Deviant Action Assignment

An act of deviance is an act that is a variation from the common way. Deviant behavior is a recognized and noticeable violation of the social norms and what people consider “appropriate” in society. Everyday people commit acts of deviance without even realizing it and sometimes it’s done purposely. For this assignment, my partner, Kevin Cochran (who committed the act), and myself (who acted as the observer) did something in Burger King that you definitely would not see everyday.

After Kevin ordered his drink from the counter, he paid completely normally as a customer usually does and headed over to the machine to fill up his drink. While he was doing this I was sitting at a table with my good friend Dana, acting as though I’ve never seen him. After Kevin filled his drink he headed for the door to exit Burger King except on his way out, right in front of the workers and few customers, he threw his soda to the floor for no apparent reason. After this, he glanced over at the counter and just turned without a word and walked out. It was really hard to keep my composure because it is definitely not something you see everyday, especially from Kevin who I know very well, and because my friend couldn’t help laughing out loud at what just happened. After he left he went straight to his car and left (we took two cars). There was definitely a response to this from the young man who took his order, the other worker who was a young woman, the older woman who was wandering around sweeping, the father with his small children, and a lady who was ordering.

The father held his children, who were staring at the spill then back at their father, and told them to move and not to step in it while he was staring at Kevin until he got into his car and left the parking lot. The lady who was ordering, who looked about thirty, was staring at the workers wondering what they were going to do. The young guy worker actually called Kevin a dick while the girl worker laughed uncomfortably at first, in disbelief, but then talked to her coworker about how completely unnecessary that was. It seemed the more she talked about it the angrier she became. They continued talking about it for the majority of the time that I was in there with my friend eating and laughing at what just happened. The worker who was sweeping didn’t see it happen, but was making her way over there and after seeing it was told what happened by the girl worker. She didn’t say one word, just shook her head while cleaning it up.

In my opinion, how they responded was totally expected. The thought of an insulted worker chasing Kevin out did cross my mind but when it comes down to it, that is pretty much what I would have expected. The man with his children and the guy worker who gave Kevin his drink looked the angriest about it and I do think the father may have had a different reaction if his children were not there. What I learned from this is that in many situations, such as this one, an act of deviance is looked down upon but very often people get away with it. I think that the action itself doesn’t make it deviant, but the reactions to the act do. If no one even looked up at Kevin, it would have been less deviant. I think this assignment just showed even more that acts of deviance (at that level of the Burger King one) are often not stopped in our society. People know they can get away with it, so they do it. Some of the teenagers in our society wouldn’t think twice about doing something like this to make their friends laugh, because deep down they know they can get away with it and get a thrill out of seeing an angry worker who isn’t going to chase them out.