ACADEMIC CONTENT
written by:
anNELISE FERREIRA
The interpersonal relationships between the university PUC Minas and the local market around the campus.
In our investigation work, we tried to observe the relationships between the shop owners and college students around the neighborhood, and if there was something beyond the consumer x merchant relationship. We visited snack bars and the stationary stores located at the main avenue, Dom José Gaspar, and talked to the owners, just as we observed and noted about the consumers, how the costumer’s service was, if there was a relationship that exceeded, or not, the “costumer barrier”. The proposed questions involved discovering if the places were important for the relationship between the students and the University, and also what was the relationship of the owners/workers with the establishment, the students, and the University. We noticed that most of the times, the relations were restricted to the customer service, it being something quick, that benefits both sides. A specific person said that they had developed a friendship with the workers from a snack bar because they have been there daily over the years as they have studied at PUC. As about the notes taken in the language school, the relationships were a bit more personal, for the relationship between teacher x students being closer, as well as the attendants value for a close relationship with the students that has interest in their courses, being, both, graduated students from PUC. Something reported by all the shop owners is how business runs low in vacations or holidays, because the major part of the business in the neighborhood is due to the University being here, and when students go to their summer or winter breaks, business goes drastically low. The conclusion is: there is a great variety of relationships and it depends on what kind of service is needed, like a simple and quick cashier service of a stationary store or a café, as well as a class on a language school, and, also, the relationship between the owners and the University, that place being their only source of business, or even more: a place that has been in the owner’s family over the years.