Starbucks Observation

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As I sit here in a table, that took me a good ten minutes to find, I noticed every morning a group of elder retired people, congregating as they usually do. Everyday there is about four to six people sitting around taking up half of the tables of the Starbucks. For hours, they sit talking, catching up, discussing politics, current affairs, family or just sitting there in a group reading the newspaper. Every day I walk in thinking “ Do they have nothing better to do? “ Please go take a walk and leave these tables for smaller groups or people that actually need to use this place to work.

As I look a little deeper, I can see true character in the actual location, from the artwork on the wall, to the scratches in the table, to the normal wear and tear of people coming in and having their morning coffee. The artwork has a very contemporary look that reflects the coffee shop industry. It has a more library look with a modern times feel that created a place for someone like me to come in and use the establishment not only like a coffee shop but a work place or a study hall, from the artwork on the wall to the scratches on the table. The tables have the normal wear and tear of people coming in and having their morning coffee but also has some vandalizing evidence, tagged names, hearts, and doodling. Sad to say that kids now a days don’t know how to respect others peoples properties. Looking at the vandalizing, I think it has also created a place where teenagers can spend several hours sitting around to do nothing but vandalize the location. Some teenagers use this to just sit and drink a coffee with headsets on listening to music pretending to be busy but yet be bored out of their minds. The scratches on the table are true evidence of it. I imagine them vandalizing the tables while sitting with friends thinking it’s “cool”.

As I continue to sit here I can truly say this place is a great place yet at the same time it can sometimes be a very distracting place to get some work done.

Analysis: Starbucks Observation

Today, I am working out of a Starbucks coffee shop like I do every day for a couple of hours. Today is different than other days because today, I am observing my surroundings. As I sit here observing, I had to observe and write the negative and the positive of the location. I also have to analyze why one was easier than the other. I can’t really say why one is easier than the other for other people but I can only write on why one was easier for me. I think writing styles all depend on the personality of the person writing the paper. In this case, the writing needed to be a descriptive paper on our surroundings, so obviously the easiest part of the writing would be what you personally notice first. When I meet people I dislike them first before I like them, I think my writing style is the same. I will point out the negative of the location before I can see the positive side. As I started writing my positive, I found it so hard to look at my surroundings and write good things about it. It was like my mind just couldn’t point out the good things. However, when I started on the negative side it was so much easier.

So my approach to this paper was the opposite, I first tried to sell myself on all the positive of the location before I wrote the negative. That way I wouldn’t have all the negative things in the back of my mind.

As I sat there for 20 minutes and observed, I immediately noticed the kids walk in, so I tried really hard to point out the greatness of kids, focus on their personalities, and how their interaction with each other, before I noticed the bad things, like getting coffee and sugar so early in the morning. This worked and I was able to clearly write the positive of that actual scenario. As I continue to write about the positive, I stayed with the same method of focusing on the personalities of the people instead of what they were actually doing. That help keep me on track to just get detailed on the paper.

When it came time to write about the negative part of my 20 minutes observation, I found it easier, I noticed all the negative ways people interact with each other. At this point, my writing just flowed and I was able to get through the paper very quickly. I really pointed out things that are truly wrong with our future society, how our kids don’t have respect for others and their surroundings. I was also able to write more about the physical characteristics of the Starbucks like damages that it had. If I was more skilled on writing I think I could have kept going for this part of the paper.

So to sum up why I think one was easier than another, I think a positive person will quickly see the beauty of their surroundings. So for them it would be easier to see all the beautiful things around them. I guess you can say they will see the glass half full instead of the glass half empty. But in my case, I see the glass half empty.