The Stage: The cafe I sat in is stationed in the middle of Kamloops, BC. I sat there on a Saturday in the afternoon 3 pm on November 12, 2016. When I came inside, I noticed a lot of light, coming through the window. There were only two tables left; I choose to sit down in the middle of the restaurant so that I had a good overview over the cafe. On the table is sugar, salt, pepper, a menu and a fake flower. There were a lot of noises to be heard: talking people, the coffee grinder, the coffee machine, the ventilator, and some music in the background. It smelled like fresh baked food and coffee. They do bar service; this means that you order at the counter and the staff will bring it to your table. I choose for this cafe because it is one of my favorites in town.
The Blocking:
The Players: there were a lot of people inside. There was one baby cart with a baby, a pregnant woman, youth, people from middle age, older adults and of course the staff, recognized by their skirts. The long table next to the window had three teens with a laptop they were too far away to see what they did, and there was a table next to the door with a couple and their baby I couldn’t hear them either.
Main characters:
Woman A & B: sitting next to me are two older ladies, you could see this from their faces, hair color (gray/white) and the way of moving. Woman A wore a black sweater and B a blue jacket.
Couple C: An older man, with glasses a balding head and with a red coat on. With him an older woman, with red hair which slowly became gray with a black jacket.
Couple D: On this table with a pregnant woman around 30 years old and red hair with her husband also around 30 years old brown hair and a beard, both dressed in sports clothes. The man his leg is in a bandage.
Waitress E: Young blond waitress: around 20 years old, wearing black jeans, a black working polo and a skirt.
Barman F: Young brown haired barman: around 20 years old, wearing blue jeans, a black working polo and
The Plot: The people next to me were two older ladies(Woman A & B), you could see this from their faces, their hair color (gray/white) and the way of moving, they just arrived after me, and both ordered a coffee at the bar. They went sitting next to me; one of the ladies had a camera with here. I caught up a conversation about their new home. They talk about what it looks like and what there is to do around the neighborhood. They didn’t spoke much more and were staring in front of them until their coffee was brought after 5 minutes. The coffee was placed in the middle of the table, without any word of the waitress E. The ladies drank their coffee in 2 minutes and left talking about going to the grocery store.
Two people went sitting on the other side of me (Couple C). While they pass me an intense perfume reaches my nose, I’m sure it’s the woman. The man asked what the woman wants to drink, Cola she answered. The man goes to the bar to order. He is greeted friendly by the young blond girl, but she doesn’t help him. Barman F helps him; he orders a cola and coffee. While ordering the barman drops a glass, and decides to clean it up first before helping the older man further. The man stands to wait for two minutes at the bar. The older woman with red hair in front of me plays with her hair while waiting for her husband. The boy is still cleaning the glass from the floor. The waitress E tells the older man that she will bring him the coffee and he walks back to the table with the cola in his hand. He tells his wife that they will bring his coffee the table. His wife asked if she wants some of her drink. They talk about a model train shop the man intends to go to; he says they have very beautiful old trains. After 5 minutes the waitress come’s and brings two coffees to a different table. The man says “do I still get my coffee!”. Without saying something the waitress E walks back and after 2 minutes she brings him his coffee and doesn’t say anything. The man says “finally thank you.” The couple C kept talking about the model train shop.
After waitress E is done at the table of couple C, she walks to the table behind me where couple D sits. Waitress E excuses herself to them couple D and offers a free drink (I don’t know why), the couple accepts it. They talk about the man his broken leg, which is in bondage. While talking with the waitress, the man fidgets a bit trough his hair and looks at his phone. After 3 minutes she brought the sandwiches they ordered. The waitress offers her apologize again, and the couple thanks her.
I noticed in my observation that there wasn’t that much interaction between the staff and the guests, as with ordering and with bringing the order to the table. I think it had to do with the fact there was only one waitress who had to serve six tables on her own; I believe she was not that used to it yet.
Final: I set down 15 minutes in a downtown coffee shop on 12 November observing six adults having various coffee drinks. I am a 22-year-old Dutch male university student and felt comfortable doing the assignment; I had an excellent coffee while watching all the people around me talking and running (waitress E). The central theme of my analysis was the service of the coffee shop itself; some things didn’t go that well. The main conclusion of the observation is that the waitress had a lot to learn and that she had much impact on how men felt in the coffee shop.
