Amy Nash
Sociology1301
LSCO
Ms. Miller
Summer I 2013

Ethnomethodology

For my experiment I decided to stick to something I am comfortable with, grocery

shopping! Something I am not comfortable with is holding up a line with lots of questions

for the clerk. I decided this would be a good way for me to “break the norm” of the alrea-

dy dreadful grocery store checkout line. After throwing some things in the basket I got in

line and started doing what I normally do, talk with the people in line. When my turn ca-

me I immediatley started asking questions and having the cashiere do price checks. If

an item that I thought was on sale did not ring up the sale price I had the cashiere call

the manager. The manager had to check on atleast three items.

I realized after the first price check that the seemingly nice people in line behind me

were not acting as nice as they had been. After the third price check they were really irr-

itated. One lady left the line while taling under her breath. The young man directly behind me, holding only a couple of things, seemed to be fine until I apologized for taking so long, he rolled his eyes at me. I could not believe it! I knew this would not be easy but I had no clue how embarrising it would be for me. Not only did I become uncomfortable but I also felt anger. I really did’nt like the way I was being treated by the cashiere, who