Time: 28 February 2020, Friday, 1.03pm
Location: Bedok Point Starbucks Café, Singapore
When I walked into the Starbucks Café at 1.03pm, it was rather quiet although it was fairly crowded with more than half of the tables taken up. I picked a window seat and put my belongings down before getting a drink.
The first thing I noticed about the physical layout of this Starbucks café was that it, just like some other cafes, has tables and seats laid out and arranged in different manners to cater to different group sizes. The seating arrangements that stand out the most are the L-shaped couch in the corner and a long table right in the middle of the café. Unlike the individual smaller tables, these spaces are suitable for patrons of larger group sizes or those who do not mind sharing with other strangers. They appear to be the more “inviting” looking spaces in the café.
As the café is located near the entrance of the mall, it has huge glass windows that let the sunlight in, resembling an open-concept idea. There is a huge red brick wall separating the front counter and the L-shaped couch, giving a sense of an enclosed area in an otherwise open-concept space. Hanging on the wall are four framed photos displaying delightful faces of people hanging out on the streets. The photos have a very American vibe to them as the people featured are all Caucasians and the backgrounds encapsulate the spirits of typical New York streets.
There is also a magazine rack with fashion and lifestyle magazines. Nobody seemed to have touched them during the four-hour period of my observation. This observation reflects the phenomenon that Singaporeans are reading less print materials such as print magazines. The National Reading Habits Study by the National Library Board revealed that 49% of Singaporeans either read magazines less than once a month or do not read magazines at all.
The L-shaped couch in the corner is occupied by two groups: a group of three female teenagers as well as a pair of male teenagers. The pair of teenagers have scattered their bags, files and charging cables across the empty spaces of the couch. It is evident that they are in a very comfortable state whereby they are utilising the space as they like. There is the blurring of lines between a public space and a personal space.
Most of the customers came alone or in groups of two to three during the period of observation. At several moments, every single customer is occupied with at least one technology device. The customers seem to be engaged in their individual activities and there is hardly a sight of any casual chit-chat. I noticed that those who come in groups had their individual laptops in front of them and there was minimal interaction between them. For those who visited the café alone, their body languages are more closed up. as they are hunched over their laptops with a neutral or slightly stern look on their faces.
In Singapore, it is very common for students and working adults to patronise Starbucks on a “study date” or formal/informal business-related meetings. Despite it being a café, there isn’t much drinking or eating going on. The café is filled with typing sounds on the keyboard against the background music.
However, a quick glance around the café reveals that everyone has earphones plugged in. On the Starbucks Singapore website, the company states that it wishes to portray itself to customers as “a personal space to use as they wish”, reassuring customers who are “looking for peace and quiet away from home or the office” that they can visit Starbucks to “relax and linger in a comfortable armchair and escape into a book”. It is interesting that these customers all chose to spend their time in the same space, yet they would rather construct their own aural environments through listening to something (especially if it’s music) that might be vastly different from the surrounding sounds.
With technology’s convenience, it seems as though we can physically exist in a space yet be mindfully present in an entirely different place. It makes me wonder why people visit cafes to spend their day in the first place. Does the idea of being somewhere unfamiliar (or familiar) attract them more than the actual feeling of spending the day there? If this is the case, what purpose does a café like Starbucks really serve in Singapore?
There are occasional sounds of tables and chairs being dragged around. By the time an hour has passed, the café already looks different from the time I entered. It is interesting to see that while the physical layout of the café can influence a customer’s experience, the café space also naturally and inevitably accommodates to the needs of its customers and is subsequently shaped by them. This reveals the unpredictable and ever-changing layout of a site like a café that is part of its charm. I developed a fresh perspective that the essence of an environment is equally shaped by both its physical elements as well as the different people who come along to utilise it.
At around 2pm, a GrabFood rider walked into the store to collect an order. It is a hot weekday afternoon- I wondered who has ordered the drinks. It hit me that most of us are indeed living in an age of comfort and convenience, where one has the option to order a Starbucks drink (likely worth at least six dollars) and have it delivered to them by paying an additional delivery charge. A whopping ten dollars for a saved trip down to the café, just because one can afford to. Though, for this to happen, there exists a group of people who have to sacrifice their comfort for profits. In this case, the delivery rider has to travel under the hot sun and deliver the cold drinks from the mall to the customer’s doorstep. Is this a case representing the income inequality in Singapore?
At 2.30pm, a man dressed in a casual attire appearing to be in his mid-twenties walked in and sat down at the table in front of me. He didn’t place any order and took out his phone, turned it horizontally and started looking really engaged. I guessed he was playing a game on his phone (since he was sat facing me). I remember it was an odd sight of him just engrossed in play as everyone else around are all looking productive with their work. As an observer, I couldn’t help but judged him for “wasting” his afternoon away just playing games at a café, in addition to the fact that he was using the café space without purchasing a drink.
At 3pm, a woman appearing to be the same age joined him. I overheard a part of their conversation as they were sitting near me.
Man: “Walao* I call you thirty times in the morning you never pick up.”
Woman: “I never hear!”
*Walao: A crude term usually to represent feelings of exasperation
Their conversation in Singlish revealed that the man has been waiting for the woman all this while and passed his time by playing games on his phone. As an ethnographic researcher, I was suddenly aware of my uncalled-for assumptions and judgement of the man for being 'unproductive', as I later pictured myself doing the same if I were in his shoes. Shortly after, they were joined by another man of the same age. Within minutes, they placed their laptops and bags down to chope* the seats and then left the premises for a minimum of thirty minutes (presumably to have lunch). In Singapore, a public area like Starbucks is perceived to be so safe that people are at ease with leaving their valuable items there without supervision. After all, Singapore is a surveillance state with one of the lowest crime rates in the world. In fact, we achieved the highest Law and Order Index score in the world in 2017.
*Chope: a Singaporean term to describe the use of a personal belonging to reserve a seat in a public space
At 3.12pm, an old couple in their 70s walked in accompanied by a middle-aged man. As there were three of them, and most of the seats left only cater to a maximum two people, the middle-age man approached another table and asked in a polite manner to have their unused chair. Afterwards, the old couple started chatting loudly in Hokkien, which I could not understand. Their presence in the café seemed odd at first as you would think that the older generation does not visit Starbucks. They are currently the only group here who are not using any technology devices and are instead having substantial face-to-face interaction with each other i.e. direct eye contact and full-blown conversations. Their loud Hokkien and frequent laughter permeated through the air. Soon, I noticed that the atmosphere became livelier. Some of the customers who had really tense body language start to loosen up, with some of them taking off their earphones to talk to those beside them or showing each other what is on their computer screens. They seem to have detected a change in the mood of the environment and reacted to it by joining in themselves. This reminds me of how most people tend to behave accordingly to their environments as a way to feel like they belong, as reflected under the Social Comparison Theory, which states that people tend to compare their actions with others in times of uncertainty.
At 4.22pm, a primary school student entered the café dressed in her uniform which has the words “Fengshan Primary” printed on it. She was accompanied by a middle-aged man and woman, who are likely her parents. They settled down on a table behind me and the man walked towards the front counter. The following conversation then ensued between the woman and the young girl.
Woman: “(Name), What flavour cake do you want?” (I failed to catch the young girl’s reply and the woman walked off towards the counter before coming back in about three minutes with the cake)
Woman: “You know because of the virus, we cannot go to Japan to see the Sakura. We will go another time okay? How is the cake? Nice right?”
Young Girl (eating the cake): “Ya it is nice.”
The conversation reveals how the recent emergence of the novel coronavirus has affected the lives of several Singaporeans, such as the disruption of travel plans. Parents seem to undertake the role of having to explain the concept of this virus and its impact on their lives to their children. It does not appear to be an easy task as the woman quickly glossed through the fact that their travel plans to Japan have been cancelled and moved on to ask her child if the cake tastes nice. She did not leave much room for her child to ask more questions. A few minutes later, they were joined by the middle-aged man. This was when I noticed that the woman switched from speaking English to speaking Chinese when she conversed with the man. (From their body language and conversation topic, it is now clear that they are a family.) Interestingly, as the conversation went on, I noticed that both parents would speak only English to the child but converse in Chinese themselves. The conscious choice of the woman in speaking to her child in English might be proof of the speculation that Mother Tongue languages are dying out in Singapore as most Singaporean parents are choosing to bring their child up using English, perhaps perceiving it to be more important. This reflects the phenomenon that the Mother Tongue is slowly losing its edge in Singapore.
At this point, I noticed that as a researcher, I have switched from observing body languages of the patrons from afar to listening to more intimate conversations among them. This could be due to the fact that I picked a time frame (1.03pm- 5pm) whereby as time passes, more people visited the café for a tea break after ending school/work, therefore allowing me more opportunities to listen to their conversations. I made a mental note to myself that the timing I chose to do my research will largely affect the data I get.
At the end of the day, I felt that my experience in recording down the fieldnotes enlightened me on the various uses of a café space by Singaporeans – to study, chit-chat, have a tea break etc. From their unique interactions with other patrons as well as the café environment, I have observed some uniquely Singaporean behavioural traits as well as some psychological patterns. By paying attention to my surroundings, I discovered a lot about the culture of café patrons through a close-up lens.
References
Elangovan, Navene. 2020. “As English becomes the dominant language in more
Malay families, some are reversing course”. TODAYOnline. Retrieved on February 29 2020 from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/english-use-soars-malay-households-many-still-use-malay-much-possible-parents-educators
Low, Noel. 2018. “Singaporeans feel safest in the world as country tops law and order
index.” The Straits Times. Retrieved on February 29 2020 from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/safe-singapore-tops-world-law-and-order-index
National Library Board. 2016. “National Reading Habits Study”.
Psychology Today. 2020. “Social Comparison Theory”. Retrieved on 29 February 2020 from
Starbucks Singapore. 2020. Retrieved on 29 February 2020 from
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