Restaurant Etiquette: Breaking Social Norms

In order to understand social norms in their entirety, I broke the social norm of restaurant etiquette. I began by turning my chair around to face away from my table and faced towards the tables of other people instead. In addition, I also ate with my plate on my lap and had to turn my head at a 90-degree angle to talk to my companion for the duration of the dinner. Normally, in a restaurant setting, people are expected to sit facing each other at the table that they were placed, with their plate placed in front of them. I deviated from using this typical North American restaurant etiquette to see how this would affect the waitress serving us, as well as how other guests would react to me breaking these well-established social norms. At the

I had the feeling that I was about to do something wrong, which both amused me for the fact that it was simply a social construct I was violating, and because what I was about to do did not go against any sort of explicit rules. At first, as we arrived at the restaurant, my mind considered what other people would think of my future actions and how they would treat me for violating the standard etiquette. The thought of being judged negatively and being seen as rude, weird and crazy was enough to make me reconsider the whole experiment. However, as we entered the restaurant and were seated, I managed to coax myself into beginning my experiment by considering with curiosity how others would react. While breaking the norm, I felt nervous, but a little giddy for being rebellious and a sort of freedom as well for breaking away from the norm. I still felt like I was doing something wrong, but it was very interesting to see how other people reacted to me violating social norms. There was also this sense of wanting to hurry eating and to finish my experiment as soon as possible so that I could explain my actions. After I finished eating and completed the experiment, I was quick to divulge the reason for breaking the social norms of restaurant etiquette. I felt relieved that it was over and I could go back to adhering to typical North American social