FIELD NOTES 3
In this situation, we can see that our context-sensitive action that is common in all three is raising one’s hand. This signals that the person intends to capture their fellow’s attention. In this situation, they wanted to obtain the waiter’s attention. However, considering that the waiters understand the gesture in a single context, they are prone to misunderstanding it in others, as shown in the context below.
Excerpt 1:
In the middle of their conversation, one girl was raising her hand up and waved slightly. I understood that she wasn’t calling for the waitress as she didn’t look in their direction. I guessed that she was perhaps doing a small imitation in front of her friends. The waitress, however, mistakenly thought that …show more content…
Afterwards, the waitress goes back to her place in order to save face from her misunderstanding of the gesture, and minimizing the additional social expense of asking the customer if they needed anything.
Another example of a context-sensitive action is this:
Excerpt 2:
When he realized that the waiter is making his way over, he turned to look directly at the waiter. Without using any additional body gestures, he managed to get the attention of the waiter.
The waiter did not need to speak nor perform hand gestures, as the other waiter quickly understood that the waiter needed a hand in assisting other customers.
And also, …show more content…
Once people have their attention, they move to other more straightforward cues such as hand gesturing to communicate their intentions. The end point is actual verbalization and physical contact, which allows the most precise instruction in this context. The interesting part in this is that if they fail to capture their attention, they may either step up the communicative ladder and use a more attention-grabbing method, or wait until it is more favorable to repeat the gesture. In the examples above, many of the patrons simply waited until the waiters/waitresses were easier to call with hand gestures. Like what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, it all depends on the urgency of the need: if, for example, the patron needs to leave immediately but still has not received the bill, he may approach any of the waiters directly if they were less available for the initial means of contact, such as staring. In less pressing circumstances, they may stop calling and try again some other time, or even forget about their request
In this situation, we can see that our context-sensitive action that is common in all three is raising one’s hand. This signals that the person intends to capture their fellow’s attention. In this situation, they wanted to obtain the waiter’s attention. However, considering that the waiters understand the gesture in a single context, they are prone to misunderstanding it in others, as shown in the context below.
Excerpt 1:
In the middle of their conversation, one girl was raising her hand up and waved slightly. I understood that she wasn’t calling for the waitress as she didn’t look in their direction. I guessed that she was perhaps doing a small imitation in front of her friends. The waitress, however, mistakenly thought that …show more content…
Afterwards, the waitress goes back to her place in order to save face from her misunderstanding of the gesture, and minimizing the additional social expense of asking the customer if they needed anything.
Another example of a context-sensitive action is this:
Excerpt 2:
When he realized that the waiter is making his way over, he turned to look directly at the waiter. Without using any additional body gestures, he managed to get the attention of the waiter.
The waiter did not need to speak nor perform hand gestures, as the other waiter quickly understood that the waiter needed a hand in assisting other customers.
And also, …show more content…
Once people have their attention, they move to other more straightforward cues such as hand gesturing to communicate their intentions. The end point is actual verbalization and physical contact, which allows the most precise instruction in this context. The interesting part in this is that if they fail to capture their attention, they may either step up the communicative ladder and use a more attention-grabbing method, or wait until it is more favorable to repeat the gesture. In the examples above, many of the patrons simply waited until the waiters/waitresses were easier to call with hand gestures. Like what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, it all depends on the urgency of the need: if, for example, the patron needs to leave immediately but still has not received the bill, he may approach any of the waiters directly if they were less available for the initial means of contact, such as staring. In less pressing circumstances, they may stop calling and try again some other time, or even forget about their request