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Duration : 5 min 30 sec

Duration : 0:9:25

Reading a book is generally something one does in a peaceful setting. It requires concentration and attention usually. So one might say that its inappropriate to read when running errands, even if they are small. Grocery shopping is not as labor intensive as reading (we can still talk on the phone) but still requires attention. Just controlling the shopping kart is tedious and a dull task in itself. Ordering food and sending mail out through the post office require attention once you get to the front of the line and speak to the cashier. Even if you are not actually reading (just looking at the pages) it can be confusing to speak to them when we are staring at a book. The cashier is also confused as to why somebody is so fixed on a book when they can make life a lot easier by just putting it down and finish the task at hand.

I went to the burger king on Jackson street across from Wal mart first. I waited in line with a copy of Unwind by Neil Shusterman and “read” all the way to the front. The cashier asked what I would like to order. As I gave a him a quick glance, I ordered a medium soda. He commented on the book with “You must really like to read.” I replied “yes”. I paid for it and left with the book still opened and in my hand. The Post office was similar, except the I actually had to set the book down for a minute as I put my package in the box and fill out the shipping info. The clerk didn’t say anything as she asked me what type of shipping I would like to use and even as a fumbled to get money out of my pocket with my left hand as I held my book in my right. She did look at me as if I was odd however.
Newman’s County Market was my last stop. This involved the most effort since I had to simultaneously push a kart with one hand and hold a book open with the other. I worked my way through the aisles, as I pretended to pay attention to the book in my left hand. I picked up a few items on the way such as cereal, milk, chips, eggs, hot dog buns, and lunch meat. When I first went to the deli to oder a half a pound of Cajun turkey breast, there were no employees there and I thought it might be closed ( This was on Sunday evening by the way). An employee saw me and had another worker to come over and take my order. He said “scooter you got a customer”. Scooter replied “ I see him I’m coming”. The first guy said “I’m sorry I wasn’t sure if you knew knew he was waiting to be helped. He is reading a book after all.”
I was now ready to check out. I didn’t have to wait in line because the store wasn’t busy so I walked up to the first cashier I saw and started to put my groceries on the conveyor belt, with one hand. As I swiped my card, the girl working the cash register said, “You’re reading while you’re shopping? How do you do that?” I replied, “I am doing this for a research project of the dangers of multitasking.”
While I was behaving in this unusual way, I kept thinking of how people are going to react. I was constantly trying to focus on appearing like I actually was reading as opposed to just walking around with an open book in one hand. I felt very disoriented when I was pushing a shopping kart and I struggled to get the credit card out of my wallet. Even though I knew what I was doing is for a paper, other people didn’t know this and the power of the situation may have led them to believe that I was reading a book in these improper places because I was strange or otherwise lacking in social graces.
What was strange was many of the people that I came within close proximity to, didn’t stare at me and some made no make eye contact. This was especially true in the grocery store I thought because there were more people that had the opportunity to say something. Newman’s was also the weirdest place for somebody to casually read a novel in my opinion. However, the workers that I had to deal with face to face were more open to commenting on my norm violation. Appealingly, people were curious about what I was doing, but unless talking to me was necessary they said nothing.
From this experience I have learned that norms are harder to violate than we may think. When people violate norms, it is sometimes best to say nothing despite your curiosity. When opportunity arises however, we sometimes comment on/question the norm violato
this is for an Psy 250 and this is not a research paper this is one of 4 small papers (not reports)

I think one aspect of your paper fails to mention, as far as people not responding, is that perhaps by not speaking to you or acknowledging you they were being polite and giving you your space to allow you to do something that they perceived you enjoyed doing. Sometimes by saying nothing is an acknowledgment in its own without inferring someone is violating a ‘norm’ in society.

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