Watching People

Have you ever taken the time to just watch people, observe their actions, just to see what they do?

Every once and a while I like to observe people. Please note, that it's different from being nosy, because I really have no interest in what they are doing, I just want to see what's happening.

Psychology lecture is a great time to do that. It's a good sized, auditorium style, lecture hall. Not as big as Zimmer Auditorium, maybe a third to a fourth of the size. But, sitting in the back you can watch people, unobtrusively. It's a little early, about quarter till eight, when class starts, and most people come in around five till. But even now there is action.

College doesn't have a seating chart, people are not assigned seats, but people tend to sit in the same seat after a few classes, so if you pay attention you can recognize faces, just by their location. For instance, five rows down from me, there is always a group of people, one guy and four or five girls who sit together. They are by far, the loudest of the students of the class. You can listen to an entire conversation, especially if the guy is talking. They must be freshmen, because they have that aura about them, plus they talk about Chemistry and English 101 very often. But I believe the girls have a slight crush on this guy, or he just one of those guys who get along/flirt well with groups of girls, a player perhaps.

Moving down a row or two, you get to the next group. They don't sit together, a few sit in the same row, but apart by a seat, and some sit down a row or even across the aisle. They talk together before class. I'll call them dorm buddies because of their proximity, because if I were to have class with my friend Richard, Dustin, or Mike, I'd sit next to them. But these girls do not sit together, so they probably know each other from living near each other and happen to recognize each other in class.

The next group is the classmate group. Looking around before class you can see people, groups of two or three of people who are talking together. They don't sit next to each other, they sort of have that same dispersal as the previous group I talked about. Across an aisle, a row down, but not together. They probably have a few classes together, maybe an art class or something where they recognize each other in a smaller class size. They are suprised, initially when they recognize someone they have another class with, sitting close by. They don't realize it, but they are pulled together, almost by a magnetic attraction through their familiarity.

Then you have the loners, like me, who are just single individuals who are taking this class as a needed BoK (supplementary class) or just wanted to take it early to get it out of the way. Even these people tend to sit in the same spots. In the three days that I have sat in this seat, the same girl has sat in front of me, and in front of her a guy with a laptop has been sitting. He is always checking out clothes online, but he has a word document open that he uses as a front; an excuse to have his laptop open. These people don't have a particular time when they come in, but more often than not, they are there earlier than the other students.

Of course, there are the students that come in late, they are even more random than than all the other groups, but even they have patterns. These people never take an empty aisle seat because it leaves them too exposed. And they rarely go down past the first ten rows since they don't want to be too obvious about being late. Though, you do have some people who do go down to the half closer to the professor, either because they don't care or because they see someone they know, and prefer the comfort of these people rather than sitting by themselves.

So, the next time you have an auditorium type class, sit in the back to watch people and how they group together, it's pretty interesting. This is done best in the morning when you have some time to watch people rather than coming in with a few minutes to spare.