breaking the norm

Courtney Thomas
Ms. Klein
Soci 1
Jul1, 2011

Breaking the Norm

Society is a box and in this box are the normal things that people do and the values that people believe in and different sanctions. Different cultures have different values that they abide by and different norms. What I do here in the California may not be normal to the way they do things in Florida or any other country. When learning people you learned about that person values and standards that they go by. Every culture has their own expectations concerning the right way to reflect its values. Sociologist uses the term norms to describe those expectations that develop out of groups values. Sanctions are the reactions that people give you when you follow the norm or go against it; it is either a positive or negative sanction. Norms creates boundaries and provides stability in that particular society. Norms can also be force through law. Times that people can break the norm are on holidays. The norm that I broke was going in the store and switching the clothes that I had on for some new ones instead of buying what I had put on and attempted to walk out the door. The normal thing would have been where you would come in contact who works for the company. At that time he or she would total his value of items you have picked out and you would pay in the form of United States currency in order to obtain the cloths My favorite store to shop at is Ross and what I had notice about Ross is they hardly have a sensor on their items. On July 1, 2011 I decided to walk into Ross by the Grove with some black sweats on with three red strips on the side and with an Abraham Lincoln shirt on from Forever21. I also had on a pair of 6rings Jordan’s. That Friday was a normal day, nice size of people in the store and plenty of sales associates in which I felt would be a great time to exercise my theory of what cloths people want they should trade for.
The first thing that I did was normal activity, I went up and down the racks of designer cloths marked down from the outrages prices that Ross obtains at bargains by buying at bulk prices and savings and passing those savings unto me and giving me the opportunity to look my best for less looking for an outfit that I might like and would want to wear. My first selection was the shirt; I grab a black and white shirt with pink lettering on it saying, “I love my Boyfriend”. The second shirt I grabbed was pink and black stripped top with no lettering. The third shirt I grabbed was a pink tank top with black and white icons on it. The second selection that I went looking for was a pair of pants. I spotted first some black loose fit Levis jeans with four pockets on the side. Then I also saw some dark denim shorts. I then took my five items to the fitting room where there was a sales associate by the name Annie who asked me to put my clothes on a rack so she may count them. After she count the number of item I had she then gave me a number five and sent toward the ladies fitting room. I tried on all of my items and picked the one that I liked the most and was the most comforting. With much success in what I wanted to wear in the cloths I wanted to wear so I did the unormal. I then walked out the fitting room and what I was wearing was then on the rack. For that I waited in line with the cloths off my back that I had walked in with in my hand and the new outfit that I had just picked out now wearing it as my new outfit and using my old outfit as payment to turn in. Because I would instead of paying for new cloths I am going to just turn in as much as I take so a shirt for a shirt, pants for pants and shoes for shoes and so on and so forth. As waited in line I suddenly felt sick at the nervousness that came upon me, I approached the cashier and started putting cloths up that had looked as if were already used and the fact that none of my cloths had price tags or bar codes or theft sensors caused the young lady to give me a puzzling stare as to why I had given her these cloths without any identification. I stated that I am exchanging these cloths these are the cloths I came in with and I did some shopping here and would like to turn in the cloths I had already worn. Following that she asked me to explain my intentions as I did which was to find cloths that I needed and exchange them only equally to what I had already had to her reaction told me that isn’t how things work . Immediately the girl called for the manager of the Ross store to try and better under the situation that I have embarked upon her as a customer who wants to use a form of trade as payment. When the manager arrived the cashier simply explained that I wanted to take my old cloths and trade them in equally for the things that I had on no more no less. We are all different and react and deal with situations and problems on terms of our own judgment. For example from the puzzled yet interested young cashier I had gotten at first I was now met with a stern gentlemen to which the business of managing a store was not to be thought lightly of was heading towards my way. After a brief summary of what was going on by the young cashier the manager asked me to step aside and speak with him and security and I began to feel very nervous he was wondering why I felt as if though I thought that it was ok to just take whatever I wanted and that we have laws and that what I am doing is breaking the law and therefore and arrest able offense and because of the seriousness of the crime they would have to detain me for further questioning. Now things were starting to get serious but as long as local law enforcement didn’t get involved I was willing to see what the manager actions would take us. Upon his return he impatiently showed me he had security tape of me written statements and witnesses who all saw and watched me make my selection of clothing and try to exchange them for the ones I had on to which he asked he so what do you have to say for yourself I replied ‘I am not denying the fact that any of this happened but I feel that if I have the rights I should be able to when I need to come here or anywhere and get cloths that I need not to just take them but equally give what you have back to the store but then the store manager asked me a very binding question of what all of a sudden brought upon you this way of trade then asking my age I said twenty and he replied so for about let’s say the past five years you have been shopping by means of trading cloths equally for one another. I said no and he said so why do you think you can do it now I stated because I feel like its fair trade which made him feel as if I were playing a childish game and wasting his time to were he said your time is up and you must now deal with the authorities which was probable cause for me to end my study and confess to what I was doing a project about breaking the norm of how things are done in everyday life and how disrupting that causes sometimes confusion and challenging behavior. As I started to explain myself the managers frustrated expression suddenly turned intrigued and began to show interest in what I was doing in my class project and after a brief discussion about the severity of the situation I apologized and thanked everyone who was involved in my project. This project I can say really took me out of my norm because even though I know it was for school the pressure of going against society ways was immense to put on the shoulders of one person to step out and say I want to do it this way