In my ethnography I will be looking at the mall from both the standpoint of a consumer and as a worker. I work at Herberger’s at the Blaine Northtown. This is a smaller mall that is going downhill rather quickly.

Coming into a day of work we start off with a take 5 meeting. This meeting entails reminding us to smile, greet every customer, the amount we are expected to sell, and how many credit applications we are expected to open. It seems that the only purpose of our mangers is to walk around and give the associates candy bars for each credit application that they open. Which is actually a rather frustrating situation as the mangers seem so insensitive to who we are and only care about our performance. There are also typically people at the door handing out coupons trying to get the costumers to stop and shop at Herberger’s before entering into the mall.

                  However, entering the mall for the purpose of a consumer the experience is completely different. For me after having the experience of also working in the mall it is frustrating to see the insincere greetings. I can tell how annoyed the workers are even with the fake smiles on their faces, as very few people truly enjoy standing for 8 hours waiting on peoples every needs. I personally do enjoy going to the mall, however after staying at the mall for more than an hour I tend to get very frustrated and just want to leave.

                  Overall, I think that malls are designed and set up specifically with the idea to sell more goods. Without even realizing it, the placement of every item and even every worker is designed to sell you goods easier.