March 14, 2012
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The Human Duck
I just finished my paper on social deviance. This is what happened. I changed the experiment I was doing to ordering food for a stuffed animal in a restaurant.
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For this paper, I bought a medium sized stuffed animal, a duck. I took this duck to a restaurant and proceeded to treat the duck as a human being. I observed the reactions of the people I encountered. I walked into Olive Garden with the duck under my arm and promptly asked for a table for two with a smile. When the hostess asked me if I would like to wait for the other party, I again smiled and said “she’s right here,” lifting it a little. The hostess paused for a moment before asking me if I would like a table or booth. I said either was fine, and she went to check on a table, saying that it was dirty. When she came back, I was led through the main dining room, and was seated in an adjacent dining room,that was empty. In fact, there were some employees on break, eating in that area.
I placed the duck on the table next to me. When the waiter came and asked about drinks, I ordered a pop for myself and water for “her.” The waiter didn’t blink an eye. When he came back with the drinks, I placed the straw in the water, and the water in front of the duck. I ordered food for myself, and proceeded ordering an appetizer for the duck. When the salad came, I was surprised to see the waiter had brought an extra salad plate and an extra bread stick plate for the duck. I placed the plates in front of it and filled them with salad and a bread stick. I placed the napkin on its lap. The food came and I placed the appetizer in front of the duck.
Whenever the waiter checked in, he asked if the food was good for both of us. When I asked for the check, he asked if it was all on the same bill. I replied that it was, and when he brought it, he also brought mints for both myself and the duck. When I paid, I admitted that this was all for an assignment and school,and he said that he was glad to hear it. He said that he was wondering what was going on because I seemed so normal. He had asked someone else what he should do, and was told to go with it.
This act was deviant because it violates social norms. As a society, we expect that people do not carry around stuffed animals and treat them like human beings by ordering food for them. I was immediately ostracized by being seated an in unused dining room and segregated from the rest of the group. This very reaction makes it deviant.
As I passed through the occupied dining room with the stuffed duck under my arm, I caught the reactions of the diners, which were varied. There were a few who exclaimed “cute!” There were some who simply stared, some who stared with weird looks on their faces, and some who laughed or smirked. There were some who saw me and looked away, ignoring my presence altogether. Then of course, there was the waiter, who played along like I really did have a small child instead of a stuffed animal.
I wasn’t surprised at the reactions of the diners. The only thing that I was surprised about with them was the fact that a few of them thought it was cute to carry around a duck. Of course, they weren’t there to observe me ordering food for it. I am not sure what their reactions would have been if they knew I had.
I found the reactions of the hostess and the waiter more surprising and more relevant. The hostess seemingly saw this as something to be ashamed of because she felt the need to hide me from the rest of the diners. She definitely felt that treating the animal as my second party was outside of social norms, and did something about it. The waiter had a very different reaction. He treated the situation as though it was completely normal, and that people did it all the time. At first this reaction was puzzling, because it obviously doesn’t happen. At least, I’ve never seen anyone order food for a stuffed animal, and I’ve eaten out a lot. Perhaps a child might, but again, I’ve never seen it. It wasn’t until the ruse was over that I discovered his reason for his reaction,and I was glad that I had told him at the end, otherwise I wouldn’t have known that someone else had told him to just go with it. It would have been interesting to interact with and observe the person that had given him that advice.
Throughout this experience, I felt a little ostracized. It really didn’t bother me too much though, because I knew in the back of my mind that this was for an assignment, and that I don’t normally behave this way. It felt very strange to be acting this way, and at times it felt surreal that I was actually ordering food for a stuffed animal. There were times when I knew no one was looking that I had to laugh, because it was just such a strange situation. I later told some of my friends and had a good time laughing with them as I rehashed the details,particularly what the waiter said and did.
Comments (26)
That is a great example of doing something socially deviant. I like it. =]
Amusing and fascinating! The only thing that makes it difficult to analyze is that there’s always the possibility their reactions were somewhat filtered by concerns about upsetting their customers, both you and the other diners.
In relation to your other post, this is one reason it’s so important to understand how our evolution has influenced our behavior. We’re conditioned to feel uncomfortable around things that are unfamiliar, and that’s part of the foundation for prejudice. But the better we understand that, the more likely we are to apply reason in our reactions.
The waiter was a true professional. The customer is always right, except in Texas of course, where the customer is always far right.
That’s so interesting :3
That’s awesome. We just raced bikes in walmart.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing that assignment with us!
Interesting
Why can’t my classes have assignments like this :O
Growing up I had this doll that was the size of a large baby named Samantha, she went everywhere with me, always got a high chair, and a plate of fries, at O’ Charlie’s. Although I was a kid eating with my parents, they sometimes treated me deviantly because Ive always been taller than most my age, and so people always assumed I was 2-4 years older and often looked down on my childish behavior..as a child. Haha.
Anyway, great project! I can definitely see eye to eye with you on this subject.
In high school one friend of mine led another through a restaurant on a leash. He kept yanking him back when he’d reach for people’s food.
Aww what a true gentileman that waiter was!
that is quite interesting
lolololol
You and the waiter are both awesome. About seven years ago, I went with my wife, who was wheelchair-bound and our son, to a restaurant on the outskirts of Prescott. The owner seated us in a back room and acted disdainfully towards my wife. The food was okay, but I will never go back there, as long as he owns the place.
On a lighter note, your story reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago- A professor and a large fly are seated at a table. The professor tells the waiter: “I’ll take the gazpacho, and the leeks vinaigrettes, and bring some shit for my fly.”
Ah, social deviance experiments are so interesting. And the waiter sounds awesome =)
lol interesting experiment!
are you in the psych/sociology field?
I love this assignment. I wish I could come up with something equally creative and challenging for my intro to biology students. It is so hard when there is no lab. I like this assignment because it allows you to develop your own ideas about deviancy (from the eyes of the deviant as well as how others view the deviant) instead of just reading about it in the book. It is always more complex than it is in the book.
I have an assignment just like this due for my social psych class. Wish I had been this creative:) Wonderful story.
Wow you are incredibly bold to actually go a restaurant and do that.
And it’s interesting that everyone was afraid to just ask you WHY you’re ordering food for a stuffed duck.
So, let me get something straight here. Are you saying that taking stuffed animals to restaurants is not normal?
Good job and I think this is so much better than the previous idea you had to stand to close to someone.
As a grad. in the Sociology field… LOVED this. Stuffed duck? Totally made me laugh.
note to self: buy stuffed duck, get private booths for life.. good tip
Interesting assignment.
I kind of want to do that, if it ensures I will be left alone.
Love it.
I actually have a friend that carries stuffed animals around and kisses them. We all love her, and know it’s normal. We made some of her animals like part of the family
For fun, one day waiting for class I stood in front of a right side door (after checking that the left side door worked) to see how people reacted. People actually tried to open the door behind me!
This was an amazing experiment! I probably would have been one of the strangers who said “cute” ;-p The waiter being cool about it earns him huge props! I wonder if you would have been seated in a less secluded area if you had taken another person with you- or gone as a “double date”!! You and your duck with a friend and their bunny or bear or something X-D
♥L
-SM