After the Project

While we were doing the project, with Ryan dressed up and me observing, we were a little disappointed. We were expecting people to react to him while he was in their vicinity. For the most part, that didn't happen. People did, however, react to him as soon as he left (which cracked us up). We decided to go to Family Video, Dollar General, and Hawks Junction gas station. Family video was first. I walked in first to act separate from him. When he walked in, (wearing a stocking cap, winter coat, gloves, and sweat pants) the rude red-head stared at him for about ten seconds. Then she, at least I thought, dismissed him. He looked at the Hello Kitty videos for a good five minutes, then decided to leave. The very second he walked out, the reaction started. "What the (explicit) was that kid wearing that for? It's 100 (explicit) degrees outside!" said the rude, red-headed manager. "I have NO idea," said her co-worker. There was also a bald man creeping on Ryan the whole time, staring at him awkwardly. Dollar General was next. For the most part, people ignored him. Since people weren't talking to him, he decided to initiate contact with somebody. He asked a random lady, who looked to be about 80, where the chocolate syrup was. "Sorry hun," she said, "I don't work here." She seemed to be the most polite person to Ryan the whole time. Since she didn't have the answer he wanted, he asked a worker. After she sighed, "We got Nesquik and Hershey's." Ryan replied, "YES! NESQUIK!" very awkwardly. On our way out of Dollar General, Jared Lamkey walked in. Ryan asked him, "Man, isn't it hot outside?" Jared was left speechless and just walked away. They had been lead roles in a musical together, and Jared still wouldn't talk to him. Lastly, but DEFINATELY not least, we went to Hawks Junction. This is where we got the entertaining results. EVERYBODY in the gas station stared at Ryan while he was in there. He talked to two unfortunate kids, about 13, that he'd singled out. After creeping them out, they walked away. When Ryan had bought an 89 cent can of wet cat food, he was finished and walked out. That's when the reactions started. Here are just some of the quotes we got from people: "I've never been so flipped out my entire life! What is wrong with that kid?" "That kid is (explicit) up." "He must be getting ready for winter." What I observed about these people is that they wouldn't say things to his face, but they would rant once he'd left. I think this says something about people. They have no problem talking about somebody different when they aren't around. However, when they ARE around, they are two-faced. Overall, I feel this was successful. Our hypothesis was proven true. People did look at him as a different person, even though he was just wearing different clothing. As a side note, it was officially 101 degrees during the experiment. The humidity was at 21% and there were NO clouds in the sky. The only downfall of the experiment is that Ryan suffered from heat exhaustion and had to spend the night in the hospital.

Before the Project

Ryan and I and going to dress up in heavy winter clothing on Friday and walk around IGA, Dollar General, and Family Video. The high for that day is projected to be 101 degrees. We are also going to be paranoid of absolutely everything; we will make sure this is vocal. We think people will find themselves staring at us and look skeptically at us. Somebody might come up to us and ask us why we are wearing the clothing.People are going to consider us freaks and possibly treat us differently. What we hope to learn is how people are treated differently, in this case, because of what they are wearing. If Ryan and I walked into these places in our normal clothing, they would think nothing of it. We are the same people with different clothing during this test and people SHOULD treat us differently.