Starbucks Observation Paper

Gender Roles in the Business of Starbucks The observation discussed in this paper occurred at the Eastside Starbucks between a white man and white woman sitting on the same side of the table. Both were dressed in a professional manner wearing slacks and button-down shirts. The man had on a wedding band while the woman wore glasses. This Starbucks is relatively small there are about 5-6 tables along the wall with the counter on the opposite wall with a small seating area at the front of the coffee shop. I was sitting at the table closest to the door with my back to the door facing the back of the shop. The two people I was observing were sitting two tables down and facing my direction. The woman sat in the chair nearest the wall while the man

Since they were both on their cell phones and looking at a shared screen while sitting on the same side of the table I concluded that they were in a conference call. During the conference call the woman nodded her head in agreement with whomever the conference call was with more frequently than the man. The woman also continually bit her lip and pushed her lips together throughout the meeting. The man would tap his fingers together and occasionally twirls his wedding band around his finger. Both the lip biting and ring twirling appear to be nervous or anxious habits since they were repeated during a business

Although, this could just be them getting rid of notifications, there were a few occasions where they were muting their line so that they could talk to one another with out the person on the other end of the conference call hearing. The appearing to be confused when pressing buttons on the cell phone and muting the calls to make side comments to the other person relates to expression rules. While a business meeting over technology can cause technical difficulties, there are still certain emotions and reactions expected from each participant depending on the