Video by a creator examining and critiquing the methodology of Labov's department store study. The main critiques rest on the following points: - Pronunciation of R is not below the level of conscious awareness: people may actively incorporate the feature to construct a persona. - Lack of recognition of black english as a separate ethnolect: the higher population of AA respondents at certain stores may confound findings, especially giving the political climate when the study was undertaken (the great migration, the civil rights act etc.). - Lack of demographics on participants: Labov's categorization of demographics was based on observations alone which does not account for if people had moved to the city, how their speech had evolved over time, etc. - Biases in department store hiring and training: department stores were known to place emphasis on speech and would often place employees within the store based on their speech which would bias results. The creator uses these points, in greater elaboration, to argue that Labov's study can be interpreted more as a study of employment discrimination rather than a a study of the unconscious social stratification of rhotacization in NYC.

The guy in the video was trying to elicit responses just by saying "thank you" without a specific request...it's funny that most people first responded with a surprised "for what?" but later gave a formal "you're welcome" response, as if they're trying to end/escape the awkward interaction?