Breaking A Social Norm Essay

To violate a social norm, i will be greeting strangers in a nontraditional way. This norm acts as a mechanism of social control by getting people to give an approved reaction to meeting strangers. It allows us to be friendly without getting too personal. Normally when we greet a stranger we say something along the lines of, “Hello, how are you?”, and the other person responds by saying something like, “Good, how about you?”. Instead I will respond by giving them some unusual greetings to break this social norm.

There is a wide range of reactions people could have to breaking this social norm. Some people might ignore it, while others could ask further questions. People might get annoyed and feel obliged to continue talking to me. I predict

the common reaction I will get is people trying to find a way out of the awkward encounter. They will probably make an excuse to leave.

I will be violating this social norm at the Valley Mall and the Premium Outlets in Hagerstown. There were lots of people around but only around three or four people were close enough to observe me greet others. There were many different types of people observing. People of all ages were there. There were some busy people who ignored what was going on, and others who would stand close by see what I was doing. I got some weird looks from people around me.

When I entered the Mall, I first went to Macy’s.

One of the employees greeted me with a smile and asked how I was doing. Instead of just smiling back and saying I fine, I gave her a thumbs up and nodded my head in exaggerated movement. She responded by giving me a shocked look and then awkwardly smiling until i left. Inside Macy’s, i was looking at homecoming dresses and needed a fitting room. I snuck up behind another employee and asked very loudly where the fitting rooms were. SHe jumped a little and then turned around. I think she thought i was deaf because she pointed in the direction of the fitting rooms and kept loudly repeat that they were in the corner over where she was pointing. At the outlets I went to Nike and the employee greeted me by asking how my day was and I went up to him and patted him on the back, while telling him i had a good day. He didn’t respond to this, instead he kept smiling normally and greeting the people behind me. As i walking to another store, a lady standing outside said hello and I stopped and stuck my hand out. I have her a handshake and without staying anything, i left. She looked a bit confused when i left. For my last awkward greeting, I went to American Eagle and i was looking at some jeans. There was a lady and her daughter standing beside me and without looking at them, I said hello and asked them how their day was. They both looked at each other and the mom said they were doing good. Then they

left.