On Tuesday June 16, 2009 at approximately 7:01 P.M. in the east hallway on the first floor of the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse an unusual course of events took place. As it was a reading day for finals, I was studying my notes for Rel C 333. It was surprisingly quiet for that time of night due to the lack of usual foot-traffic heading upstairs towards the weightroom. I shared the general vacinity with only one other individual.
When all of the sudden, the silence was abruptly taken from the area. The other individual, whom I perceived to be my fellow studious peer who also enjoyed a quiet studying environment, for some reason began...talking to me. Repulsed by his, "so how is finals going for you?" for both its inconsiderate, intrusive nature and its poor grammar, I gritted my teeth and tried to politely respond and invite a brief study break.
(Aside: Dude, you should all totally be proud of me. You know that #1 I do not like people, #2 I hate being interrupted when I'm in study mode, #3 I find small-talk to be a huge waste of time. Props to me.)
After a few mindless pleasantries (pleasure trees) he finally made his motive known. He asked, "Do you mind if I do an experiment on you?" Now, for those of you have matriculated from Brigham Young University, you know that you are occasionally asked to participate in a survey for a class or other assignments of that nature. However, I have never been asked to be experimented on. I was intrigued and consented.
The individual informed me that he was taking a social psychology class and had to conduct an experiment in which he violated a social norm and then interview the person affected by his apparent social incompetence. Examples of some of his classmates included: walking around backwards for a day, hugging random people, and cutting in front of the Wal-Mart checkout line (sidenote: can you imagine someone having the nerve to do that at Wal-Mart?!). This gentleman, however, offered me a foot massage.
I'm positive that if he had not prefaced the offer with the fact that it was an assignment intended to make me uncomfortable, I would have looked at him with a face I'm sure you can all imagine I am capable of giving, and said, "um...no thanks." However, in the name of academic achievement, I allowed this 6' 250 lbs. Polynesian stranger to man-handle my size 8 feet for 5 minutes.
In conclusion, sometimes others violating social norms is a good thing!
