Each culture will have their own norms. It is best defined as behavior that is acceptable within a group, community or culture. What might be a norm for those of us that live in Missouri, would be abnormal behavior might get you ridiculed in other parts of the USA, or harmed in other countries. We are expected to sit quietly and listen in church, but get on our feet, get vocally loud and rowdy at sporting events. Some families eat super at the table, while talking and catching up on everyone’s day. Other families sit quietly during a meal. Any set of laws, or even house rules are the norm for that specific place.
My company has two break/lunch room shared by all three shifts, which is about 400 people total. There are many norms in these rooms. The smaller breakroom is where the smokers go. Their norm is everyone talking, and laughing. They are a loud rowdy bunch. If you go in there, you will stick out like a sore thumb. The larger room-smokers sit tends to be real quiet, there isn’t a lot of socialization in the larger room. I quit smoking many years ago, but still go into the smaller breakroom at times, strictly for the social aspect. For my experiment I sat down at a table alone, in the larger quiet breakroom, early in the morning. I picked a time when it was as quiet as a graveyard to do my experiment. If any other conversations were going on it was in quiet hushed tones, which was the norm. I pulled out my cell phone and made a phone call. I spoke in a louder voice, laughing and carrying on for about 15-20 minutes. I made it very obvious it was a social call. I kept up this behavior for a few days, at the same time every day. I received stares while they whispered about me. I would receive dirty looks throughout the day. It was as if they had judged my personality from my loud conversation. After a day or two I had different people coming to sit at the table with me. They progressively got louder in their behavior also. They wouldn’t necessarily make phone calls, but started visiting and socializing, without acting like we were sitting in a library.
The negative reaction was what I expected. It was interesting that the negativity came from people that were always unhappy and miserable. The reaction might have bothered me, if I hadn’t instigated it on purpose. I was surprised that other people took my lead. By the end of the week, we had turned the early morning quiet into a fun social get together.