Alison Hinton Professor Walden English 1102 Assignment One! Things to know: Sweet Frog is a Christian organization.

Frog stands for fully rely on God. It is a frozen yogurt company located in Concord Mills, Charlotte NC. This company has grown a lot since they began in 2009, more and more stores are beginning to open. Sweet Frog participates in many activities through fundraising and catering!

Alison Hinton! 10/31/13 8:10 AM Comment [1]: Excellent work overall; I really liked how you incorporated a portion of your portfolio as a part of your assignment. Your use of pictures also worked well with your observation notes. In revision, here are a few things I want you to work on for the final portfolio: Discuss how you are an actor in this figured world. You mention in the beginning this is the place where you like to frequent, now tell me more about why. Explain your experience, why you prefer this place even to other yogurt/ice cream places, etc. I would like to see you do something a little bit different with your website entry. Right now, this looks almost like what you have included in your observation write up. One way you can make this a bit different is by taking some film during your visit, a digital interview with one of the employees, etc. Also, you may want to include a menu list comparison with other yogurt/ice cream places. Essentially--what makes this place so different that people would want to visit here?!

Figured World: A figured world is influenced by rules and conventions, for example: social structures including cultural and religious communities; it is a way of communicating within a large community. My figured world is Sweet Frog. Actors: Actors are the people that communicate and follow the rules and conventions within the figured world. The actors in my figured world of sweet frog would be the customers and the employees. Artifacts: Artifacts are the material aspects like practical items or ideas and or feelings that are important to the actors or the community as a whole. Artifacts in sweet frog consist of the sweet frog cups, frozen yogurt machines, the topping bar, and the register. Discourse Communities: Discourse communities are groups that agree/work together on common interests, meaning actors of the figured world come together as one. The Discourse Communities at Sweet Frog are the employees working together and the groups/ customers coming to eat frozen yogurt together.

Literacy Practices: Literacy practices can vary from meaning to meaning within the circumstances, but by understanding these terms individually (artifacts, actors, discourse communities, and the figured world) and then combining all of the aspects together, literacy practices are formed. An example of this at sweet frog would be putting the actors, artifacts, and discourse communities together in the figured world. The employees, customers, values, frozen yogurt machine, topping bar and the register make up sweet frog as a company. Link to my Portfolio: http://ahinton4.wix.com/alisonhinton This is a link to my portfolio where you will find a page just about my experience at sweet frog! Interview with an employee: Explain what goes on behind the scenes at the workplace. Making yogurt, refilling the yogurt, refilling the topping bar, cutting up fruits, taking out trash, and washing dishes never stops. What does your work attire consist of? An employee should always come dressed in closed toed shoes, pants or long shorts, and a sweet frog shirt. How do customers act in Sweet Frog? Most people act Christian like, they say God bless you, they are very respectful. Little kids are very loud, love to scream. What kind of music is played in Sweet Frog? Christian music is always being played. Being a Christian organization, what rules have to be followed, what kinds of employees are hired? We always have to play Christian music, and be respectful to all customers. Employees do not have to be Christian but honestly all of them are. What is the busiest time of the day? The busiest time of the day is 8pm-9pm. What kinds of age groups attend Sweet Frog? All difference age groups, ranging from babies to senior citizens. What is your favorite job/part at Sweet Frog? My favorite job at sweet frog is prepping, which includes cutting strawberries, kiwi, pound cake, brownies, making mixes for the day, and making sure that the yogurt machines and topping bar is full. Rules and Conventions of Sweet Frog Sweet Frog is a frozen yogurt company. It is a Christian organization where "Frog" stands for "Fully rely on God." There are ten machines with thirty different flavors including the mixed flavors and seventy plus toppings. There are rules and conventions

not only the customers, but the employees, should know to follow as well. Employees need to wash their hands after every bathroom use and every time they switch toppings in and out. They have to pour more yogurts when the machines get low, and of course wash their hands before, in between flavors and after. Employees are to greet the guest with "Welcome to sweet frog!" whenever a customer walks in. Employees are to wear long pants with a Sweet Frog shirt and Sweet Frog hat, non-stick shoes are necessary and long hair has to be pulled back. They are also there to treat the customers with respect and to make sure they have a great experience. The customers can vary from the young to the old. A lot of groups and parties come to study and celebrate. Birthday parties are to call ahead and sweet frog usually gives discounts based on the amount of people in the party. It is a loud environment but during certain times it can be quiet. Acceptable behavior from the customers consists of getting their yogurt, toppings, and weighing their cup to get the price. Unacceptable behavior would be skipping the weighing part and not paying, and not throwing away their trash after finishing their yogurt. All different types of people go to Sweet Frog, but everyone has the same type of common sense rules. Observations at Sweet Frog 12-1pm (What I noticed to be the slowest time of the day) 12:00: I walk inside and an employee says, Welcome to sweet frog I notice that everything is very clean, and quiet since they just opened at 11am 12:07: A customer walks in by himself, he gets a few sample cups from the employee and after trying a few flavors of yogurt, he picks two to put in his cup. He then picks a few toppings and walks over to the register, weighs his cup and pays with cash. 12:23: Another customer walks in with her little girl, the mother asks the employee for a container of sugar and a spoon for her strawberries, and the employee said they didnt have any. The mother and daughter set their cups on the scale together! 12:33: A group of girls with Charlotte on their shirts walk in while one of the employees starts to sweep the floor. I noticed that the employees keep it very clean and that is just after being in the store for 30 minutes. 12:37: A tall man walks in to get yogurt and one of the employees notices him walking out without paying, I overhear the employee telling the man he is not welcome back because this has happened too many times. The man left and the employee comes back inside and goes to the back. 12:39: The girls from Charlotte get out homework and start working on it while in eating their yogurt. One employee is restocking the sample cups and the bigger cups. Another employee is at the register, and the third is putting on the frog suit. The boy that put on the frog suit is now outside waving and taking pictures with adults and kids. 12:51: A family comes in just to buy one of the little stuffed frogs. The boy frog is named Scoops and the girl is Cookie. 12:53: Meanwhile everyone is outside hugging the employee in the frog suit. The frog suit looks like Scoops, (the boy frog). 12:54: One employee is wiping down tables, again keeping sweet frog a very clean place. I notice that whenever there are hardly any people, the employees clean instead of standing around. All the employees are wearing closed toed shoes, long pants and their hair is pulled back 1:00: Since it is a school day, I noticed there were hardly any kids today a this time.

3-4pm 3:00: I walk in. Employee says, Welcome to sweet frog. 3:03: There is a customer is at the front paying, and asking what the busiest time of the day was, the employee responds, 8pm-9pm. Then the employee asks the customer if they would like a receipt and when she said no the employee put it in the register with the other stack of receipts. 3:08: Next, I notice a huge group of little kids (girls and boys) and a few parents walk in. The group looks to be a birthday party; a parent walks up the employee and said that they had called about a large party. One by one the kids walk through to weigh their yogurt cups. After all of the cups have been totaled, the employee gave them a discount and one of the parents paid. 3:10: I walked up to the register to ask the employee if they would give a discount for every huge party that called. She said, as long as they call ahead to let us know, normally that is what we do. 3:15: The huge party is sitting outside, they are very loud and kids were running around. 3:27: One employee is wiping down tables and sweeping, and since no one is in line the other employee starts filling the topping bar. 3:32: The employee wiping down the tables notices that the kids that came in for the birthday party made their cups overflow with yogurt; meaning a ton of yogurt is now sitting on top of the drains. She gets her supplies and cleans it up immediately. 3:35: They also clean the topping bar from the kids mess, the topping bar gets very messy, very fast. 3:37: The next group of kids that just finished their desert have yogurt all over their hands and when they go to sit down they get it all over the back of the chairs. Again the employee notices and right when that group left she grabbed a hot wash cloth and washed it all down. I start to notice that almost every time out of the boy employee and the girl employee she is the one to clean up the huge mess. 3:51: The boy employee then goes into the mens bathroom to clean it. When he gets back he goes on his break. 3:55: One group just left their cups on the table and didnt throw them away so the employees had to do it for them. 3:58: A very angry sounding customer complains about the Christian music that is currently being played in the store. The employee response is, it is a Christian organization and that is the music that always plays maam. 4:00: The customer gets mad and leaves. 8-9pm (What I noticed to be the busiest time of the day) 8:00: I walk in and an employee says, Welcome to sweet frog 8:03: I bought my cup of yogurt and toppings. It is 42 cent per ounce, and I paid $2.23. 8:06: I then notice a customer walking in line to get toppings and she starts eating the toppings before weighing her cup to pay. 8:14: There is now a lady that paying with a buy one get one free coupon and didnt understand English. The employee told her that she gets to have another cup for half off and without paying she gets another cup of yogurt and walks right out the door. The employee follows behind to try to explain what is going on and once she understands the

customer came right back to pay. Both the employee and the customer seem to be very sweet and handling the situation very well. 8:16: A young girl walks right passed the yogurt straight to the toppings and only buys a cup of toppings. A few minutes after, a teenage boy asked the employee for sample cups, once he got a few, he tried all different kinds of yogurt and walked out right out of the door. While all of this is happening, a customer is getting mad at the employee that is filling the topping bar for not having any no-sugar added toppings. 8:25: Sweet frog has little and big stuffed frogs for sell and a few little kids came in just to buy some. They then go outside and start running a playing with their stuffed frogs, happy as can be! 8:30: One employee is cleaning the tables once again, and then a couple walks in to get some yogurt but has never been there before. The employee that is cleaning the tables walks over to them to explain how it works! Once they got it they paid and said, Thank you and God bless you. 8:34: I just overheard a very interesting complaint from a customer about the color of the sour gummy worms. He wanted a certain color and they just did not have it. 8:36: After eating their yogurt, a customer gets more sample cups to try, and she said to the employee, I know what Im getting next time. The employee giggled. 8:37: There is a group of girls doing work with their computers with their ear buds in their ears because of the amount of kids in the store right now. 8:40: I start to notice that the little kids tend to have cups that weigh more/cost more than their parents. 8:41: Across the store a little girl starts singing the song that is playing. The employees start cleaning all of the chairs and tables since most of the crowd is sitting outside at the tables. 8:53: One of the three employees takes his break. 8:57: Two customers start talking to the employee about where they are from and she is from the same place, then the next man is from the same place (Pembroke) with the same background and they all start having a conversation with each other. 8:59: Then a customer was confused about his cash back, he forgot about tax. He laughed, said Oh my and left to eat his yogurt. 9:00: Since they close at ten, all employees start to clean and get things together; few customers are in at this time. I noticed tonight that these employees go through a lot of complaints with customers about little things, but they run an awesome organization.