Syed Shataj Hosain

Professor Shemecaa A Harris

Writing For Social Science 

Discussion Board #3 

11th March, 2020.

                Coffee is a big part of my daily life. But I never felt like to sit down and observe the whole atmosphere of a coffee shop because I mostly grab and go. There is hardly any moment that I  ever looked at what is going on around the coffee shop until this assignment. I went to a coffee shop on Monday because I thought it would be fun to observe the shop during the week day. First, I bought a coffee for myself and sat in a corner. I noticed at first that mostly the professional people were buying coffee as breakfast. The coffee shop was next to a court and that is why most people who worked there come to get their morning coffee. I saw the barista taking orders so fast and rapidly and continuously telling her co-workers to make the orders. There were two barisha taking the orders and also making the coffee at the same time. They were very friendly  and engaging with the customers. The decoration of the shop was very sophisticated and they had a very big space for customers to wait in the line and grab the coffee. However, they had so many chair tables for people to sit down. I could smell all the freshly brewed coffee and the smell of toasted croissant. I looked around and saw there was an old couple sitting together and talking to each other while having their coffee. A young boy dressed like a soccer player holding a ball came in and asked for water from the barista. While taking sips of my coffee, I realized the manager walked in and took over the register from one of the barista’s. I noticed that the crowd was getting less as the day was getting closer to noon. I saw one of the baristas erasing the black board and writing the “Happy Hour” in front of the entrance and wrote some of the names of their drinks. She wrote down the offers that they will start from 2PM- 4PM. Some people were in a rush so they got no time to sit down, so they had their coffee and went. However, some like to sit and do their work on their laptop while having coffee. Mostly, in my observation the coffee shop was crowded in the early morning. I observed there are different types of people coming to the coffee shop and enjoy coffee with a good company. 

On March 11th, I decided to go to a local park setting in Harlem. When I first got to the park, I noticed a lot of people just walking and listening to music. At first I thought watching people in this park would be useless but then, a man walked through the park and he was talking on the phone. He walked extremely fast and shouted, “I don’t want to have to go over there and shoot up the place man, I really don’t want to do that.” This definitely made me laugh and feel concerned at the same time. After this man exited the park, a woman walked by and danced to her music and sang “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. By the looks of things, she was in a pretty good mood. On the left of me were two kids, a boy and a girl. They looked like good friends but they only looked about 8-9 years old. They were playing kid games and laughing while sitting on the bench. On the grass hill in front of me, there were two kids, another boy-girl pair. They were siblings and they were playing tag on the hill. The girl seemed very happy that she was wining the game and the boy just looked like he was happy to be outside. Their parents were waiting on them on the right side of me on the bench. They were in deep conversation but, they never took their eyes off of their kids. I think that something that I thought was very interesting was I saw a group of men smoking cigarettes. They were going to walk through the park but when they seen the kids they decided to stay far away from them and I thought that was interesting and also a gesture of respect towards the kids and their parents which you don’t really find now a days.

I have decided to go to chick-fil-A to do my observations. The one I went to is located in midtown. So as I walk by the place, theres a lot of people outside it just going by like usual. When I walk into the place, I stood on the line to order since I was hungry and the line was long too. As I was waiting on the line, I noticed the person on the counter was getting frustrated because the customer just didnt know how to order and asking to many questions. Also, people on the line were getting annoyed since there was one person on the counter but soon another person came to the counter. I ordered and as I was waiting, I look around to see whats going in the restaurant. I notice the first floor was filled and there was no place to sit. Also, most of the people were like late 20s or in 30s. I food came and I gabbed them and went upstairs. I noticed there was barely any room to sit but I found a sit in the corner. But surprisingly, most people upstairs were younger and mostly my age. The place was a little noisy. As I sat down, I noticed people didn’t care about whats going on around them. Some are just on their phones and eating while some are just with their friends talking. People were just simply minding their own business. After like an hour, I threw out my trash and left the restaurant.

Noticing how attitudes towards Asians have changed I decided to go to a place I have never been before: Chinatown. Specifically, I went to Columbus Park around 5 PM where I noticed I could find a seat with no trouble despite online sources saying I wouldn’t be able to. I credited this to the time of day, and went on with my observance which included the stores around the park as well. Another thing I noticed was there were two sections within the park, one full of adults and one mixed with kids and adults. For the former, adults were smoking and young adults smoked weed while throwing their head back, with eyes to the sky as they laughed at the nonsensical thing of life. This made me miss my old high school years where I used to do the same with my friends, and it caused me to dread growing any older. Nonetheless, even the adult section was segregated between Asians and other races, but even then not all Asian people were banded together and one man performed Tai Chi in a balcony. But of course, we all band together with our friends and people who speak our dialect or language, so I couldn’t attribute people’s racism with this division of groups. While at the kids’ section I noticed something a tad different, parents yelling at telephones, children playing indiscriminately with some kids being in solitude (maybe newcomers?) and just doing their own thing. It almost seemed as though race were unimportant to kids who were just trying to have fun, one group of kids consisted of black, white, Hispanic, and Asian but the thing that connected them was the want to play and the ability to speak the same language. So, within these sections, there were subsections and it was interesting to see that even children’s lives are complex without them even knowing it. Moving onto the stores around the park there were bare, a few had one to two customers inside of them with three waiters just lounging around looking bored. I had a craving for an iced matcha with boba, and of course, I didn’t bring cash to a cash-only store but when I went to chase I noticed it had both English and Mandarin characters displaying its name. When inside I saw employees furnished their cubicles with Chinese lanterns galore, I found this interesting since not a lot of Americans do this with their own cultures (but then again what culture do they have to display?). Once I got the cash I went back to the store and paid for my stuff, and watched as the store owner took over the self-serve pastries to prevent the spread of the disease (based on my assumption). All in all, today felt productive and I didn’t see any racist attacks towards Asians as I’ve seen on Twitter, so I hope one day New Yorkers feel safe enough to take the train because they are missing a lot from not going to Chinatown which endorses all, if not most, Asian cultures.

Adrian Aguilar

Discussion Post #3

On march 10 I decided to go to Costco. I went to buy groceries and some extra essentials I would need due to the Coronavirus outbreak. As I pushed the cart I recorded notes on my phone; it became increasingly difficult to maneuver through the crowd with my phone in my hand. In my head I thought this might have not been the best place to conduct my research but I continued anyway. With my brother doing most of the work, by grabbing and picking up the essentials we needed, I stayed on the sideline to watch the cart and our bags. 

What I noticed the most as I watched from the side was the pace of the people in the store. It was a packed day at Costco, and it felt like everyone was trying to escape. With the line starting at the front of the store and ending at the fish section (the back of the store), I felt like we were never going to leave. Like everyone else our pace increased. As we speed through the crowd to the paper towel section I hear a mother tell her kids, “grab everything you see we will use it at some point!!” I thought this was super funny as I retold the line I heard to my brother. 

We finally make it to the checkout line with our starting position at the back of the store. This was the longest and most boring part of my whole trip to Costco. As I heard the complaints from customers, “no one is working”, “what is taking so long!” I thought to myself what can you really do. Faced with a situation that was unavoidable I tried to be as patient as possible by keeping myself busy. I finally make it through check out and I am almost out the door. As I leave I hear one final phrase from my fellow hispanic security guards. 1st security guard “Tanta gente aqui”, 2nd security guard “ya tu sabes este virus tiene a la gente loca!” (TRANSLATION: “so many people here”, you already know this virus has the people crazy!”).

The public place I decided to observe is the New York Presbyterian Hospital lobby. Due to my schedule I was only able to visit at night on Mondays around 11 pm. I walked into the large lobby where there were small tables for people to sit on the left side and took a seat in that area to begin my observation. In the lobby on the right side there is a store where one can purchase food/snacks for people who want to eat. In the middle there’s a large desk where 2 security guards were sitting behind the desk.
Though it was late there were more people than I expected. On the tables there were 10 people sitting eating food from the cafe. Most of the people were sitting alone eating as they quietly looked through their phone. The patterns I noticed were that people were constantly moving in and out. The people in the cafe were constantly walking in and out with paper bags in their hands while there were people entering and leaving the elevators. Another pattern was that most people were alone, keeping to themselves as they traveled out or in the hospital. The few people who were in groups looked like family members who were pushing out the former patients in a wheelchair.
Even though it was so late people were walking in and out the lobby, the doctors/nurses were all in lab coats/scrubs. The doctors/nurses walked quicker than the other people who were moving through the lobby. Each person who entered had to go through a quick security check then go to the security desk where they had to get a visitors pass to go further into the hospital. Due to it being so late you could tell the doctors were going due to their quick steps and happy goodbyes to security as they left.
In the lobby you could only hear the steps of people and the voices of the security guards talking and laughing. Due to me constantly being in the hospital to take care of my grandma the security guards greeted and spoke to me. The security guards were going on a discussion about the coronavirus virus and how quickly it was spreading. Overall, I observed a very fast paced setting even when it was late at night on a weekday where there was just continuous movement of people except for the few who were eating on the tables.

I decided to go to St. Nicholas Park to observe those around me. It is currently 4:27 and their arent many people. There are four people, a pair playing basketball, another playing by himself, and the last person in skateboarding. The pair that is playing basketball is actually a mother and her child. another person entered the park and he is riding his skateboard. there are occasionally people who walk their dogs or are just passing through to get to the dorms. The two skateboarders started to skate together. now one is sitting on the phone while the other skates. the one sitting down is wearing a grey t-shirt and the other is wearing a black t-shirt with black pants. A couple passes through the park and so did a father and son. A few more people entered the court and started their own game of basketball. the weather is gorgeous and the sun is shining. It is not too hot but not too cold. by the chairs, there are three people sitting separately, one watching the basketball courts. there’s not much noise except for the occasional car or airplane. the sun is starting to slowly go down. There are a few people who just got out of school. as the hour passed, more people came to the basketball courts. There is a big group that is set up to play a game. They all seem like friends and are joking around with each other. The sky becomes much duller and it looks like it might rain. It also got a bit chillier. The common theme within the park is to go to the basketball courts or just to pass through the park.

It is about 12:15 pm as I take a seat in the fourth floor library. The wooden brown tables were filled, as usual, with college students. As I take a seat in front of the long table, I see many rows of other students conversating with each other. Additionally, I see students eating lunch and drinking beverages, so it seems that the rule of no food and drinks on all the floors are not enforced. As I look down at the table, I notice a white poster advocating for the closing of City College amidst of the coronavirus, a paper that was on all the tables. I chose to sit in front of a group of people, I assume that they are friends, who were working on their chemistry homework on Aleks. Their conversation over homework is seen throughout the little section of the library I chose to observe. Many students had their laptops open and were talking to other colleagues in a relaxed fashion.  This trend maintained the whole hour; while the students routinely became louder and then fading. Overall, the library scene remained pretty constant throughout the hour, and this experience helped me gain exposure observing many informants at once.

It’s about 2:30pm as I sit across on a big rock from the dog park on 135^th. The dog park isn’t much, but the dogs seem to enjoy it. Its located on a slanted hill and the benches where the owners sit are at the bottom lined up. Every time a dog enters the gates to the park Tinker the golden retriever greets them as if he was security. Tinkers owner sits on the bench with his legs crossed, looks like he is in his mid-twenties wearing a graphic t shirt. I noticed that he seemed like he was in a daze staring at the ground. The next person who entered the dog park came in with a phone pressed to her ear with a medium sized dog and a tennis ball in his mouth.  She paced the dog park walking back and forth engrossed in her phone call, as her dog ran around chasing his ball. She looked like a businesswoman and she could have possibly been on a call. A small poodle came in next accompanied with her owner. What I noticed is that most of the dogs mimicked their owners. Or the owners got dogs to fit their personalities. The poodle owner seemed like a quirky quite girl, her dog was a small golden poodle with a cute face that ran in between her legs. Tinker seemed sociable but also laid back just like his owner. Dash, the businesswoman’s dog matched the energy of the women. I personally really enjoyed Tinker.

I decided to observe and pay attention to what people do and their reactions when in the train, especially in the subway. For the most part, I would usually be on my phone and not look up until I get to my stop but this time was different. During my 45 minutes commute from college to my house, I noticed certain patterns among those in those in the same train car as me. I stood by the doors because it was slightly packed. I look up and see that most people were on their phones. Some occasionally looked up but quickly went back to the screen in their hands after realizing that their stop is yet to come. There was something about seeing a series of people in the same crouching-like position staring at the screen of their phones at the same time.

Now, there were the ones who, with their belongings on their lap somehow managed to sleep soundly. Personally, no matter how tired I am, I couldn’t possibly be able to sleep in the train. There were a couple of them with their head leaned against the seat, face facing up others facing down, hugging their bags with their eyes closed. I noticed that it was mostly middle aged men who did this while those submerged in their phones were younger.

Moving on to the homeless individuals who barge in every car to ask for money and tell their story. More often than not, they would be wearing slightly torn dirty clothes. For the most part, people would just ignore them or stare and some would occasionally give them coins. When these things happen, I notice that almost everyone makes eye contact and shake their head as if they all shared some inside joke and then there is this momentarily mutual understanding passing by. I found it fascinating how people can find things they have in common but still be disconnected from one another in a matter of seconds.