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Jesus Medina

Professor Rodrick

English 115

October 13, 2019

Ethnography Exercise 3

As my family and I were entering the parking lot I noticed quite a few things. I noticed

that when entering this type of premises people go crazy trying to find a parking spot especially

in what I would call “rush hours”. It was about 2:30 pm in the afternoon when my family and I

were in the parking lot looking for parking. During that time I noticed that people got easily

annoyed in terms of driving. People were honking repeatedly and even for long periods of time.

Some even rolled their windows down to curse at each other for taking their spots. But I also

noticed that some seemed to not even have a reaction to this situation. I noticed that some just

went about and looking for other free open spots to park in. Eventually we found parking and

headed into the shopping center.

We were hungry so we walked to the food court area of the building and here is where I

noticed many things. The place was super packed with people walking all over the place trying

their hardest to find a table to eat for two or more. During this period I realized that people

bumped into each other a lot and were calm and respectful about it. Some carried food in their

hands and when bumped into someone their were two really different outcomes. One outcome

was that both parties realized it was an accident and apologized while the other outcome one

party apologized while the other yelled at them and handled the situation poorly. Some people

who also carried food somehow dropped their plate of food and, again, there were different
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outcomes for this situation. One outcome would that they pick up the food and throw it away and

clean the area they dropped the food on. Or some would just leave and let the food sit there or

kick it out of people’s way but of course this sometimes depended on how much food the person

dropped, from the 3 incidents I observed. When there was a free table where all of my family can

sit and eat I spent the whole time looking at people while they ate. Although I felt stalkerish and

weird I noticed certain things about people. Some people while they ate, ate kinda messy and

either dropped food on the table or the floor. And the observation that I made from these

situations were that people did different things about. A couple of them cleaned up after

themselves and stacked the trays and plates together making it easier for the clean up crew to

collect and take out the trash while others literally left the table and food however it was as soon

as they finished, leaving a mess and harder for people to clean. Between these observations I can

infer that it helps to see and evaluate one's character.

After eating we moved on to visiting and checking out stores. In between checking out

stores I observed what people and children did between the walkways, elevators, stairs,

escalators and stores. During the walkways people were more aware and observant. They

interacted with each other very differently then when in the food court. Here in the walkways

they didn’t bump into each other as much and let each pass. They were polite and nicer to each

other even if they did or did not bump into each other. While I was walking down these

walkways there were some seats and small couches for people to sit on. What I noticed with this

was that if they were eating there they sometimes left it on the furniture instead of throwing it

into the trash when getting up. Also some parents let their kids run wild during these walkways,

which their kids so I understand. When it comes to the elevators, it was nice and orderly. People
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let elders and disabled get on them first along with people with babies and strollers. Then the rest

of them got on if there was enough space and if there wasn’t then they’d wait for the next turn. I

don’t think I ever saw an incident with elevators. This same situation applies to stairs and

escalators. In the escalators people were respectful and all and some experienced the

awkwardness of trying to enter at the same time and eventually laughing about it. Although for

the stairs it was kind of the same thing except for sometime people almost ran into each other

when some climbed up and others were going down. When observing people interact with the

stairs this is where I noticed little kids having fun by jumping off the lowest stairs. During the

stores people's behavior was mainly calm and moderate. The only exceptions there were families

with young kids causing a scene during certain stores like a toy store. But from these situations I

also observed how the parents handled the situation, which was trying to calm their kids in

anyway possible.

This place is located in Glendale's shopping center, Glendale Galleria. I’m not sure if

geographical location matters because I saw all kinds of people be in the same situation today

(Oct. 13). All kinds of people I observed interact with people, objects, and the place were

Hispanics, African Americans and Caucasians be in these similar situations. As far as how

people react in this place is honestly very different from the experiences I’ve had at the mall that

is nearest to me and where I live, which is Baldwin Hill Crenshaw Mall. If I were to observe the

people in that area their behavior and reaction to some situations would be very different but also

similar in some. The only large link I can make from this place and my observations is that

maybe geographical location does play a role in the people’s behavior and their identity because
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the geographical location to Glendale Galleria is very different to the one in Baldwin Hills

Crenshaw Mall.