Social Norm Breakages
Respect:
-Give Hi-5s to profs vs. students (who are all strangers) instead of shaking hands
-Act as a student’s servant and wait on them in class
-Contradicting a professor
-Singing outloud in a public place
-Reading outloud in a public place
-Calling your parents Mr. and Mrs./Calling them by their first names
-Interrupting conversations
-asking a waiter or waitress if they want / really need the tip
Personal property:
-Putting creamer in a customers coffee without asking.
-Wearing PJs and bringing a stuffed animal and sleeping on a display bed in a store
-Sleeping on a display bed in a store
-Ask strangers if you can put your wash in with their (including some lacy underwear)
Gender Roles:
--Reading playboy and/or penthouse in public (a female did this)
-Using the men’s room (single person) in Old Navy (dressed as employee or customer)
-Dress in a masculine way and visit a bar
-Read Martha Steward Living in public (A male did this)
-Catcall to guys (a girl did this)
-[a girl] opening the door for guys, or pulling out chairs
- Holding hands with a person of the same sex
Food/Beverage Norms
-Eat with hands (at Stix Kabobs) and see if you get conformers
-Asking strangers to get you a refill
-Eating a full breakfast in class (e.g., a box of cereal, pint of milk, a banana, toast, etc.)
-Drinking “shots” of Vodka (really water) in the library
-Eat with hands
-Dress nicely and eat with your hands
-Eat cheeseburgers on the precor.
-Ask people if you can finish their meal (at restaurants) either as a waitress or as a
customer
-Ask people if you can have a bite of their meal (at restaurants) either as a waitress or as a
customer
-Asking for a shot of milk at a bar
-Going out with friends and not drinking for no external reason
-Asking for somebody random to refill your drink
-Eating food before paying (not a strong norm in some places)
Money Usage
-Asking a sales associate to just give them an item as a gift (no payment for the product)
-Asking people to pay for you
-Give IOUs for payment
- Bargaining in a store
-Asking a panhandler for money
-Not giving a tip (particularly in a group, of course going back and doing so)
Personal Space
-Sitting with strangers at Arches (or anywhere)
-Sitting next to strangers when other seats are available
-Walking close to strangers at the mall
-Walking close to strangers and touching them (e.g., to “wipe off dirt”
-Follow people in the grocery store and get the same items as them
-Standing at the front of the bus (not moving back)
-Looking over someone’s shoulder to read something (or check how much time they have
left at a machine at the gym)
Random Acts of Kindness
-Offering doughnuts/cookies to people
-Offering people $1
-Putting jackets over puddles for people
-Giving hugs to strangers
-Offer free shoeshines
-Give flowers to strangers
-Offer rides home to students who are standing at UVA bus stops
-Give Hi-5s to strangers and congrat them
-Offer goldfish to strangers
Clothing Norms:
-Wearing gym clothes to a Frat party
-Wearing shorts in the winter
-Wearing jeans and flipflops to the gym
-Wearing underwear over clothes at the gym
-Wear a business suit or prom dress (anywhere,anytime)
-Wear bubble wrap
-Wear bra around victoria’s secret
-Wear bathrobe around campus and ask people for help (b/c got locked out of your dorm)
-Wearing your clothes backwards
-Wear bra instead of swimsuit top
-Wear sleeping clothes (or really comfortable clothes) out.
-Wearing the same clothes for a week
Etiquette in Certain situations:
-Answering the phone in reverse “Can I talk to so and so”
-Not doing the whole “Hi, How are you? I’m fine, how are you?”
-Raising your hand to go to the bathroom [in a college classroom]
-Brushing your teeth at a table in a restaurant
-Talking to people in the stalls of a bathroom or at the gym
-Dancing on the subway
Other
-Burping in public (in an elevator)
-Sporting a weird haircut
-Running backwards for a long distance in a crowded running loop
-Doing your own moves during a kickboxing class
-Asking a taxi driver if you can drive
-Ask store employees if you can help them
-Asking for rides to the airport NEXT Tuesday
-Giving FOUL cards to people who curse (cuss)
-Littering
-Ask people to give them a “quick breath check”
-Ask people if you can use the computer they are using when others are available because
it is your favorite.
-Wear gold gear and ask people advice on golf swing
-Stand in line for no reason (and end up holding it up)
-Wear bunny ears at the airport
-Use umbrella on a nice day
-Standing too close or too far from somebody in a line
-Playing really embarrasing [parent or grandparent style] music really loud
-Ask someone you don’t know out on a date (not at a bar)
-talking with your pet in public (we all do this in private, why not in public)
-Shaking hands with the left hand