Experiment

Experiment  - Cafe 

Before Experiment Questions

What are your expectations?

I expect to feel quite confused, but I don’t think it’ll be too hard to order a coffee and navigate the space.

Do you feel included or excluded in this space?

I feel pretty included. It’s a social space, always busy and there’s lots of noise, things happening, many smells and it’s a collection of so many different sources for all senses. I would have to say however that ordering a coffee and having people behind you possibly staring at you is quite intimidating and I always feel that too, when I walk through this space and there are heaps of people at the tables.

How do you feel when you can’t hear?

I have only had an accurate experience of this once before when my eardrums burst and I couldn’t hear for about a week, and it was absolutely terrifying, I tried to go to school but it was so overwhelming because I couldn’t hear any class work, my teachers, my friends and I felt very isolated and upset.

What is your most heightened sense right now?

I would like to say sight and hearing. Im interpreting your questions and receiving them audibly, but even as I say this im looking around the room, seeing people, looking at you. So I would have to say sight. 

Experiment Participant Narration

Jess: 

“I can’t hear anything

Everyone is walking around in silence

Everything is moving but there is no sound, it’s odd and eerie.

No is looking at me too strangely.

I’m going to go order a coffee… hopefully I can hear it when it’s called out.

People are looking at me now.

Im really scared.

Just lining up now.

Hi can I have a small latte pls, thank you.”

Server: “Yep. Any sugar?”

Jess: *doesn’t respond

Server: “Any sugar?”

Jess: “…Oh Sugar?”

Server: “Yep.”

Jess: “Oh ah no thank you.”

Server: “Okay that’s $4.”

Jess: “….. thank you”

Jess: 

*walks to wait for coffee

“I could tell that the card was approved because it said it on the screen haha.

Alright now I’m going to wait for the coffee over here by myself.

I’m going to try and see a small coffee cup and that’s how I’ll know it’s ready.

I can’t really smell anything except, just soap. 

I can’t smell any coffee beans or frothed milk, I see steam though.

There’s 3 people waiting for their drinks.

I feel a bit uncomfortable and flustered, these two men who are waiting for their coffee keep looking at me. Now the barista is staring too, I’m getting a bit hot and nervous.

Okay I’m next. Wait that’s too big, never mind I’m next now.

Oo I can smell the beans now.

Okay it’s a small cup, let me check around to see if anyone gets up for their name. 

Alright not mine either.

This is a small cup, im looking around no one has claimed it. Yep its mine. I think that’s my coffee.

Thank you. Alright mission accomplished haha.

Ouch the coffee cup is hot, its burning my fingers, I need to put it down, ouch. Smells very clean over here too, mm strange, I think they must have cleaned the floors.”

After Experiment Questions

What did you experience?

I experienced a lot of confusion and vulnerability. I felt the whole walkthrough was quite a simple task, but I was thinking a lot, overanalysing everything, I felt myself get quite worked up about it.

Was there anything you noticed then that you haven’t before about the whole process of ordering a coffee and walking through the space?

Well definitely, when they ask you questions it’s hard to interpret. It’s not as simple as id like a latte and that’s it you get your coffee, its ‘would you like sugar? or would you like a receipt?’ and that’s quite overwhelming most of the time, unless you can lip read well. And I didn’t know when my coffee was ready I had to interpret that situation quite heavily, which was quite difficult and meant ready the room and using sight to understand the next action to take.

Do you feel connected to the space? Do you feel included or excluded?

No. Not at all. I felt quite awkward, uncomfortable and a bit vulnerable in that big undetermined ‘waiting’ area. There was nowhere to kind of put myself in a corner perhaps where I felt comfort or ease. There were people facing the counter so they stared constantly, making me feel even more out of place. I felt completely excluded and disjointed.

Did your habitus assist you in navigating the experiment?

I think so, because I’m used to ordering coffee its common for me, and I’ve done it so many times before and for such a long time, it felt natural. However, I tend to be quite talkative and strike up a conversation with the server, and be polite when im interacting with people. And I felt I couldn’t, and that felt very displaced and rare for me. 

What sense did you reply on the most?

I think sight was the main one for me. I picked up on a lot through looking at people and reading their faces, and seeing actions that suggested things that I couldn’t hear. For example, I could tell when my coffee was ready, obviously not by the barista calling out Small latte but by seeing and identifying that the cup was small, and no other people stepped forwards after 30 secs or so. But that was also quite debilitating because I overanalysed a lot by looking at people’s faces and I interpreted judgement that was quite stressful and caused me to feel overwhelmed the entirety of the experiment.