Act of Deviance

For class this week, we were assigned to take part in a positive act of deviance. Deviance is when someone goes against social norms or what is expected, either in a negative or a positive way. I went against what was expected of me when I helped an old man walk around the store I work at, picking out every item on his shopping list for him and offering coupons with those items. He asked if I was getting commission for what I was doing and I laughed, thinking he was kidding. He was serious.

When people do something outside of what is expected, especially if it's a good thing, people around them get confused. They aren't used to these acts and don't know how to respond. I try to be really friendly to every customer by smiling, asking how they are doing, or how their day is going. I always get responses like "why are you so happy?", "why are you smiling?", or "what's going on". It's so strange to me that they don't expect people to be friendly, but once I started paying more attention, I noticed that people are usually minding their own business and shopping on their own. If someone helps them or tries talking to them, they think that that person wants something, that there's something in it for them. If people commit more kind acts of deviance, our world will be a friendlier one where people don't think strangers buying them coffee for no reason is odd, wishing them a good day is strange, or giving a stranger a hug to brighten his/her day is not normal.