Susan Aiello
English 104 Sect. 89
January 29, 2009
Essay # 1
Lafollette Buffet
Introduction:
Those who are apart of Ball State’s meal plan know that for $7.95 you can get all you can eat at the Lafollette buffet. There is a wide variety of food from vegetables, fruit, pasta, desserts, main dishes, drinks, etc. But does anyone know how much hard work it took to prepare that food or keep that environment clean for them to eat? The employees that work at the Lafollette Buffet work very hard just to serve their customers, and there are many stereotypes that are associated with being a food service worker. By exploring the buffet, I hope to help others become more aware of what they do on a daily basis to develop a greater respect for what they do.
Reasons for Choosing This Subculture/ Fixed Positions:
Deciding what subculture I wanted to explore was a big struggle for me because there is so much out there that I wanted to learn more about. I considered three choices to explore: the football team here at Ball State, Athletes in Action which is a bible study for athletes that I am apart of or the Lafollette Buffet. In the end, I chose to explore the Lafollette Buffet because of its convenience and its location. It is right downstairs from where I live, so I knew I could easily go downstairs to observe and interview an employee whenever they were working. Other reasons why I chose this site are because I personally know the employees who work there. I just started working at the buffet at the beginning of second semester, so the more I work the more I get to know the employees and what they do. Since I work there, I have an easy access to go behind the scenes to observe not just from an outsiders point of view, but an insiders as well. Also, I have no fixed positions hat would affect me being there, so that is another reason why I chose this site. If I were to have chosen to explore the Ball State’s football team I would have had some fixed positions. One factor would have been my gender. Being a female and observing an all male team and staff would have prohibited me from certain areas and would have been more difficult to relate. However, at the buffet none of my fixed positions would affect the employees because everyone there is of a different age, race and gender. I know there are part time college students who work there, elderly women and males, middle aged women and males and on top of that they are all of different ethnicities.
Prior Knowledge of the Buffet:
Even though I just started working at the buffet two weeks ago, I still went there to eat dinner occasionally before that so I was very familiar with the location, when they were open and how it ran. However, ever since I started working there I adapted to their routine and have developed a better understanding of certain rules, rituals and behaviors that are preformed on a daily basis. I also have begun to develop more personal relationships amongst other employees. Being an insider and knowing some of the various workers will better help me when it comes to the interviewing process. Renee is one of the cashiers at the buffet who I work with every Monday night and she just started working at the buffet this year, but you’d think she has been working there longer for how well she knows everything already. I also know the supervisor, Ed, who is in charge of everything that goes on at the buffet. Ed, I expect will be a good source for me because he knows the buffet like the back of his hand. Other employees that I know are part time college students like me who will help give me a different perspective from the other employees.
Stereotypes/Assumptions:
First semester, I rarely went to the buffet because I didn’t care for the food and I believed it to be a dirty environment. But now, I find myself going to the buffet more frequently. One reason why is because of the cold weather. I’m too lazy to walk anywhere outside of Lafollette and the buffet is the closest. Another reason why I have started to go to the buffet is because I am more aware of what goes on and that it is cleaner than what I thought it was. Cleanliness in any restaurant or cafeteria is the number one importance and at the buffet it is no different. I know that there are many stereotypes about the buffet such as the food is old, not healthy, employees that are not college students that work in the serving line are not friendly, etc. Some believe that the buffet is the worst place on campus to eat food which is more of a personal opinion, but that is some stereotypes that the buffet has.
Observing, Researching, Thinking and Reading:
Doing this ethnography is going to be a challenge for me because when I observe I tend to only use my vision. What I have learned so far from field working is that in order to observe you have to go beyond what you see. You have to use the rest of the five senses: touch, smell, taste and hear in order to fully understand what is going on. Also, with taking observations I need to come into the habit of reflecting what I observed and how I felt about that. Like my vision, I have a tendency to think inside the box. I think of only what I know and what other I have been told. Getting away from this habit and getting outside of my box will help me to develop my own questions, thoughts, etc. When it comes to researching, I don’t mind it unless it is a hard topic to research and I can’t find a lot of information on that particular subject. Otherwise, I enjoy researching and learning new things. I use the computer a lot when I research which isn’t necessarily a good thing because some things on the internet aren’t true. Getting away from the internet more will help me to develop new research skills. I don’t mind researching at the library, but it is a little overwhelming trying to find a book. Reading is something I love and enjoy doing especially in my free time. All the books I have read have either been given to me or recommended to me. Other than that, I have never gone to a bookstore and picked out a book that looked interesting to me.
Conclusion:
I am really looking forward to creating an ethnography this semester because it is a style of writing that I have never done before and it will allow me to step outside of my box. In the past, most of the pieces I have written exclude using first person and so this semester is going to allow me to write more of a mixture between my own reflections and observations as well as some outside academic research. I feel as if an ethnography is more of telling a story which I will definitely enjoy; however I do not deny that it is going to be a long and grueling process. It is going to require lots of time, organizing, observing, reflecting and researching. My goal is to take in everything with an open mind and not giving up the first time I observe my cultural site.
