Self Presentation The Sociologist and writer, Erving Goffman are widely known for his social theories presented in his book “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”. His work created a basis for sociology which is the study of a functioning human in society and for modern America. In this essay, his different theories will be discussed through a personal experience I had in my life while engaging in interpersonal communications. I will first start out with who I am and how I present myself. I am a 19-year-old girl who was born and raised in America and loves my dog more than most people. I am a student at MCPHS and also an employee at Michele’s Ice-cream Shoppe. In class, I am quiet, timid and courteous while at work I am outgoing,
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Signals given are planned, conscious, and could be deceitful in the western view. For instance, at work I change, my voice to make it sound more appealing and genuine and I also change the words I would use compared to the ones I would use in an average conversation with my friends or family. Even if I am not in a good mood you can always find me smiling and laughing with a customer. When we are busy at work I make sure I listen carefully to what the customer who is ordering is saying and how they specifically want their order. If we are not as busy I will take my time to have a more deep and personal conversation with the customer. Being a small local business we see many of the same faces almost every day, so calling them by their first name or remembering their personal order is something we find goes a long way with …show more content…
Usually, there are multiple people working at a time but due to the weather this night I was alone. We had been very busy at the moment and having the two police officers come in may have made me a little more on edge. In my town, it is, not common for two cops to be on duty in the same car at one time so I assumed the younger looking cop of the two was new to the job. They both had been dressed in uniform which shows their sense of power. The younger cop walked differently from the older officer with a sort of manner that he was entitled. Goffman says we all make assumptions and in society we assume all cops fall into the category of genuine, loyal, honest and someone who has integrity. I took care of the other customers who had been ahead of the cops just like I would any other given night and sent them on there way. I then took one cops order who looked familiar to me and knew exactly what he wanted without even glancing at the menu. When he went and sat down the younger cop came up to the counter, so like all customers, I said to him “Hi, How are you?” very enthusiastically while making eye contact. The cop ignored me and did not even look in my direction which had me taken back. Normally in most situations, cops will be the first to initiate conversation so the fact that he had ignored me seemed very out of the ordinary to me. His arms had been crossed showing he did not have any interest
Signals given are planned, conscious, and could be deceitful in the western view. For instance, at work I change, my voice to make it sound more appealing and genuine and I also change the words I would use compared to the ones I would use in an average conversation with my friends or family. Even if I am not in a good mood you can always find me smiling and laughing with a customer. When we are busy at work I make sure I listen carefully to what the customer who is ordering is saying and how they specifically want their order. If we are not as busy I will take my time to have a more deep and personal conversation with the customer. Being a small local business we see many of the same faces almost every day, so calling them by their first name or remembering their personal order is something we find goes a long way with …show more content…
Usually, there are multiple people working at a time but due to the weather this night I was alone. We had been very busy at the moment and having the two police officers come in may have made me a little more on edge. In my town, it is, not common for two cops to be on duty in the same car at one time so I assumed the younger looking cop of the two was new to the job. They both had been dressed in uniform which shows their sense of power. The younger cop walked differently from the older officer with a sort of manner that he was entitled. Goffman says we all make assumptions and in society we assume all cops fall into the category of genuine, loyal, honest and someone who has integrity. I took care of the other customers who had been ahead of the cops just like I would any other given night and sent them on there way. I then took one cops order who looked familiar to me and knew exactly what he wanted without even glancing at the menu. When he went and sat down the younger cop came up to the counter, so like all customers, I said to him “Hi, How are you?” very enthusiastically while making eye contact. The cop ignored me and did not even look in my direction which had me taken back. Normally in most situations, cops will be the first to initiate conversation so the fact that he had ignored me seemed very out of the ordinary to me. His arms had been crossed showing he did not have any interest