After my first foray into the world that is Garfinkling, I realized something. I don't have as much chutzpah as I need to work on this blog. In my interaction at the supermarket (below), I felt pretty comfortable taking things out of the carts of people my own age, but when it came to those older than I, the churning in my stomach increased and my heart sped up. The man I spoke with scared me into putting the pumpkin back in his cart and then continued to direct me to the physical location of the pumpkins via hand-signals.

Ohio University student Colin King, 21, was the first victim in the video. He said that at first he was a little surprised by the encounter.

"At first I thought that you thought this was one of those multi-convenience carts in the middle of the aisle," King said. "I had to go back [to the aisle the food that you took was in] anyway, so I just didn't say anything."

Ashley Mick, a senior at Ohio University, said she had no idea how to react to the situation.

"I was about to say something, but I don't know. I wasn't going to."

From this first hilarious and hard-earned lesson I learned a few things. The first: to try to prevent my own ingrained sense of social norms from performing what I need to do. Clearly these norms include an absolute respect toward those older than myself. The second: to build up my own chutzpah, I will be taping some interactions that include multiple people. Plus, it will be plain fun. The third is that younger people may feel less entitled/sure of themselves when it comes to confrontation in general over what is and isn't inappropriate. Check out the professionals (Chelsea Handler and company) on the television show Girls Behaving Badly for a breaching of social norms in food service.Thanks to Kristin for referring me to the site. Below is a compilation of user-created image macros depicting common awkward situations. Create your own awkward penguin.