Shopping Culture Showing
Us Our Worlds
By Jamie Isabel Rosado
After finishing the rest
of my
errands at the Alamawana mall in Honolulu I spied Hilo Hattie’s and
decided to take
a look
inside. After I had done my shopping I went looking for the line to
purchase my
items. I was much surprised to find that there wasn’t a concrete line
but a
huddle of people waiting near the three cashiers. The people in that
huddle
were not necessarily served in the order in which they arrived. The
elderly and
those with dependants were taken first even if they had not arrived
first. Then
everyone else was taken in order of arrival.
In my mind
this demonstrates the sense of community and family in Hawaii, there
was no pushing no complaining.
There was a sense of order although it lacked the usual structure
needed to
enforce order such as lines.
Comparing this
experience with my previous experiences in similar situations I can see
broad
differences. Firstly in Puerto Rico
no one
stays on one line; there always seems to be a faster one or a nicer
cashier.
Although it can seem chaotic and it often is there is a semblance of
order in
the chaos. People are generally
courteous to each other but any scene in a shopping establishment is
usually
hectic. That is in direct contrast with the scene in Hawaii.
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