Welcome to Zip's Dining Car

http://animoto.com/play/iFIy5bemxmQmczLFwNScfg

This link *should* lead to the new animoto video...

Update

      So instead of doing a second interview I wandered around the first and talked a little bit to a few people. I did ask pointed questions most of the time. The only people I really had conversations with were "Eugene", "Sally", and CJ.
      I brought a notebook instead of a recorder and the notebook is now totally wrecked, most of the writing is illegible and there are food and coffee stains on it. I felt like I was just scribbling crazily the entire time.
      Eugene was the most fun to talk to. Of you've seen my video you saw how much he HATES cell phones, I agree with him completely, as I write this from my phone... and I could hardly write fast enough to keep up with him once he got going. He had a hard time hearing me but was very good natured about being asked all these questions. He even chose a crotchety old man name for his pseudonym and I couldn't help but laugh when I got home and realized. It was the best thing and he was my favorite person to talk to.
      Sally and I talked a lot about the tensions and harmonies of the diner, she seems to have her finger on the pulse of the place. She was so cute and she chose her pseudonym based on an "apple pie American name" she thought went with an old diner. She actually explained it to me. I learned about the chemistry of the diner from her, and it's really interesting to find out about the "sibling rivalry" that there is between the wait staff and the kitchen staff.
      CJ was cool to talk to. We talked mostly about the block party that happened two summers ago. It turned out he saw my friends and me dancing around on the side walk. Again, I felt like I could barely keep up with him.
      I think I got more useful information from talking to these people than I could have from just talking to one person. I learned about the fifties, Americana, and the diner itself. It was a lot of fun and I loved doing it. It didn't hurt that CJ paid for my fries and I met a bunch of really nice people, most of which are diner junkies like me.

Index Cards from the Meeting with Dr. Cook

Mind Map

Zip's vs. Shady Acres

Saturday my mom and I went to another older diner in our neck of the woods, Shady Acres in Foster, RI. Since my way of judging a diner is by its fries and ice cream, that's what I had. The food was pretty good and I could smell the fries while they were being fried, they were really good. They didn't have as much flavor as Zip's, but they were still very good. My only other complaint is that they didn't come in different serving sizes like they do at Zip's so I couldn't finish my lunch.
What I really wanted to look at here was service, friendliness, and the general upkeep of the diner. The waitresses were good at their jobs and the food came to us quickly, but the waitresses at Zip's are more personable. The inside wasn't as bright as Zip's and the booths were not as soft as Zip's. Fifties was not a theme here, but there was a counter with stainless steel stools around it.
Shady Acres did seem more kid-friendly. There were kids' placemats at every seat with fun little activities on them and if someone came in with a difficult to entertain child there were coloring books and crayons.
Another difference is that there are outdoor eating arrangements for those that don't want to eat inside. One more thing is that Shady Acres serves wine and beer, while Zip's sticks to milkshakes.
My theory on why both these diners are so successful is because they are both on major state routes and attract truck drivers and families on road trips as well as regulars.
I like both diners, but am partial to Zip's and its jukeboxes and fifties theme. Next weekend I'm considering going to another diner and making this a running compare and contrast of small diners within driving distance.
Overall Shady Acres was a combination of Zip's, Mamadukes in New Hampshire, and the diner at the Golden Hills Motel in Utah.

Analysis of Second Fieldnotes

What surprised me?

They knew who I was and what I was doing this time! I didn't feel like such a creeper. It also surprised me that people talked to me this time and asked why I had a laptop and was all alone. A little boy in the booth next to said hi to me and showed me his little Lightning McQueen toy he was running all over the table, much to his twenty-something year old parents’ annoyance. It shocked me there were no stranger danger issues and his parents didn't yell at him for “bothering” me like another parent did.

What intrigued me?

The tattooed guy at the counter caught my interest. He didn't seem like the diner type, but looked perfectly comfortable, which was pretty cool. I thought a guy that looked like that would be at a sleazy club or a biker bar. It also intrigued me that they fixed the rip in the seat, usually if it didn't get done in a couple days it would stay like that for a while.

What disturbed me?

Now I’m going to rant. There was another kid with a smart phone. This time it wasn't her mother’s, it was hers. When I was nine I had Tetris, not Angry Birds or whatever she was playing. She was also so snotty to her parents when they told her to put it away for dinner when their food arrived. It kind of surprised me that they even made the effort to put their phones away, I was kind of proud that they made the effort. It disturbed me that after the little girl said no to her parents that they just let her get away with it. If I had done that the phone would've been gone for a week or five. It also disturbed me that parents yelled at their kid for “bothering” me, all the girl did was walk up and ask in the cutest voice ever “Whatcha doin’?” I thought it was cute, but apparently an eighteen year old girl with fries and a lap top was a danger to their child, or their four year old was a danger to me. Either way it was a weird thing for parents to get mad about, especially in a place like Zip’s.

Digital Analysis of the Other Diner Junkies

                The photos on the website for Zip’s are of the restaurant in the 1950s when it first opened and the food that is served there on the home page. They represent how long the diner has been around and how popular it was and still is. The font is reminiscent of the ’50s and is yellow, a color that is said to make people hungry backed by red which is supposed to make the heart beat faster. The background of the entire website is a deep, serene blue, which is supposed to make people calmer and more open to trust. The intended audience is clearly potential customers; the feeling of the website is family-run and friendly. Looking at the food makes me hungry so clearly there is a little subliminal messaging there. Under the photos tab on the site there are only a few pictures, but they are of the sign for the diner, which is supposed to be the original and of the Block Party they hosted and ran two years ago to celebrate Independence Day. This sends the message that they are still original but involved in the current events of the community with enough influence to put together a massive party with an old car show in the parking lot across the street. According to the history page the diner was named for a former state trooper who had the nickname “Zip” and gives a brief history of how the current owners, the Jodoin family, came to own it since the ’60s. On that page there is a picture of the grill of an old car and the original sign, both in the old sepia tint. They are representing themselves as a classic restaurant with a classic family run, friendly, roadside diner, which is what I think attracts a lot of customers. It surprised me how well this site was put together, I thought it would be out of date or not very informative, but it was actually pretty well done for not being a corporation with access to the latest digital trends and technology. The site fits very well with what I already know about Zip’s. http://www.zipsdiner.com/

                I thought it would be a good idea to go to a site where they give reviews, so I went to http://www.yelp.com/biz/zips-dining-car-dayville. The site itself only gave a couple pictures of the “EAT” sign and the outside of the diner and gave yes or no answers to the most basic questions (parking, takes out, wait service, etc), the address, and the telephone number. Below that were twenty reviews, ranging from two stars to five stars. There were only two or three bad reviews, the rest were positive and gave recommendations to try the place out, but not on Saturday or Sunday morning (I agree, don’t even try, you can’t get near the place). As for the setup of the site, it has basic fonts and colors; there are ads on the side as well as an option to get driving directions. It’s aesthetically boring but for my purposes, good enough. The audience is potential customers and the authors of reviews are regular people, some of which are clearly not used to or fans of diner food, which is very different from normal restaurants.

                The next site looks at eccentric roadside attractions all over the country, and I guess a smooth-running fifties diner in 2013 is pretty out there. http://eccentricroadside.blogspot.com/2009/09/zips-diner-of-dayville-connecticut-if.html is a blog that calls the diner a “little bit of diner heaven” and gives a basic rundown of the place as well as the address. The authors are Gunnar and Sherry, no last names, and they seemed to fall in love with the place. The font is basic and white on a black background. The audience is potential customers and other diner junkies like me. They posted pictures of the outside of the diner, the famous “EAT” sign, the inside, the menus, and the food. It is clearly from a few years ago, before the plaza across the street popped up.

Analysis of First Field Notes

What surprised me?

I was surprised that the manager hadn’t told the waitresses I was coming for a school project, not some gossip expose, I guess he wanted them on their toes. It also surprised me that the jukeboxes were working again, I thought they would be off for weeks; something had gone wrong in the wiring a few weeks ago. It also surprised me that none of the little kids I saw didn’t come running up to me and ask what I was doing, stranger danger I guess.

What intrigued me?

I was intrigued by the older man at the counter. He seemed so laid back, most regulars know the waitresses but don’t talk back like he did. The older couple also interested me. They were so cute and clearly still in love. It also intrigued me that not a lot of tips were left the night I was there, I don’t know if that speaks to how much money the families had or how rude they were, because none of the waitresses had a bad attitude, they are some of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.

What disturbed me?

The whiny kid with the iPhone disturbed me. When I was his age my parents had Nokia cell phones and I got “spoken to” if I got that bratty and rude in public. When we went out to dinner we were one hundred percent there, we weren’t sitting at a table together not paying attention to each other. I really hate that that’s what passes for family time and general socialization nowadays. I feel old! The only things about the physical environment that disturbed me were the fly that kept buzzing me and the tear in the red “pleather” that the booth is made out of, the foam was kind of gross looking and should probably be replaced.

Humans of NYC

I finally got to watch "Humans of New York" today and absolutely loved it and was fascinated by it. the part that hit me most was the old woman story about her husband dying. I thought that was heartbreaking and also amazing that she would share that with complete stranger.

My Lenses (Not the Ones in my Glasses)

I am a white, eighteen year old female from and middle class Christian family in the “sticks” of northern Rhode Island and am very shy. For where I live, I’m main-stream, but going to any other part of the state or the country makes me look like a small-town hick. I have lived here for my whole life and spent summers in New Hampshire with my parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and my grandmother on a lake. I am a freshmen studying psychology but hoping to switch to elementary education, to be a preschool teacher. I volunteer at my church with the younger Sunday School classes and would like to teach a class soon. I work for a chiropractor doing computer work and taking care of patients. I do karate and love anything art-related. I grew up playing musical instruments and watching educational shows on PBS.

                My subjects are also middle class from pretty rural areas, mostly in Rhode Island and Connecticut. They range from toddlers in high chairs to groups of teenagers, to families, to elderly men at the counter. My subjects also include waitresses, hosts, and hostesses. The waitresses are all young, college-aged white females; the host and hostess are both white and middle aged. They all seem very friendly and outgoing.

                I fit in with these people, and am a regular at Zip’s. I am worried about being rejected by some of the people I would like to interview. I am also worried about my social awkwardness and shortcomings while I interview people. I have done interviews before, but I am honestly terrible at it and always think of better questions after the fact. 

Intro Video

http://animoto.com/projectsThis is my thirty second video I made on animoto.