Activity 2 - Observation

I observed in the snack bar of the public library that is near my house. I noticed that many people did not stop in the snack bar because they were only there for a short time. The people who did stop at the snack bar were mostly there to do homework. Very few people that were there were actually eating, most of them were drinking coffee. The snack bar can seat about 30 people comfortably. The day I observed there were about 25 so there were a couple of tables open.
The thing that I noticed most was people's eye contact behaviors. The space is generally considered a quiet space so whenever someone raised their voice to more than a whisper, people would shoot them a look that was telling them to quiet down. Most people sat by themselves at a table for one. They positioned their bodies so that they were only facing the window, the door, or the cashier. No one faced each other. One man that came in noticed that the only table left was one in which he was going to have to sit close to someone else - even though it would be back to back. He left immediately. This was a perfect example of an unwritten rule within the snack bar. No one was allowed to sit close (like 10 - 15 inches) to each other.
Another thing that I noticed while observing is how people would move. Whenever someone went up to get another cup of coffee, their body movements would become very rigid as though they were uncomfortable. I thought this was strange because the space was not small enough that I felt they should be uncomfortable.
There was very little talking that happened. There was talking between the cashier and customers. The only talking that I observed between people sitting in the snack bar was a man asking a woman if he could borrow a pen. She was polite and gave him a pen.
Since we were asked to "imagine" if someone came into the place we were observing and performed a behavior that was forbidden, I did just that. When I first went into the snack bar, I sat at the same table as a young girl (about my age). I could tell immediately that she was uncomfortable because her whole body shifted. As soon as I sat at the table, she moved all her stuff closer to her as if I had cooties. I had broken the unwritten rule that nobody should sit next to each other.
The conclusion that I came to is that people will close themselves off so people will give them their space. I think that often times we do this without even intending to. In the case of the young girl I sat by, I think that she wanted to close herself off to me because I had made her uncomfortable. The uncomfortable feeling is probably what drives many of the behaviors that we do.
Are there any conclusions that you have noticed from reading this that I may not have caught since I was in a part of it? Do you find any aspect of this observation more interesting than another?