Personal Action Pl Observation

Personal Action Plan
Nancy Edwards
COMM/315
October 29, 2011
Chrita Paulin

Personal Action Plan
For my Personal Action Plan Observation, I decided to go to Nordstrom’s one of the major stores in the South Park Mall, which most people in Charlotte N.C. referred to as the wealthy peoples mall. I chose this mall because I wanted to observe the various types of people, and identify the social differences of the individuals coming into the store to shop The Observation

Upon entry the store I decided to talk to one of the store managers and notified him of my class project. I told him I would need to observe individuals in a public environment and needed his permission to spend time in his establishment. He let know
A young woman named Jodi and several other of her family members were in Nordstrom’s at the time looking at clothing on the sales rack. She appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties. I learned she was in town for the funeral of her grandfather, one of the co-founders of Belk’s department stores. She also disclosed her great uncle was John Belk, he was the mayor of Charlotte and has a freeway named after him (John Belk Freeway). She stated in the days when her father was a child he was raised like the children in “The Help” a movie about Caucasian children in the south cared for and raised by Black women. She said when her mother married her father she wanted her children to grow up in a more normal household and with values. She wanted them to appreciate the simple things in life. All I could think was what an amazing story. I realized everyone has a story to tell, and you can never tell a person’s background until it is told by him or her. How My Perceptions Changed. Observing the customers in the department store have changed some of my perceptions; I use to believe people with money were mostly Caucasian, disrespectful, self-centered, entitled, and had no sympathy for those less fortunate. Since the observation I believe this is not the case for many of the individuals. I believe most individual can be empathetic to others need, but it depends on the environment and with what morals an individual was raised. I still believe
The majority of the individuals came into the store, browsed the racks of clothing, pulling out clothing, trying them on, and making purchases. I notice many of the women would look at the price tags of the garments before they made the purchase. I browsed some of the racks as well and noticed some of the items I would be able to afford as well. I also notice many of the women were using charge cards to pay for his or her purchases. Not many of the women used cash. Several of the women were socially conscious and were conscientious of other needs. They waited patiently until the sales representative finished with the customer ahead of him or her. I also encountered the arrogant, entitled, obnoxious, attention-seeking individual who is very impatient and wants she needs met immediately. Type of Social Inequality Observe. As I browsed, though the racks of clothing, I can honestly say I did not observe any inequality. I was in the store for approximately three hours and even the change of shift was a smooth transition. I did notice that after the change of shift the new sales representatives would approach its customers to see if they could be of any assistance they never approached me. Maybe they were aware I was not a buying customer and was just