Conversation between Chandler and the Employer

The transcript of the conversation between Chandler and the Employer

C=Chandler E=Employer

C: Also, I was the point person on my company's transition from the KL5 to GR6 systems.

E: You must have had your hands full.

C: That I did. That I did.

E: So let's talk a little bit about your duties.

C : ...My doodies? All right.

E: Now you'll be heading a whole division, so you'll have a lot of duties.

C: I see.

E: But there'll be, perhaps, 30 people under you... so you can dump a certain amount on them.

C: Good to know.

E: We could go into detail...

C: No, don't, I beg of you.

E: All right then. We'll have a definite answer for you on Monday, but I think I can say with some confidence, you'll fit in well here.

C: Really?

E: Absolutely. You can relax. You did great.

C: Yeah, I gotta say thank you. I was really nervous. You know, I've been told I come on too strong, make too many jokes, and then it was really hard to sidestep that "duty" thing.

C: Duties? Doodies?

C: Poo!

E: Poo?

C: Oh my God, this doesn't count! Okay? The interview was over! That was the real Chandler Bing in here, this is just some crazy guy out in the hall.

C: Call security! There's a crazy guy out in the hall!

E: Poo?!

C: I'll look forward to your call.

Contextualization cues associated with each frame in the conversation

There are four frames in the conversation:

1. Interview Frame:

The whole interview between the employer and Chandler was formal and serious. They were sitting oppositely. Firstly, Chandler showed his professional past experiences by using Jargons, e.g. KL15 to GR6 systems, in a formal tone. On the other hand, Chandler showed his confident for his job, which responded ‘that I did, that I did’ to the employer’s saying ‘you must have had your hands full’.

After that, the employer talked about the duties. But Chandler heard ‘duties’ to ‘doodies’ wrongly. Chandler suppressed his laugh and kept in serious mode.

When the employer talked about Chandler’s duties, a short pause was made and Chandler answered ‘I see’ and ‘Good to know’. It showed that Chandler did listen and think what the employer said.

When the employer wanted to go into details of Chandler’s duties, Chandler shouted for unwilling to listen with loud and emotional voice. It showed that Chandler really didn’t want to know more details of his duties.

At the end of the interview, the employer firstly stood up, Chandler followed to do so.

2. Feedback Frame:

During the interview, Chandler showed respect and polite to the employer. Even Chandler heard the word ‘doodies’, he still kept respect and tried to involve into the interview. Hesitated responses were given by Chandler to demonstrate his concentration and consideration.

After the interview, the employer shook hands with Chandler and put his hand on Chandler’s back to say ‘you did great’ to show satisfaction for the interview. Chandler asked ‘really?’, then the employer answered ‘absolutely’. At the same time, Chandler released a deep breathe to show his relaxation after hearing the satisfaction from the employer..

3. Clarification Frame:

When the employer wanted to talk about Chandler’s duties, Chandler heard ‘duties’ as ‘doodies’ in the interview.

4. Joking Frame:

Chandler used different pronunciation from different countries to make jokes. For example, ‘doodies’ and ‘duties’ were mixed up. On the other hand, at the end of the conversation, Chandler pretended to call security and pointed himself as ‘a crazy guy in the hall’ to make a joke to the employer.

Frame Shift:

There is a change registers from formal interview to informal leisure talk between the employer and Chandler. In order to shift the frame naturally, discourse markers were used. For example, ‘let’s talk’, ‘all right’,etc..

The sentence ‘All right then’ said by the employer and the standing up action helped to change the frame from Interview Frame to Feedback Frame. When the employer was shaking hands with Chandler and walked towards to the door, it showed that it was the end of the Feedback Frame. Lastly, Chandler showed looking forward to the employer’s call, it implied to end the Joke Frame.

My Shopping Experiments

I shopped two shops at Shatin New Town Plaza last Sunday.

Here are what I experienced:

Zara

When I went into the shop, the sale attendant firstly greeted to me “Hello, welcome to Zara” with a friendly smile. The sale attendant used Involvement Politeness Strategy and gave Positive Face to me. I walked around and the sale attendant asked me whether I was the member of the shop. This demonstration was good to show I was in the common group with the sale attendant. It was in Involvement Politeness Strategy.

On the other hand, the sale attendant kept asking me if I need help or not. It was an Involvement Strategy that showed caring to me. Then I stopped for interested clothes, the sale attendant showed her concern to me and told me the varieties of the clothes’ color. It was also an Involvement Politeness Strategy.

After that, I fit two clothes for trial. The sale attendant made some personal comments for me. At that time, I felt her act was over. I did believe that I could decide which style and color I suit. It made me turning into negative face that I didn’t want to be interfered and I wanted more ‘spaces’, the salesman’s action was a Face Threatening Act to me Lastly, I didn’t buy anything. The sale attendant also didn’t greet me when I left the shop.

Agnes b

When I entered the shop, the sale attendant also greeted me. They demonstrated positive face to me. All sale attendants in the shop didn’t follow me. They just let me see their products. This act made me comfortable. However, when I wanted to ask something about their products, all sale attendants were busy for their customers. I waited for more than 10 minutes that I felt no one respect me. It seemed that they ignored me and looked me down. However, as a customer, I wanted to be considered. It was a Face Threatening Act to my positive face. Lastly, I left the shop madly.

Comprising two shops in terms of P, D, W

For ‘P’ (Power), the relationship between customers and shop attendants is equal (P-) in the above two shops. For ‘D’ (Distance), the distance between customers and shop attendants in the above two shops is distant (D+). The reasons for (P-) and (D+) are: the sale attendants and customers are not in the same company and no ranking policy between them. On the other hand, they don’t know each other and they see each other as stranger. So there is no vertical hierarchical relationship between them.

For ‘W’(Weight of Imposition), in the situation of (P-) and (D+), both customers and sale attendants are more likely to use Independence Strategies. So the weight of imposition between customers and sale attendants for the above two shop are (W-). It is because I didn’t make any trouble to the above sale attendants. I might use Independence Strategy to them, which action was ‘leaving the shop’ in the above cases.

My Social Experiment on the phone

This was a telephone conversation with my friend

S=my friend E=I(myself)

S: Hi, how’s your slimming course?
E: What are you asking for?
S: Of course, I am asking about your result of going to slimming course!
E: What do you want to know for the result? For how many pounds I lose or how many inches I lose?
S: I should be asking the TOTAL WEIGHT you lose after attending the slimming course! (She answered impatiently)
E: Oh, I see. I lose totally five pounds.
S: You did a good job. Then how’s your sister?
E: Sorry, I don’t know what you mean, “how’s my sister?”
S: I am asking… if your sister did lose weight the same as you after the slimming course. (She felt so puzzled)
E: Yes, she did.
S: Why are you so strange today?
E: In what sense, you think I am strange today?
S: It’s okay. I don’t want to explain anymore. Bye! (She hung up the phone angrily)

My friend felt so weird and puzzled about me. She thought that we had our own communication. For most of the things she asked I supposed to know the answer. As we did have our history of our conversations before, my friend would expect I could guess what she asked. When I asked her more specifically, she felt that I was playing with her. At the end, she ended our conversation madly.

First fieldwork: Exploring Cashier's life

My first fieldwork was done in the cashier area of City Express (City University’s canteen) in the evening on Wednesday. I observed one cashier and around 8 customers at the counter in five minutes. I found that life is like a play and people always play different roles.

For “front”, City Express provides its cashier with some expressive equipment that she needs to play the role, such as cash drawer, computer, octopus payment machine, money and food menu. The cashier was dressed in yellow-coloured uniform. She was made up with red lip in order to give a more energetic look. Her hair was clean and tidy and trimming with a topknot. The cashier liked smiling to her customers and had a friendly voice. She was very polite to all customers and being customer-oriented.

For “line”, the cashier played the role with raising her hand when she was welcoming customers, having the basic knowledge of City Express’s menu, using different languages (Cantonese, Putonghua and English) to communicate with the customers and controlling machines with professional skills.

For daily routine, the cashier greets her customer and asks if anything will be ordered. Secondly, the cashier reports the price to her customers with professional knowledge. Then the cashier receives the money and exchanges money back to the above customer. Finally, the cashier says “thank you” politely and welcomes the next customer.

For “regions”, the “onstage” is the cashier area of canteen while the “backstage” is the staff’s restroom or changing room. Cashier is also working in “teams” and her “team members” are her manager, supervisor, other cashiers and City Express’s staff.

Cashier performs differently in various situations. In my observation, one customer asked if City Express changed the contractor. Then the cashier answered friendly and politely. Consequently, the customer gave praise to the cashier’s uniform and her attitude.