Personal Narrative: Act of Giving Strangers Sprinkles

On this particular day that I chose to give sprinkles to a few people throughout my day, I had to go to work. I work at Six Flags and I see different employees in different locations almost every day. There are a few who I have come across multiple times on different occasions, but the only people I see on a daily basis are the people whom I work with in my department. Early in the morning before my shift, I chose to give sprinkles to the security guard at the check in. After she checked my bags and was wishing me a good day, I said “Thank you. Here have some sprinkles”. She immediately gave me blank stare and must of thought I was joking with her until she saw the sprinkles in my hand. As confused as she was, she kindly accepted the sprinkles. Another security guard who was present at the time thought it was rather funny and started to laugh. The second time I gave a stranger sprinkles, was during my lunch break. I went to one of our stores to buy a snack and as I was paying, I asked the cashier if he wanted sprinkles. With a puzzled face he told me no, but I went ahead and reached out to give him the sprinkles and told him to take them. The cashier did not want to take the sprinkles and instead asked me if he wanted me to throw them away. At the time there was two teenagers who were guest at the park in line waiting to pay for their items. They were just as puzzled and confused as the cashier. The third time I attempted to give a stranger sprinkles, my co-supervisor was present. I had explained to her earlier in the day that I was doing a deviant act of giving strangers sprinkles, but I don’t think she took me very seriously. We were on our way out from work when I came across someone who was sitting on a bench and decided to give them sprinkles. In this scenario all I did was go up to her and tell her “Here you go. Have a great day”. She grabbed the sprinkles and asked what they were. I told her they were sprinkles to brighten her day. As confused as she was, she accepted them and told me thank you.

You don’t normally go around giving strangers sprinkles and expect them to accept them or possibly eat them. Most of us would enjoy eating sprinkles, but not when they are being offered to us at a theme park from a stranger. I put myself in their shoes for a few minutes and remembered when my mother would tell me not to take candy from strangers when I was younger. Or also when people are trying to give you samples at a store. Depending on what it may be that they are offering, you may or may not accept it. The norm of having sprinkles would be on a cake or if someone is making a cake you would expect to see sprinkles. It is also in that moment where you would expect for someone to offer you sprinkles, not at Six Flags while you are working. Socialization is when an individual learns of their peers values and behaviors (Socialization chapter). We develop our personalities from our societies and those around us (Socialization chapter). In the case of being offered sprinkles, we have developed a norm to reach out for what is being offered to us. Offering sprinkles to a stranger can be seen as a normative perspective. Normative perspective is when an individual breaks the societies expectations at a certain point (Deviance chapter). This can be seen as a normative perspective because I was offering the sprinkles while at a theme park and not in a bakery or at home where someone is baking.

Every time I was about to offer a strangers sprinkles, I would become nervous. I am a shy person and for me to have to go do a deviant act was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone. I would also become nervous because I did not know how they would react. For the most part I expected the individuals to be confused, but I was afraid they would maybe throw the sprinkles back at me or get offended in some way. Luckily, no one reacted in a bad way and was more accepting of the sprinkles even though they were confused. At the time that I would ask the strangers if they wanted sprinkles, those around us were puzzled. When I gave the sprinkles the security guard, her partner was laughing because of the situation. He did not take it seriously and probably also thought I was joking. After I had walked away, I turned back to see if I could see what their reaction was and I did see that the security guard was showing her partner the sprinkles I had given her. I was also able to catch her throwing them on the floor. Which is another thing I expected people to do with the sprinkles. The second time I attempted to give sprinkles to a stranger was during my lunch break. This time it didn’t go so well, the cashier didn’t take the sprinkles. At the time I was able to hear the two teenagers whispering behind me. Although I was not able to understand what they were saying. When I looked back, the cashier and the teenagers were talking about me as I caught them staring at me. The third time I gave a stranger sprinkles, she questioned me. She didn’t realize they were sprinkles until I told her. My co-supervisor who was present at the time looked at me as I was handing the sprinkles to the girl. After we walked away, she told me “Did you really just give her sprinkles”? I reminded her of what I had told her earlier in the day and then she started to laugh. She did also tell me that she didn’t think I was actually giving strangers sprinkles.

Symbolic Interactionism best frames my understanding of the observations I made while committing the deviant act of giving strangers sprinkles. The symbolic interactionism theory states that individuals share constant interactions where they are interested with things of similar significance (Social Theories chapter). Symbolic interactionism can help give a better understanding and connection of those around. After understanding that most individuals like to communicate with a symbolic meaning, it is easy to get others into being able to understand how they are feeling (Social Theories chapter). With the help of symbolic interactionism we are expected a role of how to act in a certain situation. For example, when someone tells you “Here have this pen” as an instinct you will go ahead and reach out for it, without questioning. Then you come to the realization that you don’t need a pen and may put your hand down or say “No, thank you”. This was how I was able to find symbolic interactionism in my observations while giving strangers sprinkles. As a society, when an individual tells us to take something at random, as our role we are expected to reach out for it and accept it. In most cases we will then realize what we are being offered and may not take it. Some may still accept what is being offered to them out of respect, while others may simply ignore them. As I was extending my arm out to the individual I was attempting to symbolize to them that they were being offered something. This was able to help us communicate and understand each other in a similar way. This was the case for my first and final observation, they had a better understanding that something was being offered. The second observation I felt that the individual thought it was rather strange and he realized what was going on before reaching out and accepting the sprinkles.