Our team performed our literacy dig at a grocery store at 10 am on Labor Day Monday, and my assignment was to observe the people and activities. There weren't many customers in the store at that time but quite a few employees, most likely wondering why this small group of women was walking around their store with notebooks and pens in hand! I saw three people stocking shelves, the store manager arranging merchandise, the floral department employee creating an arrangement, the meat department employee helping a customer, two bag boys and two cashiers greeting customers and talking to each other. All employees were wearing store aprons; the manager was in a shirt and tie. Most of the customers were well-dressed, older couples. There was also a dad with two preschool-age children riding in his shopping cart, an older couple helping an elderly woman with her shopping, a woman in her twenties shopping without a cart.
I'm not exactly sure how much of this is to be interpreted, so I'm going to choose one person - the young woman. My interpretation is that she was in a hurry to get in and out of the store (hence, no cart). She walked in, read the signs above the aisles, went down an aisle and read (or maybe just recognized) the label of the item she wanted to purchase, maybe checked the price printed on the store shelf, greeted the cashier, read the amount due on the cash register screen, paid, and thanked the cashier as she left the store.
I'm hoping that others have posted their blogs so I can see how they have completed this assignment because I'm not sure how to answer the "connections" part in regards to how observing people connects to literacy activities. Is it the step-by-step interpretation of the customers activities itself or should I be trying to dig a bit deeper here?
So, in regards to the people, would you say that a large cross-section of town goes to this store, or just specific kinds of people?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your description of the young woman. That's how I shop when we forget something from our weekly grocery list!
You seemed to notice a lot of things going on even though it wasn't very busy. Your inferences about the young woman sound spot on. It would've been cool if we could've asked her and known for sure! I think you made a "connection" when you inferred that she was in a hurry and that is why she had no cart. Although, maybe she is like me and shops with no cart because I hope it will force me to buy less and save money. But then again, I usually end up with aching arms and searching for an abandoned cart anyway!!
ReplyDeleteI love the scene that you set. Great descriptions. It is interesting to consider the kind of lives the different customers live. The ones that come in, much like the woman you observed, and leave in a hurry. Or there is the "slow moving label reader". This customer will utilize more literacy then probably any other customer. You can call these people "particular" or "foodies". Either way these customers are very conscience of what is in their food. I think it would be interesting to know what different labels mean to people. Some people see Organic and they think "expensive", while others think "healthy". Then there was a group of girls huddled around a box of organic cookies at the grocery store in which I work. The one girl said to the other "Organic, that means they are fake". Hmmm. Words can be interpreted in so many different ways even in a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteJill - you did a great job capturing both the customers and the employees. So much can be inferred just by their body language. You could tell that the employee who was helping the customers to their cars with their carts was having a great time with his job.
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