The Sociological Imagination

There is a Mexican restaurant here in town that is fairly new and it is packed every night, I knew it would be the excellent spot to do my observations. You can learn a lot about a culture and or society by observing their behaviors in a public setting especially restaurants.

When you walk in a waiter greets you and asks how many people will be eating at your table and if it will be nonsmoking or smoking. Since a lot of restaurants are now enforcing the no smoking policy this particular restaurant placed their smoking tables outside so that it would not bother the other customers. I noticed that the groups of three to four people that the women usually sat on the inside of the booth while the man sat on the outside and the third party or other couple sat across from them. When it was just one couple at a table they were normally sitting across from one another rather than beside each other. Once you are seated the waiter brings the complementary chips and dip and asks what you would like to drink. I noticed that most people ordered sweet tea and the rest mostly ordered pepsi and water. I also noticed that most of the younger people were seated in the front of the restaurant while the older customers were seated in the back of the restaurant. A lot of customers didn't speak while they were looking at their menu or while they were eating,