Susan Aiello
David DiSarro
English 104
5 February 2009
The Truth on Lafollette Dining
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. Exploring this subculture is very important because it will get rid of those stereotypes and myths linked to the buffet.
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 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 that 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 it would have been more difficult for me 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 is part- time college students who work there, elderly women and males, middle-aged women and males, and on top of that their all of different ethnicities. Having being to the buffet before, I have a great deal of knowledge prior to actually researching and observing.
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 performed on a daily basis. For example, when it comes to apparel, employees must follow a certain dress code. They are suppose to wear a red shirt (which employers provide), black shoes, black pants and a hair net. Keeping the buffet clean at all times is a ritual that is performed everyday. At the buffet it is all about the customers and behavior is very important. Staying on task and getting the job is essential.
Every day I work, I begin 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 I look forward to interviewing her for my ethnography because she will give me a different perspective of the buffet. 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 as well.
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. When I went there for dinner my food was cold, and it reminded me of the cafeteria food I had in middle school, which in fact, never made me want to buy lunch at school again. I assumed that the employers didn’t care about the customers and that they were there to get their pay check every week and that was all that mattered. 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. Also, there is a wide variety of food to eat, unlike the other food places in Lafollette that have the same exact food everyday. I know that there are many stereotypes about the buffet such as the food is old, not healthy, the employees that are not college students 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.
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 hearing 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 others have told me. 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. When it comes down to actually reading, I am one of those people who have to read it a few times in order to understand what is going on, and I have to be in a quiet environment because I get easily distracted.
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 give up the first time I observe my cultural site.
