Examples Of Restaurant Observation

For this assignment I chose to go to a restaurant to find someone to observe. When I arrived at the restaurant I decided to observe an elderly caucasian male. He looked to be in his mid to late 60s. At first he was alone, waiting for his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild to arrive. While he seemed perfectly content while waiting, there was an obvious brightness to his mood once his family arrived. One of the first actions that I noticed was that he did not have conventional table manners. For the majority of the time he was waiting for his food, the man had his elbows resting on the table with his hands folded near his mouth. It was clear that he had never been at this restaurant before since it took him a while to decide what to order. He asked his daughter about a few dishes before ultimately deciding on
What I found most problematic about this assignment was my ability to look discreet while still being able to focus. I went to the restaurant with a friend hoping it would make it easier to blend in while I was observing. Although this technique worked, my friend would talk while I was making my observations thus making it more difficult for me to focus solely on observing. I am unsure whether or not I would do that differently since going with another person helped me to blend in and not get caught, which was a fear of mine from the beginning. When I first received this assignment I was quite uncomfortable with the thought of having to watch someone eat for an extended period of time. Even after I completed my research I felt like I was a bit of creep. The only time I did not feel uncomfortable was when I was actually doing the observation. I felt comfortable making the observations since once I was actually there I knew that I was not judging him based on his eating habits, but simply observing