Sociology Experiment



Cafes along the streets of Mt. Adams, Cincinnati



Amy sat at a table near the window, still wearing her uniform of black pants and white button-down Oxford shirt. She pulled out her Sociology textbook and read the chapter on crowd behavior again. People in crowds were less likely to take action, assuming that someone else would do it instead. Interesting. People in elevators were uncomfortable if onboarding passengers faced them instead of turning around and facing the elevator doors as society expected. Amy pondered this. Surely she could come up with a similar experiment for her Sociology research paper.

She continued to read until her break was over and her floor manager called her to wait on the couple who'd just sat at table eight. Amy rose to serve them when an idea suddenly hit her. Like the backward-facing elevator passenger, she would do the unexpected. She'd turn the tables on her tables. She greeted the couple at the table and took their order.

Twenty minutes later, Amy arrived back at their table with plates in hand. She set the large cranberry chicken salad in front of the woman and a mile-high mushroom burger with a mound of steak fries in front of the man. They thanked her and were just about to begin eating when Amy interrupted.

"Excuse me. Do you mind if I join you? I haven't had a chance to eat yet today and I just hate to eat alone."

Before they could respond, Amy set down the last plate she was carrying; a quesadilla platter with an extra set of utensils. She quickly turned away from their startled expressions and allowed herself a small smile as she pulled another chair to their table.

"Bon Appetit!" she offered and held a quesadilla triangle up as a toast. The couple were taken aback, but raised their drinks in return and then settled into silence to eat their meals.

Amy settled in and soon the three were holding a first-date kind of conversation. Amy asked them what brought them to the restaurant that night. It turned out that they were celebrating the sale of their house. Amy congratulated them and finished her quesadilla, grabbing their empty drink glasses and returning moments later with refills. She did not sit down again, but thanked them for dining with her. Then she let the couple eat in peace and waited on the other tables in her section.

When they left, Amy was surprised to find that they'd left her a 50% tip. She pocketed the money and marked it down in her notebook. She'd try the experiment again on each of her shifts that week.

By the end of the semester, Amy concluded that sitting down and breaking bread with her customers was good business. Her tips steadily came in at 50% or higher. She found she enjoyed talking to her customers and eating dinner with them. When the Sociology project was over, Amy continued her routine and discovered that many of her dining companions came back and invited her to eat with them again. One of them was Amy's Sociology professor who not only enjoyed his meal with Amy, he gave her an A.