The Cheese Shop

On a recent visit to my brother in Philly, I ventured into a cheese shop in Chestnut Hill. Of course, the Monty Python sketch about the Cheese Shop with no cheese was ringing in my head, but I avoided the temptation slip into my closet John Cleese attitude. My brother and I bought some cheese, had a glass of wine, and noticed a funny sign by the cash register that read, "Customers on cell phones will not be served." Of course, I inquired about the sign. After all, my students a semester or two ago did a great piece of fieldwork on how other customers and stores normalize devient customer behaviors. So I asked the clerk to explain.

"If a person is talking on a cell phone, we don't serve them," said the clerk. "I had one woman talking on her phone pointing frantically to the cheese she wanted. But we cut and slice the cheese to order. So she can't tell me what she wants. So I go help other customers."

An interesting example of how a store creatively uses subdued punishment to norm customer behavior and get customers to perform.