The observations were conducted in Jemmerson coffee shop where the waiter and the conversed while they were taking their coffee and tea as it was in the morning hours. The people in the conversation came into the coffee shop to take tea and coffee while there waited for their friends, family member or business partners. The examples are indicated below between the waiter and the customer.
Example I
1. Waitress: Did I get your order right?
2. Customer: Yeah. How have you been I have been coming in, but I have not seen you for some time now
3. Waitress: I have been away dealing with some family issues
4. Customer: I hope everything is ok.
5. Waitress: yes, I have managed to sought out the issue
6. Customer: it is good to have you back
7. Waitress: thank you, do you need anything else.
Example II
1. Waitress: what can I get you today?
2. Customer: it is you how are you doing today
3: Waitress: amok, sir, please state your order
4. Customer: I will take coffee, bacon and two eggs
5. Waitress: is that all
6. Customer: yeah
7. Waitress: I will be right back
Example III
1. Waitress: how are you doing today?
2: customer: am ok. I have not seen you around is everything ok
3. Waitress: yes, just taken some days off to clear my mind and deal with some issues
4. Customer: that is great; I hope your mind is clear now
5. Waitress: never been better, how about you, how are you doing?
6. Customer: am not ok, I just lost my job today
7. Waitress: what happened?
8. Customer: I had a misunderstanding with my boss
9. Waitress: am sorry to hear about that. I will get you a coffee
10. Customer: how much is it
11. Waitress: it is on the house, I will be right back am sorry about your job.
The first conversation was between a waitress who is a female aged 24; blonde and beautiful with a young Caucasian male-aged 28. The second conversation is between the same waitress and a male aged 45 who is round and hairy in the face with many beards. The third conversation is between the same waitress as in the first and second conversation and the young female, age 25 and a tall redhead.
Uptake is the follow up on a conversation or topic that has been introduced by another person. In Example, I above the Waitress offered uptake by stating” I have been away dealing with some family issues” the uptake place because when the customer is asked” Yeah. How have you been I have been coming in, but I have not seen you for some time now.” There is further uptake when the Waitress replies to the question asked by the customer “I hope everything is ok?” she replies, “Yes, I have managed to resolve the issue.”
However, in the second conversation there is no evidence of Uptake because although the customer introduces a new topic the waitress does not return an answer. The customer says to the waitress” it’s you, how are you doing today?” She ignores the new topic and orders a man to state what he wants to take for breakfast ignoring the new topic.
The third conversation has a lot of uptake taking place from the instance the two people started conversing. For example, the waitress began by asking” how are you doing today?” and the customer replied by saying” am ok. I have not seen you around is everything ok” the conversation continued between the two as they socialized as they have known each other previously. There was the uptake of conversation between the two parties who were conversation as it is evident in their utterances from the beginning of the conversation.
According to research done by Benjamin Baileys, there are possible reasons why people do not want to take uptake. The differences between people’s cultural backgrounds may result to people refusing to take uptake or utter words that may help in the continuance of the conversation that one party has introduced. The difference in cross- cultural background may be understandable when people ignore a conversation. However, in some instance, some people are just not polite, as they do not respect others.
For example, in the second conversation the customer is not polite as he starts the conversation by stating,” it’s you, how are you doing.” The waitress was rude as she did not take uptake, but the rudeness may have been because of the way the conversation began. Additionally, there are people who do not as if interacting with others may be because they do not like the way they look. For instance, the waitress is a young beautiful female and the man in the second conversation is 45 years old. Therefore, the girl may feel as if she is being hit on making it hard for her to interact with gentleman easily. People refuse to take uptake due to personal reasons or because of the way; they feel about the other person.
