Cross-Cultural Observation

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Cross-Cultural Observation: Macy’s Department Store

In order to observe the interactions between individuals from different cultural background, my partner: Gina Nguyen and I went to the Macy’s department store, located downtown Boston. We selected this store because of the size and their reputation of having a diverse workforce. Gina and I started our observation at 3:30pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 and finished it at 4:20pm. We were observing the interactions between the coworkers, as well as the ones between the staff members and the customers.
Before we started our observation, we read the assignment together, just to make sure we were on the same page. After that we selected some spots in the store where we were able to …show more content…

I had the impression they were trying to give each other a level of respect that would make the other person comfortable.
The second type of interaction I observed was of more personal or friendly attitudes. There were two instances in which two African-American women interacted: the first one was when one of them approached the other at the register and started a friendly conversation. I was able to hear them complain to each other about the fact that they were tired and one of them wanted to take a break. It was interesting to notice they body language, because it was clear they knew each other well and felt comfortable talking about their personal life: weekend plans.
One of the woman I previously mentioned (the one at the register) and another one, also interacted at a more personal level. They appeared to have the same race and their contact proved they were close friends, as one of them presented her mother to the other. In this interaction I was able to evaluate their behavior: their conversation was very friendly, made jokes with one another: “I brought my mom, so you can sell her something, and make her buy me something too.” from this line I concluded the fact that they had a stronger relationship than just coworkers, it is highly probable they were friends.
It was also interesting to observe that the African-American woman at the cashier register redirected her attention towards the customer she was serving and stopped talking to the other employee when

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