Running head: STARBUCKS ETHNOGRAPHY 1

Starbucks Ethnography

Alejandra Briones and Katrina

Minnesota State University

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Coffee shops are a versatile place where people can come to meet up with others

or be alone in their own zone. For this reason, we chose to observe the nature

communication of a Starbucks. The Starbucks we observed was the one on Madison

Avenue in Mankato. We chose this location because its a smaller building and there is

still a lot going on in the area around it so we knew there would be a diverse group of

people in the Starbucks.

Walking into the Madison Avenue Starbucks is always a great feeling because the

smell of coffee permeates the air all around you. There are two pub tables, four little

tables, a harvest table, and two long counter tables against the windows. There are two

entrances and a walkway in front of the coffee bar and bakery area. Against one wall is a

display of coffee mugs and merchandise for sale.

We observed this Starbucks at two different times on the same day. The first

observation was made from 11:00am-12:00pm on Sunday, October 16, 2016 and the

second observation was from 1:00pm-2:00pm on the same day. Both observations were

conducted as complete observations. Neither of took part in the communication that we

were observing, we were only there to observe and not participate.

Both verbal and nonverbal communication was observed from not only the

patrons of the Starbucks but also the employees who work there. Some of the customers

were there alone and for those customers we paid attention to their nonverbal

communication and for the customers who were there with others we focused a lot on

their verbal communication.

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For the findings what the first observation time conducted was after seating down

and getting settled there was a male and a female students sitting to the left of me and

they were very stressed about one of their classes and the and the male was freaking out

because he was not doing so well in the class and he wanted to drop the class. I know

they went to Minnesota State University because the male had an MNSU keychain and so

did the female. The female student is telling to relax that she can help him with the class.

They start doing the assignment and she is confused on how to finish the assignment.

They both get frustrated and start talking about the professor and how he should not

assign dumb assignments. He talks about how hard every assignment has been and she

agrees with him.

Times goes on and they are still working on the assignment she than figures out

she cannot finish it because she does not know how. I can tell he is getting even more

upset by the way he is grabbing his head and by the way he is putting his hands over his

eyes. He is also turning red because of how frustrated he is. She says she is unable to do

the assignment and she will have to talk to the professor soon so they can get it done. He

starts to freak out a little bit and tells her he will probably drop the class and she keeps

telling him not to because she will help him. He seems very upset and says, How are

you suppose to help me if you cant event figure it out. She says, I will figure it out and

help you. He looks like he has not hope, they start packing their things up and she gives

a big hug, and they leave together unsure what their last words were to each other.

This was one of the more detailed and personal stories I got to observe while

being at Starbucks, but I also got to observe the communication between an employee

and the manager. As I am sitting there I notice someone rush into the doors and see he is
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rushing to put on an apron and a headpiece. I see the manager is looking and him and

class him to the back. I know she is the manager because she is not wearing a uniform,

which in this case are the aprons. They usually wear all black with the apron on. She is

wearing regular clothes. She calls him to the back and you can tell he is upset about it

because he starts walking towards her with his head down. Times passes and I see he

walks out very upset. She walks out with him and I could tell he was trying to avoid her

and his facial expressions were very noticeable. I do not know what they exactly talked

about in the back but I know for sure it was very upsetting to the employee. He did not

like the news he received.

During the second set of observation I observed a woman conducting an informal

job interview with another woman. The woman conducting the interview was in her late

40s wearing a semi-casual outfit with an athletic zip-up sweatshirt over her outfit. The

woman being interviewed was also semi-casual and wearing a white, lacy, flowing tank

top. Their table was covered in notebooks, planners, binders, and tea. It was harder to

hear their conversation but at one point the interviewer asked, Is there anything you

absolutely do not want to talk about? and the interviewee momentarily looked caught off

guard before regaining her composure to answer the question. The interviewer stated she

was waiting for another woman to show up to join her in the interview but that woman

was almost always late to things and probably wouldnt come. This seemed to make the

interviewee more nervous.

Before even hearing any of the conversation between these two women it was

obvious they were there for an interview from their body language. The interviewer was

more calm and confident and the interviewee was sitting up very tall and proper as if to
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appear stronger and more put-together. Their voices were calm and at ease but each

woman occasionally let out some forced, polite laughter and they sat rigidly in a way that

ultimately suggested neither of them were comfortable in their current situation and

didnt want to be there.

Many of the interactions I witnessed in my observations seemed to be

uncomfortable and forced. There was a man who looked to be in his 50s talking to a

trendy, young woman who didnt seem enthused to be a part of this conversation. When

they were done talking the man said, This has been fun, nice seein ya! and the girls

response was to give a judgmental look to the man as he walked away.

From this study we can conclude that people come into Starbucks for a variety of

reasons. People will come in to be by themselves, to meet up with friends, to work on

work, or to conduct interviews. There were a number of limitations with this study.

Sometimes it was hard to hear conversations clearly because it was so crowded, people

were constantly coming in and out, and the short amount of time we spent on

observations. If this topic were to be researched again in the future, researchers should

spend more time in the field and maybe record conversations instead of just listening and

writing field notes.