Tacit Culture Essay Samples

Coffee shops are suitable for friendly, relaxed conversations, which is why I like to visit Starbucks in Morgantown, West Virginia. The smell of good quality coffee and the friendly atmosphere attract many people who want to discuss or just spend some time having a cup of coffee or tea. One morning, while enjoying a Venti cafe latte and swapping through my smartphone, I had the opportunity to observe the conversation patterns and tacit rules between two friends, sitting close to me.
The Starbucks coffee shop that I frequent is always well – lit, clean and welcomes visitors with a warm atmosphere. There are small, modern tables, and people sit on comfortable sofas, stools or chairs. The arrangement of each table is different, hence their function also varies. There are tables for one or two, where people can work or have a personal conversation, and larger tables, for groups of friends who want to sit together. Here and there, near the indoor supporting pillars there are natural flowers, and there are classical, funny pictures on the walls.
Next to me, there are two girls, very familiar to one another. Both of them are petite, and have long, dark hair, and they seem to be in their late twenties. One of the girls wears glasses that cover her blue eyes, and the other has sharp dark eyes. They are casually dressed, the one with glasses wearing a pair of long blue jeans and a jacket, and the other a pair of trousers in the style of Audrey Hepburn, and a black, chic blouse. The latter drinks a cappuccino and water, the other has a coffee and a chocolate cake.
They laugh a lot and touch their hair from time to time. From what I can grasp, this gesture is the tacit rule for when they are trying to remember something or to find the right words for what they want to say. The one who wears glasses also touches her neck chain, which can suggest that she feels somehow strange. The other girl, the one with the Audrey Hepburn dress – alike style, holds her hands together, which is a tacit sign for trying to hold her temper when the other one speaks. When she speaks, the second girl uses her hands to gesticulate and draws sharp movements into the air. This is a tacit sign for excitement, to which the other girl responds with warm smiles, while gently reaching for her coffee cup.
Their conversation is very dynamic and quite interesting. They change the subjects naturally, discussing a little about work, focusing mostly on their relationship with the customers and criticizing the unpleasant ones, using words such as “irrelevant”, “impatient”, “incoherent” and other words starting with “i” that shows their dissatisfaction for a specific type of customers. From what I could understand, the one with the glasses is a graphic designer and the other is a marketing consultant. Then they change the topic, discussing about travels, hobbies and foreign languages. As the conversations go on and one the girl with the glasses becomes more relaxed and does not touch her neck chain anymore, while the other one starts watching her mobile phone, which signals the fact that she is awaiting for news from someone, but also that she is looking at the time as she probably has to be somewhere else soon.
It is easy to understand that these two girls are friends, going back a long way, because they talk about college, former classmates and share some memories about things that happened years ago, such as a football game they went together when they were in college. I try to be discrete and not stare, but the girl with the Audrey Hepburn style keeps getting my attention. She is thrilled to be there, with her friend, as I can guess from the natural smile and her relaxed posture, yet she makes efforts not to monopolize the discussion, because she keeps putting her hands together and ask her friend questions about her husband, her spare time, her yoga training, and other aspects, which is a tacit sign to indicate that she is happy to see her friend.
This Starbucks experience revealed that the individual behavior is influenced by the environment, but also by the person with whom one shares a cup of coffee.