I had a hard time picking where I wanted to have my cultural scene, I had many ideas but they just didn’t work out. For example, I wanted to go to a Frat party and do my observations but it conflicted with my work schedule. I finally decided to go to Crossroads mall in Portage. Again, I was conflicted on where I wanted to sit and analyze the area. There are plenty of areas to sit but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of people in the area. All of sudden it hit me….”the food court!” I shouted to my friend that I asked to come with me. It was perfect. It was lunch time and I haven’t ate yet and I was guaranteed to see people there. Between 12:30 and 12:45, I started analyzing.
I walked into the food court and the carousel was spinning and playing music. I noticed a good amount of people in the area. I was full of excitement and thought it was going smoothly. I decided to order some food from Sabo’s pizza. When I picked my seat, I tried getting a spot where I could see everything. The court was decorated with Christmas decorations and playing Christmas music. But, you couldn’t really hear the music over the chatter. It was very noisy. There were several people that were eating alone. Majority of the people in the food court was a senior citizen. One table was 2 white older women eating Chinese and were very chatty with each other. Another table across the court had a group of 8, both men and women, some had subway and some had Sabo’s pizza. The group was also very chatty and smiling. It almost looked like a reunion because they were having great conversations. I couldn’t hear the group but with their expressions and body language I could tell they were having a good time. Two tables were very interesting to me. One had a Hispanic family; a mother, grandmother and a son. The other was a white father and his son. These two tables were like they were from two different worlds. First, the father and son. The dad was dressed very nice, he wore a blue button down shirt and black pants. The son looked like he was about 2 years old and was very well behaved. They sat next to each other and talked to each other like adults. Now, the 2 women and the boy. The boy looked like he was 4 or 5 years old and he was out of control. I first noticed him when he was whining. The mother told him to go play. (There is a play area called tot land in the food court.) The boy said, “Come with me.” The mother ignored him and continued eating her Chinese. The boy didn’t go to Tot Land, he was running all over the place. He was playing in the fountain and the mother didn’t say anything! The 2 year old boy with his father was pointing at the Hispanic boy knowing that what he was doing was wrong. I couldn’t believe how well behaved the boy with his father was compared to the older boy. I would think it’d be the opposite. When it hit 12:45, everybody started leaving! I thought it was the coolest thing because that’s when I planned on leaving. It was like they knew their time was up.
I feel like I noticed a lot more things in the food court because I’ve never ate there before. I was nit picking at everything. Between empty tables, watching how children behave or just watching the janitor cleaning up. These things you normally wouldn’t think about. One thing I thought about was that I wondered if the 2 year old was behaving because how he was raised or just he was in an unfamiliar place. Maybe the older boy goes to the food court often or maybe he just wanted attention. Another thing is, out of all the people in the food court. My friend and I were the only ones with shopping bags. I thought it was the craziest thing because we were at the mall. With that being said, I think most people that eat there go there to talk and/or walk around the mall. For example, I think the 2 older women were there to walk the mall. Like for a workout. I have no idea why I assume this, I just got that vibe from them. I don’t think my presence made a