Observation Ethnography Essay

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Observation at Kenzie’s Coffee Shop

Beatriz arrived to the office at 7:34AM on Friday 16 of May 2014, she walked in to the office wearing a maxi skirt purple and a white tight blouse. First thing Beatriz did was to say hello to everyone on her way to her desk including me. As soon as she reached her desk, Beatriz turned on her laptop on and waited for the computer to be loaded. She checked who was around for a coffee. I walked to her desk to remind her that I was recording her morning routine; just to be sure she was ok with it.
After few minutes on her desk and having checked her emails, she sent the first group message on same time; same time is a lotus instant messaging application used within the company. Beatriz only got one replied to her message from Heidi Ross. Heidi was sitting two and half metres from Beatriz desk, and she responded she was up for a coffee that morning. Although when Beatriz sent the message, she was trying to contact her colleagues or girls from level six.
After few minutes, Beatriz got two instant messages to her phone; these messages were from the girls from level six. One of the message said, Who’s up for a coffee?, Beatriz instantly replied the text message writing see you at Kenzie’s in ten.
I asked Beatriz how they do it every day, how the logistics work and if they have the same routine every day. Beatriz responded that it depended on who gets to work first; some days the girls from down stairs come up and wait for Beatriz, some other days Beatriz went down to level six and waited for the girls to arrive. I asked Beatriz if there was a specific reason for inviting only girls, and she said she had asked us several times to come down for a coffee and we usually declined the invitation; in additions Beatriz mentioned that she wouldn’t think I would like to hear or to talk about what happen last night in The Voice or Revenge.
Beatriz, Heidi and I took the lift to grown level and walked out the building towards Kenzie, it took us around five minutes to get to the coffee shop. When we arrived, Salwa Salim and Desiree Merick from level six were already waiting at the coffee shop. One thing that I noticed was that the waiter at the cash register and the barista knew the four girls, they called Beatriz and Heidi by their name and before they placed their order, the guy at the cash register said: the usual, and Beatriz and Heidi replied yes Tommy, the usual. Tommy was the barista and based on his looks he had Asian background; however I was not able to identify any accent.
The guy at the cash register asked me if I wanted anything, so I ordered a long black. The barista already had started to make the girls’ coffees. I noticed this place has outdoor tables or smoking area; furthermore, this place was also a boutique. It has an antique look however it is very simple and quite cosy.
I asked the cashier how much was the coffee but the girls had paid already for Beatriz and Heidi so then I paid $3.50 for the long black. Salwa asked the cashier to stamp her loyalty card for my coffee which had eight stamps. Once they got ten, they can get a free coffee.
At the coffee shop I there were three long wooden tables in the outside area, also there were tables distributed across the shop, including inside the boutique area which caused me curiosity however the boutique area seemed closed. I asked Beatriz if she had ever bought any clothes in that boutique, but Beatriz laughed and said that those sorts of clothes were not her style. I just realized that we were in china town and the boutique had a particular style and the clothes were rather small for an average size Brazilian woman such as Beatriz.
As mentioned before, I did not hear what Beatriz and the other girls ordered because the barista knew their orders even before they asked for anything, so I asked Beatriz if she knew what the girls had ordered and she said, of course: “I ordered a strong soy late, Heidi ordered a vanilla cappuccino, Salwa
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