My experience almost getting arrested at McDonalds

1. Breaking a Social Norm Experiment
For this FYS class we were given an assignment to so something odd to break social
normal behavior after watching a video posted on youtube.com called “The Angry Eye”. We
were to do something that would have us viewed as odd or weird in society so that we could
hopefully understand and possibly even attempt to fathom how minorities feel in society because
they are different. To do this experiment I chose to wear underwear on the outside of my pants
and go to a public place. The place I had chosen was the McDonald’s restaurant in Kenova, WV
at about 11:00 am on June 25, 2015.
I went into the restaurant with my wife following me and recording the footage with our
phone so I could catch everyone’s reaction. I thought most people would think that it was a
funny situation and just laugh at me. But no, I got the complete opposite reaction. Upon entering
the establishment I could already feel the eyes on me and judging me and looking at me like I
was stupid. The elderly couple in the corner was whispering and staring at me. That is until I
looked them at them and then they refused to have eye-contact with me. The woman behind us in
line with her kids was just upset and angry with me for basically no reason. One of her smaller
children, a little boy, was looking at me and smiling. He thought I was hilarious. That was the
reaction I was expecting to get from the majority of people. I looked like a fool. But instead, the
woman gathered her children and went to other side of the restaurant. So, I ordered our food and
we stood back by the condiments with the number they gave me and waited for our food. As we
were waiting, the manager of the store came over to where we were standing. She asked me why
my wife was recording customers in the restaurant. I explained to her that I was a student at
Marshall University and that I was doing a homework assignment to experiment to feel what
minorities experience in society. She asked me to please stop because she had gotten two

2. complaints already. I complied and told her it was no problem. Then the elderly woman from
over in the corner came to me and said that “I don’t care what you are doing you me recorded on
there and I want if off! You have to get everyone in here’s permission before you video tape
them.” I informed her that was not true but I would delete it anyway. Then the mother stormed
over and was calling me a pedophile and she was going to call the police. I began to laugh and
told her to go ahead. The only thing the police would do was make me erase the video and ask
me to leave. All of which I intended to do anyway. After they became so infuriated with me
because I was laughing at them and told them were giving me exactly what I needed for my
paper they just walked away and said they were going to call the police. Shortly after, my food
was ready. I told the manager to just make it to go. She began to put my food in a bag but she
was moving fairly slowly. So I knew something was up. Finally, when she was finished, I began
to walk to my vehicle in the parking lot. The manager rushed around the corner and opened the
door for me. I smiled and said “Thank you”. Before I could get to my car the Kenova police were
already pulling in. I smiled, told my wife it was okay and handed her the food and keys to the
truck. Clearly, they called the police way before they told me that they were going to. The
manager pointed me out as I was walking towards the officer. As I approached him asked me
what was going on. I began to explain to him the exact same thing I told the women inside. He
chuckled and said that it was okay to video the public sidewalk but not in a place of business.
Then he asked me politely to delete the videos and showed him that I already did. I looked back
in the windows and saw everyone’s face pressed against the glass. They thought for sure that I
was going to jail. We laughed and then I left. So concludes my experience.