Hi, my name is Cree and I am a junior at the University of North Georgia. I am making this blog for my class about diversity in the elementary school classroom. Our first blog post is about breaking a social norm and others’ reactions to me doing so.
My good friend Paige and I decided that we were going to go eat dinner with a big group of our friends and pay with only coins. We really chose this idea because we could fit it into our schedule and we thought it would be fairly simple. Little did we know how weird it would be.
I think the hardest part for me was trying to find enough money in coins to actually pay for a meal. We went to Mexican restaurant in Dahlonega, Georgia, which is not very upscale, but pretty normal for us. It became awkward when we went to pull out our money to pay. Our friends stared and kept giggling and some looked even a little uncomfortable while we waited for the waiter to pick up our tabs. One of our friends even offered to help us pay for our meal. When the waiter came to get the check, he looked confused at first, but then he took pity on us. We couldn’t figure out why, but then we realized that he probably thought we were poor and thats really all we had left for a meal.
People who decide to go out to each in restaurants are usually expected to pay for a meal in cash or with a debit or credit card. By paying with coins, we were almost a little looked down upon. And it was automatically assumed that we didn’t have enough money, not that we were making a choice to pay with change. I think this says a lot about our culture because smaller bills are just thought to be lesser. Our culture is based off of socioeconomic status and we were put into a lower tier purely because we decided to pay a different way than others. I think this really shows how we are valued in society purely off how we pay for things or how we look to the outside. It definitely showed me how narrow-minded our culture is and unknowingly so.
Thanks for reading,
Cree
Thanks for reading,
Cree
I enjoyed your post and found it very interesting. I like how you related back to the socioeconomic status of people and how the little thing such as coins makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, great idea! Never would have thought of that. You and Oliver are right in how significant the way we take such little things for granted is so understated. Buying a Snickers out of a vending machine with a dollar or 3 quarters doesn't seem odd, but if somebody pulled out 4 rolls of quarters to pay for their lunch at the register in Chow, they would become a social pariah.
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