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4 - Offering a Taste in Gourmet Food Shops

Small Gifts in an Economy of Sale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2023

By
Lorenza Mondada
Edited by
Barbara Fox ,
Lorenza Mondada  and
Marja-Leena Sorjonen
Barbara Fox
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Boulder
Lorenza Mondada
Affiliation:
University of Basel
Marja-Leena Sorjonen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
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Summary

This chapter examines sequences of offers by sellers in gourmet shops, video documented in a dozen cities across Europe, focusing on offers of a taste of cheese. Such offers to taste are shown to occur in two types of sequential contexts. They are made when a customer has expressed interest in a product but displays some hesitation in deciding whether to purchase it or not. Such offers to taste pursue sale of the cheese; they are not simple small gifts. Participants orient to this character of the offers by treating them as providing assistance in decision making. On the other hand, if the offer is made sequentially too late or too early, it is rejected, underlining the pursuit of sale at work in an offer of a taste. A contrasting environment of offers is also examined. In these cases, a plate of small pre-cut pieces of cheese are on the counter for anyone to try. The offers are typically accepted by the customer but without leading to buying. This enriches our understanding of the preference organization of offers and requests, and the relationships between benefactor/beneficiary, further supporting the relationship between the offer and the pursuit of the offerer’s interests.

Keywords

offers to tastegourmet shopscheese shopseconomy of salebenefactorbeneficiaryEurope
Type
Chapter
Information
Encounters at the Counter
The Organization of Shop Interactions
 , pp. 109 - 143
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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