Cox Dining Hall Ethnography

I left my dorm at 5:55 p.m. on Wednesday the 21^st of September to walk to Cox Dining hall for dinner. Upon my arrival, at 6:00 p.m., there were a series of steps leading down to two big glass doors that led to the dining hall. Inside, there were a series of tables on the outside half, similar to what one would expect at a mall food court. Large lights, which looked like orbs, and decorations hung from the very high ceiling. On the other side, the side farther away from the door and Asbury Circle, various vendors were lined up in a semi-circle along the perimeter of the dining hall. Inside the semi-circle, there were more seating options, which included long rectangular tables, with chairs on the sides, and booths. The vendors included: Freshens, a salad and frozen yogurt vendor; Twisted Taco, a taco vendor; Café Compesino, a coffee shop; a make-your-own sandwich station; a sushi and Japanese food vendor; and a few others.

I decided to get a salad from Freshens, so I walked over and waited in line behind four other customers. Three of them looked as if they were undergraduate students at Emory, and one was a middle aged woman dressed in business casual attire. I waited seven minutes until I got to the front of the line, and once I reached the front, the kind-middle-aged worker, named Kimberly, asked in a groggy voice, “Salad or bowl, honey?”

“Salad, please.” I answered, and she scurried away mumbling something about getting more bowls.  Kimberly, along with the other woman working at the cashier at Freshens, where wearing black caps with a white button down shirts, aprons, and white pants. Kimberly came back five minutes later, with a stack of metal bowls. “What you want in it?” Kimberly sleepily said, and I went on to list all of the things that I wanted in it. As Cox closes at 7, the majority of the add-ins that I asked for, like egg and pesto, they were out of and Kimberly unapologetically said, “What else, don’t have that!” Once Kimberly finished making my salad, she handed it to the woman at the cashier who said, “Want anything to drink, baby?” I said I didn’t want anything else, paid for my meal, and then headed over to the “hydration station” to get a glass of water. Both Kimberly, the woman at the cash register, and most of the other Cox Dining Hall workers that I saw looked extremely tired and were ready to go home after a long day of work. After paying for my meal and getting water, I sat down at one of the booths in the middle of the dining hall and was surrounded by students frantically studying for their midterms the next day, talking about weekend plans, and some adults just grabbing a bite to eat with their colleagues. At 6:15, about 40% of the tables were occupied. Once I finished my meal, around 6:40—20 minutes before closing, the dining hall was about 30% full. When I walked out, the majority of the people in Cox were students.