Abstract

For this assignment we had the opportunity to choose what place we wanted to observe, I decided to observe the place I work in which is Marshalls. Here I provide you with my experience in sales floor and fitting room by describing the things I was able to observe on my five-hour shift. I describe my encounters and thoughts I had through the day based on my observations relating to costumers and the store’s energy for the day. For my reflection of the essay, I reflected upon the day of my observation overall on how the store felt for me opposed to what I expected, as well as how I felt about my assignment.

The Blue Store

While I work, people come to buy as many things as they can or cannot afford. The Marshalls located at the Bronx terminal Market is one of the world-wide store locations you can find in all 50 states, we get clothing from various brands, cheap and expensive, going from Aeropostale to Zara and Marc Jacobs. When I arrived on Thursday, my job was to be in the women’s salesfloor and help maintain organization as well as provide service to any costumer who asks, or I see that need assistance. The store was very silent, and most employees left by the time it was 5pm making the silence even denser at the time. I found it very surprising how in such an unpopulated day one of the doors leading to the emergency exit stairs was ringing, a guy ran out with a grand amount of money in items. Most of the time they steal purses, they tend to be the more attractive and easiest to carry compared to the winter clothing or the shoes in the store. Costumers could be counted with fingers and most times there weren’t any, making time go by in slow mode. Most of the costumers were women making it the busiest floor, male clients coming in seem to leave pretty fast unlike the ladies who looked, moved, and tried on items repeatedly and most time ended not buying any of the items tried.

Even when the store is very boring you still find yourself with nice costumers that make small conversations that make you laugh and bring some energy into you. In the women’s salesfloor I found myself with this lady who said to me “if you ever see me again coming through those doors take me out” with a confusing surprised giggle I asked “why?” then looked at her cart and said, “oh I see, do you have a long time you don’t shop?”. She responded that she had just bought a car and so that prevented her for a time to not be able to do that that she enjoys. I proceeded by saying that it was okay, but what I really meant to say is that it is good to enjoy yourself after you have accomplished the important things for you first. I believe there is something about shopping that makes you happy when you’re doing it, whether it is the part of spending money or just being able to enjoy yourself alone or with somebody else you can try fits with. When I left the floor, I was sent to the fitting rooms front desk where I am responsible for assigning rooms to people and making sure they only try the limited number of items. I was able to observe a possible couple in the men’s salesfloor trying on coats and jackets. I wondered what they were speaking about because they weren’t speaking either English or Spanish and I wanted to know what they thought about the jackets they were trying. They seemed to enjoy trying on the jackets as well as each other’s company, I guess they didn’t like any of the ones they tried because they left empty handed. I also noticed another couple over at the juniors’ section which is right after men. The lady caught my attention with her beautiful dark short red pinkish hair which outshined more because she was dressed in black. She was looking at a Tory Burch bag but looked a little undecided. She asked a man that accompanied her if it looked pretty and if he liked the color and design, he replied yes, but she almost instantly noticed a scratch and put it back.

Sometimes I find it very humorous but I kind of understand why people model clothing in a special way as if they love it and then just drop it back in place. This other guy literally took an hour trying on coats and not liking any, maybe it was the price, who knows. I myself have done the same thing because I do not get the expected look I am looking forward to, but even when I leave empty handed, I just feel good that I was able to go outside to touch and see different things. Marshalls feels like is the “go to” store for many people. I believe that the organization and varieties of the store is what makes people very intrigued to shop, make conversations, and socialize giving people a possible relieve of anything they might be going through, and as an associate I can say this for myself too.

Reflection/Self-Grading

Before beginning my observations, I was very nervous because even though I had an idea on how I should structure my field notes, I didn’t want to incorporate my thoughts into the things that I wrote about what I had observed. When I began conducting my observations in general, I learned that when I am conscious of my flaws while doing something, it may be very stressful, but having it in mind helped me be able to separate my thoughts about the task I had at hand. This led to me to first write the things I saw and then go about the way I felt about the moment, instead of going back and forth on both. Something else I learned about myself is that I try to write things that show some kind of connection instead of writing everything just in case I will need it. For example, in my field notes I began writing about how I had a small conversation with a costumer, and everything else I wrote also had to do with some kind of social interactions I saw within the store that showed the same kind of emotional connection. The day that I took my field notes was a calm somewhat cloudy Thursday and I thought the store would be busier than usual, this kind of altered the consistency of the notes because my notes weren’t as heavy as I thought they would. When conducting my observation, I wouldn’t do anything different. I think I placed my attention on the right moments that made sense when I put them together in my essay. I think that if I have had notes on many different things that went on in the store, it would’ve been harder for me to come up with a central idea and my thoughts would have been mixed more with my observations that could possibly cause a confusion to my readers.

The image below show my field observation notes. Both observations and thoughts are written, the black pen writings are observations while the purple are my inner thoughts after making some of my observations.