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.

I argue Athens, OH is a true cross-sample of the USA. It is a college town filled with a citizenry devoted to NASCAR, dirt-biking, and beer. Ohio University is plopped right in the middle of it and the majority of its students hail from within the state. This is the backdrop for Gauche Display.

This blog acknowledges that almost everything in our lives is dictated by a seemingly arbitrary, invisible set of laws known as social norms. Adults usually instill these norms into children; these laws cover minutiae like "Don't yell at people across the room" and weightier subjects like "Don't kill/steal/etc."

An easy way to test the degree to which people are dictated by norms is to test them by breaking them. This methodology was developed by Harold Garfinkle in the '70s. Here, in good 'ole Athens, OH, I will interact with students and community members in such a way as to test their boundaries. This is by no means a scientific blog; I hope to breach social boundaries to see what norms may have changed since they were first performed and which should be different as time changes yet have remained the same.