensitive as shown through romantic comedies. Being more feminine does not always have to be about emotions. The security guard who purchased bright pink frozen yogurt, a much more feminine option than a black coffee at the Starbucks next door.
I observed a gay couple at Lotus together and another very gay man in bright pink pants with bright pink ice cream. It’s possible that they could feel comfortable here because it is so flashy and bright. I’m not trying to convince anyone that all gay men and all Asians like frozen yogurt, this is merely and observation. About 90% of the people who came in were couples, heterosexual and homosexual alike. It’s kind of like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex where he mentions the need for coupling in society. I find this to be a biological need more than a social one.
The couple that spoke Spanglish together represents a merging of cultures as well as a language barrier. As for the inter-racial couple, this is now more accepted than it was a few decades ago. The female took on a more dominant role by paying for the man. As for the girl in business clothes with the man in sweat pants, perhaps she works and he stays at home? The typical gender roles have been reversed.
WORKS CITED
Benedek, T. (1953). The Second Sex: By Simone de Beauvoir. Translated and edited by H. M. Parshley. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1953. 732 pp.. Psychoanal Q., 22:264-267.
"Sharon." 8Asians.com. Web. 23 Sept. 2009.
