Second-Class Citizens? Perceptions and Reality: Discourtesy in Serving Lines in a College Cafeteria

Abstract

Personal experience on a serving line suggested that many of the customers were unfriendly, rude, inconsiderate, and unappreciative of the efforts of the servers. Our review found little research studying the behavior of customers and even less that used direct observations of customers' behavior while being served. The purpose of this study was to check the authors' perceptions of rude behavior by systematically observing the actual behavior of the customers in a college cafeteria serving line. The observations provided empirical data as a check on the accuracy of servers' perceptions that customers were behaving discourteously. A second purpose was to discover whether male and female customers differed in friendliness toward servers. The results showed that very low rates of discourteous behavior were observed for both genders. Other variables—pleasantness, indifference, and no-response—varied across settings and genders. The authors suggest an explanation for their initial perception that customers were rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful, and unappreciative.

KEYWORDS:

• adults
• behavioral community
• cafeteria
• college students
• courtesy
• customer satisfaction
• rudeness

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Courtney Ingalls

Courtney Ingalls undergraduate at SUNY College at Cortland at the time of the study; this project was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of an undergraduate psychology course taught by the third author.

Jennifer Reagan

Jennifer Reagan undergraduate at SUNY College at Cortland at the time of the study; this project was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of an undergraduate psychology course taught by the third author.