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Shopping in American Culture
Shopping in American Culture
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The aisles of grocery stores are chock-full of a wide variety of everyday products: produce, meat, laundry detergent, candles, socks, tooth paste, and so on. American citizens’ lives vary as widely as the products in a grocery store, but one aspect that remains the same is the need for basic household items. These residents gather at humble stores every single day in search of products and unknowingly cross paths with each other. Let’s take a look at what the shoppers and employees at an average grocery store in America might look like. In the snack aisle is a soccer mom with her gaggle of children running around by her side. If you’re especially lucky, she may even have a crying infant in her cart. Yes, these children are loud and disruptive. Yes, some shoppers may even call them annoying. However, Mrs. Soccer seems as if she’s lost interest in other shoppers’ disgruntled mutters and dirty looks; she instead chooses to focus her attention on ensuring her “ducklings” don’t knock over any displays. In her cart …show more content…
Bachelor walks out of the aisle only to accidentally bump into a tall, muscular man who tells him to watch where he’s going. Mr. Buff, dressed in an oversized muscle shirt and basketball shorts, goes forth to the health section and grabs an unusually large tub of protein powdered. He carries it with a single, massive arm while he ventures onto other sections for meat and frozen vegetables. Mrs. Soccer, Ms. Student, Mr. Bachelor, and Mr. Buff all line up to be rung up by Ms. Clerk. Ms. Clerk is a high school student whose parents felt the need for her to learn some responsibility and financial independence. She has dark hair with blonde streaks tied into a neat ponytail, a nylon vest with a nametag pinned to it, thick eyeliner, and a piece of gum in her mouth. She rolls her eyes when the mother passes her a handful of coupon clippings, when the student counts out dollars in change, and yet again when the bachelor tries to make a pass on
Mallaby admits Wal-Mart can treat their employees and other retailers unfairly, but as a result everyone can share in the 50 billion in savings that American shoppers consume annually. The pay that employees get is the price they must pay for low priced merchandise. Because of the minimal pay to employees, Wal-Mart strengthens its’ consumer buying power. Giving the American shoppers the savings they need, Wal-Mart’s has ultimately been them successful. Wal-Mart has potentially wiped out the middle class as an employer, but the employees can now work and ...
For this assignment, I decided to go to a grocery store by my house named Meijer. Meijer is just like any other grocery store, similar to Wal-Mart, yet higher quality products than Wal-Mart.
At the beginning of the story, three girls walk in with only bathing suits. As the story unfolds, a diligent reading of the description reveals that Sammy, the A&P cashier, desires the attention from the girls. As “Queenie” and her followers scroll through the aisles, the fellow costumers and the employee’s eyes were glued to their presence. The narrator is a teenager who works the checkout line. He does not notice them when they walk in, but as soon as he spots them he is glued and notices every detail about each of the girls. The author allows Sammy to have a dramatic
Lengel, the manager of the store, spots the girls and gives them a hard time about their dress in the store. He tells them, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” He says that they are not dressed appropriately to come into this grocery store. Lengel’s words cause Queenie to get embarrassed and start to blush. Sammy cannot believe this and gets frustrated at his boss. He doesn’t believe that it is right to prosecute these innocent girls for the way they are dressed. He also states at this point that the sheep are piling up over in Stokesie line trying to avoid all the commotion the scene has caused. I believe Sammy takes this as the last straw in a long string of aggravations.
The environment of the modern day grocery store can be quite stressful. It is here, that people truly show their disposition. Its almost like the act of standing behind people equally as frustrated is a form of torture, and only then does the truth come out. The truth is, most people live boring lives, and this chore puts an emphasis on boredom. Most people tend to forget about one thing during this grueling experience, and that is the employee. When a customer becomes frustrated, they take it out on the employee, but when the employee becomes frustrated with agitated customers the same outlet is not available. The Story of “A & P” by John Updike, and the Film of “Employee of the Month”
Nearly every American has or had shopped at Wal-Mart at some point or another, and we’ve seen the amount of hassle that many of the workers deal with every time we stand in line to checkout. Long lines during the night while short lines in the very early morning, it sometimes appears as if Wal-Mart’s so-called “associates” never stop working. The use of the word “associates” rather than “workers” strikes a hint of deterioration of their purpose of working—that is to get paid. This label established by the firm that proclaims the importance of equality merely sells itself into its own propaganda by cherishingly slashing wages and worker’s benefits because apparently, they’re not workers, they’re associates. To help hardworking Wal-Mart employees
Walmart is one of the well-known children’s toy store in the United States and so, I decided to visit the store nearby my house on Davis Street in San Leandro. The store was pretty clean and less busy during the day. This Walmart is vastly huge; perhaps the reason they placed large department and gender signs over the aisles so these would help shoppers easily locate and get the items they are looking for. As a matter of fact, these department signs (e.g. Baby and Toys) and gender signs (e.g. Girls and Boys) helped me find the toy department quickly.
The goal for my ethnographic study is subjected to the study of the people of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a place that varies from city to city, but still attracts many of the same people. Everyone knows the weird people that wear ridiculous things to do their normal routine of shopping. That is why I have chosen to do my mini ethnography one day while shopping as an insider at the local Wal-Mart in Auburn, Alabama. Wal-Mart is a large center for shopping that attracts many different types of people, while creating an environment within itself.
...u decently dressed when you come in here.” this man was entirely strict and conservative, as much was to be expected of a man around these part, he was most likely an avid church goer, Sunday school teacher, Boy Scout troop leader name your cliché. I started again “We are decent,” and before I could continue Lengel interrupted me, “Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.” and then he walked toward the clerk with a disappointed look and asks “Sammy, have you rung up this purchase?” with an astonished expression caused by the event that just occurred before his eyes, Sammy simply replies “No” and rings me up with a great deal of haste, as to get my friends and I out of this self-righteous store before we disgrace it any further. He hands me the change then we hurry out of the store rushing to the car.
Starting the day right after Thanksgiving, everybody’s mind is set on one thing: Shopping. People young and old wake up early in the morning to start their holiday shopping. Everyone is looking for the perfect gift for their family and friends. But nobody cares to think of what the employees at their favorite stores think and feel. Shoppers just come inside and turn the store upside down.
Imlay, T. (2006). Challenges in today’s u.s. supermarket industry. Microsoft Retail and Hospitality, Retrieved from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479076.aspx
The most significant component of Wal-Mart’s success was the way it treated its employees or as they are known as in Wal-Mart “associates”, the beliefs or rules of the Wal-Mart culture makes associates want to provide excellent service to its customers. During visits Walton encouraged associates to pledge to greet customers and ask if they assist them or walking into a Wal-Mart store customers are met by a greeter, an associate who welcomed them and handed out shopping carts (Farhoomand, 2006).
We live in an increasingly homogenized world full of big box stores that offer convenience and cheaper prices but sacrifice community and character.
Raising the Bar No bra, pajamas, and messy hair may describe a person getting out of bed in the morning for most people. Unfortunately, this is the typical attire for a trip to Wal-Mart. After growing a custom to this tradition of being a slob is acceptable, I had a light-bulb moment or epiphany. Even though society keeps condoning the lowering of standards for humanity, it took an eye-opening Wal-Mart trip for me to realize how much we have regressed as a civilization. On a visit to my local Wal-Mart, I noticed the typical, “People of Wal-Mart.” As a young, obese man wearing stained gray sweat pants drove past me, he spilled out of the store’s motor scooter.
Topic/Question: What do people usually do when they are at the George Sherman Union’s food court? Is there a difference in behavior between those who study or eat alone and those who do that with friends? Description: My goal is to explore the atmosphere at the GSU food court.