People Watching Observation
April 10, 2013 I seated myself in a booth with my back faced to the wall. It was here that I had an ominous view of the Galleria food court. With pencil in hand, and notebook ready, I began taking notes on the many observations I noticed in the three hour window that I sat and “people watched”. Nothing particular stuck out at me at first, I gazed around, from table to table, and only noticed the general routines you would expect to find at any mall food court. Employee’s meeting on their lunch breaks, stay at home mom’s getting a quick bite at chik-fil-a as they drag their children along to the next errand, and the elderly in no hurry to get anywhere specific. It was the same mundane routine through the course of the first hour, it only being four in the afternoon, many kids were still in school, and adults at work. The mall was close to barren as a few moms strolled around leisurely, baby’s at hip, or teetering along side of them. Many of these moms were white, caucasions, displaying their obvious means of wealth in the jewlrey that they wore, and the handbags they carried. Two mothers sat infront of me as I observed the food court, while casually picking at their grilled chicken salads in front of them, and their children ran wild in the play place that was within eye sight. They didn’t speak to anyone who passed by, nor did they bother themselves with helping another lady who was in an clear pannick after finding out that her son was no longer by her side and had ventured off sometime when she was ordering lunch. They kept to themselves, immersed in their own gossip, only rising to coo their children after having a wipe out on the kiddy slide. As 5 o’clock crept up, I began to notice a shift in the general audience. Many teenagers began appearing as their parent’s dropped them off front, and the upperclassmen drove. They arrived in packs, loud, and obnoxious to everyone else in ear shot. Profanitites were not in short when they arrived, and sexual