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Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
- basic6 8y agoThere's nothing worse than quirky alternative music.
- commandlinefan 8y agoCustomers, too.
- heegemcgee 8y agoThis isn't really a whole article, is it? It's an anecdote. I don't doubt that this is a problem, but this isn't a good look at it.
- mbostleman 8y agoYes. Any premise can be created if all that is needed is the argument of "...one writer and podcaster...".
- supernovae 8y agoThe Starbucks I visit doesn't even seem to play music. It's been a while since I've been to a store that did and when they did it was just coffeehouse playlist with Spotify integration so it was kind of cool what they had set up. I imagine working in an environment where you hear the same music regardless would cause some pain if you focus on that aspect of your work environment. Just imagine being alive in the 80s with muzak and really crappy jingles play
- dingaling 8y ago> Just imagine being alive in the 80s with muzak and really crappy jingles play I worked in a chain supermarket in the 80s and to this day I know the words and melodies of all the hits of that decade, but not the names of the songs or the artists.
- galago 8y agoWhen I was in high school I worked in a Pizza restaurant that had a CD player in the closet. There were two CDs--The Carpenters Greatest Hits, which was used January to November and The Carpenters Christmas album, which they used in December. I must have listened to the Greatest Hits hundreds of times.
- nsxwolf 8y agoThat should be an OSHA violation.
- squozzer 8y agoOSHA? That should go straight to The Hague as a crime against humanity.
- baldfat 8y agoThat sounds like my childhood. We had an 8 track with Mamas and the Papas California Dreaming and Random MARCHING MUSIC. The radio was broken. It was Russian Roulette with the revolver loaded when mom ask what music you want to listen to. You want audio arsenic or audio cyanide?
- lesss365 8y agoSimilar experience. It's why I can't stand to listen to Led Zeppelin and absolutely despise showtunes...
- gerbilly 8y agoI worked at a particular RadioShack store where the manager played the movie "Top Gun" over and over to demo the surround sound system.
- grawprog 8y agoI went into a Starbucks the other day early in the morning that didn't have music playing yet, it was really weird. It was actually kind of disconcerting. I think that's the only time i've ever been in one with no music. Everybody's voices echoed really loudly. You could hear every conversation going on and people ordering from the other side of the store. As much as I dislike their music choices usually, I kind of understand why they have it going. Though a redesign of their interiors could probably do a lot to help the empty echoey feeling without constant music.
- rc_kas 8y agoI wonder if other sounds besides music would work. Like coffee pouring background noise or panther sounds or something.
- booleandilemma 8y agoRainforest Cafe had (has?) nice ambient rainforest sounds which I enjoyed as a kid.
- psychometry 8y agoAll coffee shops and restaurants these days have terrible acoustical design. It's because any kind of acoustic treatment is more expensive than none at all.
- brokenmachine 8y agoI guess also because hard surfaces are easier to clean.
- narrator 8y agoPerhaps the music is to keep people from talking on their cell phones.
- gnicholas 8y agoIronically, there are sound loops that remote workers use to make it sound like they're working in a coffee shop (sans music) https://coffitivity.com https://coffitivity.com
- ng12 8y agoI spent years working retail in a CVS. Hamilton's got nothing on off-brand Christmas music.
- dmonagha 8y agoWorked at Walgreens during high school. I'll take waterboarding over having to hear 'Train - Drops of Jupiter' ever again.
- chrshawkes 8y agoThat's a bad one, but I got one better... Pompei by that terrible singer I'll never listen to voluntarily. That song is worse than Kars for Kids.
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoI worked at the same chain for years. Bad covers of horrible songs for most of the years then off-brand christmas mixed with adverts for Christmas. The last 2 years before leaving the country, I worked nights. I had office keys and would turn off the music. You don't know proper peace at work until you've done a nice, quiet midnight shift. :)
- save_ferris 8y agoI experienced this working in retail during the holiday season back when I was in college. The little bell intro to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", will forever haunt my dreams. I rarely listen to Christmas music anymore because of that experience. Nowadays, I get irritated when I've burned through a 2 hour playlist twice at work and need to find something else to listen to, but I totally take the ability to change my music for granted.
- balabaster 8y agoI moved from the UK to Canada 20 years ago this September. Back in High School and University, I worked retail for about 5 years or so. By the time I left, I haaaaaated Christmas music. Couldn't stand it. Now after 20 years in Canada, I really miss it. Nothing here is the same as it is in the UK when it comes to Christmas traditions. There's no carolers, the smells aren't the same, the shops aren't the same. Everything that made Christmas Christmas to me is missing. For everything I love about living in Canada, that's been the hardest thing about living here instead of where I grew up. I actually have a Christmas playlist made up entirely of Christmas songs from when I was a kid to try and kick start my Christmas mood when the season rolls around :D
- rovyko 8y ago>There's no carolers, the smells aren't the same, the shops aren't the same Growing up in Canada, I thought carolers and olde-timey Christmas themes only happened in movies these days. Are these traditions still alive in the UK?
- balabaster 8y agoWell, obviously I've been gone for 20 years, so I can't speak to whether they still happen but growing up in the village I did, they happened every year without fail. Some years we'd go with them, other years we'd stay home and have hot mulled wine to offer them when they came around. Another thing I struggled to find this year in my local area was midnight mass. This just doesn't seem to be a big thing here either. The best I could find was a 10pm mass, which just doesn't seem to cut the mustard... plus what's with the singing carols to the wrong tunes?
- albemuth 8y agoRelevant comedy skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkrL42R7gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkrL42R7gk
- throwaway413 8y agoWhen I was 16, I spent 3 months working at a Hollister store in the nearby mall. They had the same 6 songs playing on repeat all damn day, every single day. It was tortuous. That was the second worst thing about that place. The first being the hourly spray of chemical fumes everywhere for their signature smell.
- cwkoss 8y agoI wonder if any Hollister workers have had adverse physical effects from working in an environment chronically saturated with their fragrance.
- padseeker 8y agoI totally agree with this. As a high school kid I used to work at Toys R Us, we'd broadcast a mix tape that would be changed maybe once every two months? This meant hearing Margaritaville 3-4 times a day every day I worked. It could drive you mad.
- sjg007 8y agoI once sat in a Starbucks for a few hours and I noticed that the music shifted with the customer base. So oldies and jazz got played around the time senior citizens would come in and the vibe would change depending on the demographic at that time. I thought it was interesting.. Maybe coincidence.. maybe not.
- paxys 8y agoDefinitely not a coincidence. Starbucks puts a lot of effort into music curation. Here's a good article that goes into some detail - https://www.fastcompany.com/3067250/meet-the-music-nerds-behind-the-tunes-you-hear-at-starbucks https://www.fastcompany.com/3067250/meet-the-music-nerds-beh..., and also touches upon what you mentioned.
- Nav_Panel 8y agoI think some Starbucks have a little more agency. The one near my apartment in NYC is always playing a mid-00s hiphop/R&B throwbacks playlist. Definitely not the mainstream suburban mom stuff, but, ya never know, maybe they have separate "urban environment" playlists.
- crooked-v 8y agoI've heard "Dare to Be Stupid" in one and I really doubt that would be a corporate-approved item, so there's got to be some kind of local variation.
- busterarm 8y ago"Paid for by Tim Hortons"
- maxxxxx 8y agoIn general I don’t understand why people think that it’s ok to pollute every bit of space with noise of their choice (aka music). I view it as a big nuisance.
- jniedrauer 8y agoAs with many things, it's profit-driven. As a related example, bars intentionally turn the music up loud enough that conversations are difficult because this causes patrons to buy more drinks.
- maxxxxx 8y ago" loud enough that conversations are difficult because this causes patrons to buy more drinks" I know that I am weird but this makes me just want to run away,.
- mrec 8y agoThat doesn't make you weird, that makes you sane. You couldn't pay me to drink in bars like that.
- brokenmachine 8y agoI'm the same, but I guess we're not the target market then. They want mindless binge drinkers, not talkers. It's weird because I feel I'd drink more when I'm comfortable, with music audible but not loud enough to drown out conversation or be too offensive.
- ABCLAW 8y ago>They want mindless binge drinkers, not talkers. I'm friends with a lot of bar owners, and have had a few bars in the family in the past. Owners don't want someone getting plastered. We want the high functioning alcoholic who orders 3 pints to his partner's 1 and draws his friends to come to the pub with him every night or two.
- noarchy 8y agoI am never in a Starbucks for long enough to really notice the music. There usually isn't any place to sit, as the place seems to turn into an office or study space, with Macbooks (rarely something else) taking up nearly every seat.
- chrisseaton 8y agoThat's the whole idea of Starbucks - it's the third place.
- switch007 8y agoMy Starbucks has a large oval desk with a raised central oval with lots of plugs (as a kind of divider), very reminiscent of University. Not a coincidence. They also have some soft chairs, some standard cafe tables and chairs. A real mix. Designed for each person to find their place. Shame it takes them 10 minutes to make an Americano: they're often very busy washing the sugary goop out of the blender containers...
- noarchy 8y agoI have never been the kind to want to work from a cafe, but I know plenty who do it. Fair enough. I'm more of the kind who wants to meet friends to have a conversation at a cafe, which we really can't do when the seats are gobbled up by people who are camped out there all day long. There are cafes where this doesn't happen, and they seem to be the ones without free wifi. I guess there's a market for each.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hanging 8y agoFor those unfamiliar with the reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place
- DrScump 8y agoThe Starbucks at Lawrence and El Camino in Santa Clara recently removed all the outlets from their back room.
- peterwwillis 8y agoThe music is also a factor of what the manager feels like playing. I know that sometimes they can change to a different station and change the volume, though they'll always claim they can't. I've had to leave Starbucks on several occasions because the speakers were blaring. Other times the musical selection is the opposite of "easy listening", like you're working in a club or something.
- tamaharbor 8y agoIf you don't like it, don't work there.
- lghh 8y agoIt'd be great if people in low wage jobs had the privileged of being picky.
- baldfat 8y agoI am guessing you also have an issue with people being on unemployment?
- anigbrowl 8y agoPeople like this are the whiniest when they don't get what they want, oddly enough.
- brokenmachine 8y agoI'll just not be a customer there.
- GuB-42 8y agoI don't know about Starbucks but have you ever been to a Family Mart convenience store in Japan? I'm wondering how the music didn't drive the employees mad. The Family Mart welcome song is probably the most recognizable but the same goes for stores like Bic Camera and many others.
- Legogris 8y agoThis one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igGcWRYhr1Y&index=14&list=RD36YlB_6dUic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igGcWRYhr1Y&index=14&list=RD... But yeah, I feel for the retail employees in Japan. Several of the franchises and chains jingles really get to you after a while. I think Don Quixote and Lawson are worse, because they actually have vocals. It's just on a completely different level. The same 45-something-seconds jingle on loop, perpetually 24/7, interspersed with ads.
- jpatokal 8y agoThe Japanese take this to another level. Imagine listening to these all day, every day: Don don don, donki, don quijote... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE (Don Quijote) Kamera wa yodobashi kamera! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QSu1ZHunw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QSu1ZHunw (Yodobashi Camera)
- dTal 8y agoDear god. Listening to that first link all the way through was a poor decision. It won't go away! How do marketers come up with such reliably earwormy stuff? Are there papers I can go read about this?
- lenocinor 8y agoDon't forget classics like the sakana ("fish") song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJDCDF2xnf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJDCDF2xnf8 ).
- karaokeyoga 8y agoDon't forget "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees at the 7-11s here. It's incessant. I can't stand it and I wonder how the staff survives ...
- harshitaneja 8y agoOh god. This. I work out of starbucks(prefer the white noise than my office) and the music is becoming so irritating now. The same small number of tracks on repeat the whole day.. everyday.
- peapicker 8y agoWhile I have nothing against coffee shop working (done it myself plenty) I respectfully submit that irritating worker-sitters is the actual reason for the repetition and irritation. They'd rather free up our seats.
- berbec 8y agoI owned a Domino's and put up a LCD in the customer waiting area. I bought a BluRay player and a copy of Finding Nemo. It took two shifts for me to fill a disc with <cough> backups <cough> of dozens of Disney/Pixar/etc movies. Once I broke 50 hours of video, I stopped being able to recite it at will.
- Pfhreak 8y agoWe can hem and haw about piracy for personal use. But piracy and public playback of pirated media at a business you owned seems like a totally different beast to me.
- berbec 8y agoI owned the blurays/dvd for everything I showed. I got the backups from the "usual places" because it was easier than ripping them myself. I had every single disc in the office.
- southphillyman 8y agoThis is a normal part of working retail. I'll forever have Smooth by Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas etched into my memory from my time working at Blockbuster Video in the early 2000s
- overthemoon 8y agoI worked at a movie theater and we were supposed to get a new CD every month from corporate to play in theaters before the movie started, but in the year or so I worked there it never changed. I don't remember all of them, but the ones I do remember are a cover of Convoy by Mannheim Steamroller, which is a godawful treacly piece of shit to begin with, and a cover of Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon by Urge Overkill, which I utterly loathe to this day. This makes me think of Groundhog Day, and how brilliantly the film used the repetition of I've Got You Babe to show how the protagonist was going crazy.
- Synaesthesia 8y agoCONVOY!!
- DrScump 8y agocover of Convoy by Mannheim Steamroller Did MS actually do a cover of Convoy? The original "C.W. McCall" Convoy stems from the same people, but I didn't know they redid Convoy in the MS style. The 1980s McCall-branded reunion album ("Comin' Back for More"?) is good.
- s_c_r 8y agoI worked at Chick-fil-A in high school and experienced this but with Christian contemporary music. If I never hear "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood again it will be too soon. I feel the same way about steel drums after a summer working at Bahama Breeze, a Caribbean themed Olive Garden.
- eigenstuff 8y agoI always feel so bad for people that work at Hobby Lobby, it's just nothing but the WORST elevator music versions of Christian shit. I give thanks everyday for the Michael's we got a few years ago, so much better in every single way. Every time I'm forced to go to Hobby Lobby when Michael's doesn't have what I need, I can't get out of there fast enough.
- MiddleEndian 8y agoI wouldn't be surprised if the real goal was to make customers spend less time sitting around. In the last year or two, I've noticed Panera has been playing godawful music that makes it nearly impossible to sit down, relax, and work on something. It works of course, but now I just don't go at all.
- hanging 8y agoAlmost every Panera I've been in was poorly run. Poor service and bad, old coffee more often than not. SF at 4th and King was the lone exception.
- MiddleEndian 8y agoPerhaps. I don't drink coffee, I liked their fruit smoothies, and bagels are bagels. The music used to be generic enough (probably something quiet and instrumental but I honestly cannot recall) that it was not something I registered, but more recently they've played loud country/pop (observed in both Massachusetts and Maryland) that I now avoid them.
- paxswill 8y agoIn the specific case of Starbucks (at least in the US), the employees do have a bit of control over the music. They're able to curate a playlist of store "favorites" and are usually able to change the playlist from whatever's playing to the "favorites" playlist. The problem is not very many employees know about it, and it requires using a specific piece of hardware (an in-store iPod also used for inventory). They playlist will also switch roughly every 30 minutes or so, so they have to keep switching it back.
- brycedorn 8y agoit's only a matter of time before we all have bone-conducting headphones and can wirelessly receive/send sounds to each other (and choose our own music at work)
- brokenmachine 8y agoWe have headphones now and people still rudely insist on broadcasting their music to everyone.
- sonnyblarney 8y agoI read an article recently that telling children what to eat doesn't work well, neither does letting them pick everything. But - if you give them a choice of 'A or B' - it seems to work better. Perhaps stores ought to a) provide some variety and b) let the staff have at least some influence. 'Here's a massive list of music - you make the playlists from this'
- bogidon 8y agoAn elementary school I attended from first to fourth grade would play Beethovan's Moonlight Sonata in the lunchroom as the song that signaled "quiet time," when we'd have to eat our food without talking. Occasionally we would get another song, something by Chopin I think, but in my memory 90% of the time it was Moonlight Sonata. Whenever I hear that song now, ten years later, I get teleported back to fourth grade quiet time where all I could do was stare into my carton of sometimes half-frozen strawberry milk or prod miserably at my collard greens (invariably quiet time came near the end of lunch when I had already eaten everything not terrible). I have an almost physical revulsion when I hear it.
- Synaesthesia 8y agoThe first movement is overplayed. The second and third are really awesome actually.
- heegemcgee 8y agoThe third movement is a banger. Should sound familiar to anyone who played Earthworm Jim. I believe it also made an appearance in Looney Tunes in one form or another. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucBfXpCA6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucBfXpCA6s
- bogidon 8y agoThanks for the info. Maybe this will let me reclaim something from the negative conditioning!
- yissp 8y agoMy high school would play the William Tell overture in the morning as everyone was scrambling to get to their first class. It was amusing for a while but got pretty old after four years.
- rb808 8y ago> in the lunchroom as the song that signaled "quiet time," when we'd have to eat our food without talking. That sounds like a really oppressive school. hope you made it out OK.
- sevensor 8y agoI attended university in the very early days of MP3s. In a microcontroller lab, the TAs hooked one of the lab computers to a pair of speakers and set up their collection of MP3s to loop indefinitely. I still remember the whole playlist: * White Wedding by Billy Idol * I Am The Walrus by the Beatles I may have the order reversed.
- bradknowles 8y agoBut that was all the disk space they had! You were lucky! Some of us could only walk through the snow uphill one way! ;)
- PascLeRasc 8y agoYou'd appreciate this John Mulaney bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkrL42R7gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkrL42R7gk
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y agoI've noticed this same thing when I go to restaurants or some cafes to work, especially chains. I find myself so annoyed by the music in just a few hours, I have to leave. But maybe that is the point? I feel sorry for the employees, though.
- fallingfrog 8y agoI used to work in the back room of a Target and the stereo was always tuned to the same radio station. They just played 12 songs, in a loop, 24/7. I always knew which song would come on next before it did. I think most radio stations are like that- they just have a loop of about an hour of music that they play, and most people aren't in the car long enough to figure out it's just the same songs over and over.
- DrScump 8y agoThey just played 12 songs, in a loop Sounds like Muzak, not regular radio.
- fallingfrog 8y agoHm, no I don't remember the frequency but they would do the standard thing where the announcer would come on and say "This is WSUK 99.7 playing the biggest hits!" and so on.
- uptownfunk 8y agoDownvote me to hell but seriously #firstworldproblems
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- egypturnash 8y agoI've noticed that the music a coffee shop plays has a big effect on whether or not I want to come back regularly. It doesn't have to all be stuff I'd have in my own playlists, but it needs to have variety. It's even fine if sometimes it's something I actively dislike. Working in a place that plays the same corporate-approved playlist forever is hellish, though. Having it be your actual job to be there is even worse.
- wodenokoto 8y agoLet us spare a moment of silence for the poor souls who had to work the floor and register at Japanese we-sell-everything store Donkihote, who had to listen to this piece of art on repeat, day or night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE
- fishingisfun 8y agonoise pollution is a real problem at my work place as well. The whole open concept and crappy ventilation system has caused me many headaches. I dont even listen to the radio on my way back home because how exhausted the whole day at the office has made me
- benbristow 8y agoThe Starbucks I frequent often (a kiosk at Glasgow (Scotland) Central Train Station) seem to have their own music on their phones or something. Always hear something different. I suppose it depends on the type of Starbucks.
- justjash 8y agoI think the one near my office in the US has its own Spotify playlist that they use in store. I am pretty sure they had a link to it or something on the wall if you wanted to follow. I'm going to have to try and remember to look again next time I go in.
- benbristow 8y agoUsing Spotify in a business setting is actually against the Spotify Terms of Conditions. https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/the_basics/use-spotify-in-my-bar-restaurant-store-school-etc/ https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/the_basics/use-... Not that most of the bars that I go to actually read the T&C's. I've heard Spotify adverts in some...
- johnnycab 8y agoThere are legitimate solutions to Spotify for Business. [1] https://www.soundtrackyourbrand.com/industries https://www.soundtrackyourbrand.com/industries [2] https://rockbot.com/ https://rockbot.com/ Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2018/04/24/why-the-swedish-spotify-of-background-music-could-boost-your-sales/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2018/04/24/wh...
- benbristow 8y agoNot sure they're as flexible though. I think they're 'set a playlist and you're done' kinda deals. A lot of bars I go to are basically 'DJ'ing with Spotify taking requests from punters etc.
- johnvanommen 8y ago
- jread 8y agoI spend about 2 hours in Starbucks every morning before taking kids to school. Usually the playlist is tolerable, but every once in a while it's absolutely horrendous, particularly for 5AM. A couple years ago they had a 70s Soul Train playlist including Love Train which drove me nuts. I can only imagine being an employee on an 8 hour shift and not able to put on noise cancelling headphones.
- mgkimsal 8y agoworked at a music store for a couple of years - part time, but the company-provided playlists did grate after a while. upside was it was fairly chart-driven, so you'd generally not get the same things for more than a few weeks in a row. it was mostly just very... popularity driven (of course, they're trying to push new stuff). We did generally have some down time each day which was 'staff choice', but even then they still wanted it to be from their approved list. We mostly followed that rule. It was a big corporate chain store thing, not a hip indie place. At some point they moved in to promoting video in store, which got worse. The CDs they'd send were samplers, but the "now play this VHS tape"... the Garth Brooks concert VHS... ugh - however much you like him, having to listen to it 2x/day for weeks... (at least it seemed like weeks)
- hanging 8y agoThat's one thing I miss about record stores like Tower. The music was chosen by workers on shift, a full album side at a time. I discovered some great music that way, including "popular" artists before they were popular.
- iambateman 8y agoI once quit a job in part because the building manager insisted on playing one playlist of 90's soft-rock. He said it was part of the "brand". Same songs...every day.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- 781 8y agoSome guitar shops have a list of songs which you are absolutely forbidden to sing if trying on their guitars: https://i.imgur.com/Pzd3lIk.png https://i.imgur.com/Pzd3lIk.png https://i.imgur.com/qXkEUZl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qXkEUZl.jpg
- qrbLPHiKpiux 8y agoI'm also sick of Sweet Child O' Mine.
- mcgwiz 8y agoReminds me of my (second) stint working there in the mid-00s, deciphering the format of their PlayNetwork discs. https://club.myce.com/t/starbucks-playnetwork-playdisc-aud-format/63734/67 https://club.myce.com/t/starbucks-playnetwork-playdisc-aud-f... Unfortunately, within a year they happened to transition to satellite feeds. (Kudos to myce, formerly CDFreaks, for keeping this content online all this time.)
- s_r_n 8y agoThis seems like a problem that could be solved by noise cancelling earbuds that could allow people to filter in things like people talking to them, but filter out background noise. I've experienced a similar problem at work actually, but with people with loud voices. I've wished for an earbud set that could let me dial the volume down or run certain voices through a vocoder.
- kawsper 8y agoThis does not surprise me at all, I sometimes work from a local pub during the day maybe once every 14 days, and even I can memorize the playlist and it drives me nuts if I'm there without headphones.
- ceedan 8y agoI worked at a coffee shop that played a fixed set of songs which included the Sarah McLachlan song from her SPCA commercials. Every time it came on somebody would run into the back to change it, because we all grew to hate the "sad puppy song"
- post_break 8y agoI worked for Toys R Us. The crappy music they played was synced to the hold music of the store. It was really weird.
- cableshaft 8y agoI worked at a department store for a year in the gifts department (think Hummel figures, Precious Moments figures, candles, lava lamps, crystal dishes, various crap like that). There was a CD player that had a single CD in it that played on repeat. It was a CD of showtunes, like Oklahoma, etc. The only song on there I could tolerate was "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, all the rest drove me nuts. I could escape it though, by going to a different corner of the department, so it wasn't too bad. There was another time I worked in a factory job for a year, and the forewoman would blast the local Top 40 station throughout the whole factory all day every day. I would hear the same songs 3 or 4 times a day every day I worked there that entire year. To this day I get flashbacks whenever I hear Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (specifically the "la la la, la la, la la la" chorus. Drove me nuts hearing that all the time).
- hnruss 8y agoI experienced this on another level while working retail at a musical instrument store for a few years. People would pick up any instrument and play whatever they wanted for however long they wanted-- at whatever volume they wanted. Although some people are quite talented, most are not. One lady would sit at the piano for hours, playing the musical equivalent of nonsense. Around that same time, I had my own home recording studio and sometimes wound up recording musicians that were on the scale of bad to downright terrible. If I reacted negatively to the sound they made, that would only make them want to re-record it, which meant I'd have to hear it again. I quickly learned how to keep a straight face and mentally treat the music like background noise or focus intently on the parts of it that weren't too bad.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoI was just wondering if music instrument store employees would be affected by everyone playing. I'm learning guitar and my housemate says it's disconcerting to hear me playing parts of a song he recognizes without the full instrumentation/song structure. I can't imagine if 5 people were doing that all at once for an 8-hour shift.
- philip1209 8y agoI had similar feelings in an open office. When it got loud, the suggestion was to put on headphones. But, in effect, that was just using more noise to drown out other noise. All I really wanted was some peace and quiet!
- mayank 8y agoThe new generation of noise-canceling headphones can block sound without playing other audio. It's not perfect, but it's much better than the "noise canceling" headphones from a decade ago.
- mitchellgoffpc 8y agoThe newest cans from Sony and Bose ARE pretty good, but the pressure always bothers my ears after a while, especially when I’m not playing music. There’s no real substitute for a quiet office, other than maybe working remotely.
- cheesymuffin 8y agoI'm going to teach you all a hack. You can ask the employees at Starbucks (and most semi-reasonable coffeeshops) to turn the music down. Yes, I know, it's amazing what you can get by using your words.
- baroffoos 8y agoCan I ask the pub to stop giving me hearing damage?
- iamjaredwalters 8y agoDo you recommend a condescending attitude at all times or just this time?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cheesymuffin 8y agoSorry, I couldn't hear you over the music at your local Starbucks.
- christophilus 8y agoThe local Target used to be music free, and was the only big chain shopping experience I’ve ever enjoyed. I’d go out of my way to go there over competitors. Then they renovated, and now they blast the same terrible noise that every other retailer does. It sucks. I haven’t been back since.
- hombre_fatal 8y agoObviously "cafe has music" is going to be a popular comments section on HN where we all relate our horror stories of working at places with nonstop music. But this is a surprisingly terrible article. Guantanamo bay, really? Quoting a no-name Adam Johnson with a head shot, unrelated to the source, to weigh in on music? Focusing on Starbucks as linkbait when this is ubiquitous?
- so33 8y agoSure, comparisons to Gitmo might be unwarranted, but this article is not about cafes merely playing music nonstop (which is indeed ubiquitous), but about Starbucks playing the same few songs over the speakers repeatedly while denying employees the ability to control the playlist (and therefore the environment around them). FTA: > Earlier this year, irritated Starbucks employees took to Reddit to rage about how they had to listen to the same songs from the Broadway hit musical Hamilton on repeat while on the job. One user wrote that if they heard a Hamilton song one more time, "I'm getting a ladder and ripping out all of our speakers from the ceiling." At a smaller cafe, I'd imagine employees would get much more control over what music to play (often I've noticed it's just some employee's phone plugged into the speakers).
- peapicker 8y agoFunny, I haven't heard any Skinny Puppy[1] at Starbuck$ recently. (Ironically, I'd find that a reason to go there...) [1] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/07/skinny-puppy-payment-guantanamo https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/07/skinny-puppy-p...
- jameane 8y agoI still have a reaction to the Proclaimers 500 Miles, because my boss at my bookstore job played that virtually every shift. Or Garth Brooks. I go to the bathroom or excuse myself from the room when either comes on.
- bobbean 8y agoI really hope you've seen the How I Met Your Mother scene with that song. https://youtu.be/QYpSniiZhpg https://youtu.be/QYpSniiZhpg
- zxcvbn4038 8y agoI certainly have sympathy - I used to work with a woman who watched Gone With The Wind three times a day, every day. That’s twelve hours a day, eighty-four hours a week, every week. Best part of quittin’ time was not having to see or hear Gone With The Wind until the next day - weekends were never more appreciated. I quit listening to radio when a local recruiting agency bought every ad slot, day and night, for six weeks. I’m not going to say their name because I don’t want them to ever know anyone listened to their ads or remembers them.
- drilldrive 8y agoLet me guess, the US Marine Core?
- bacondude3 8y agoFYI, that's the correct pronunciation, but it's spelled "Corps" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps
- drilldrive 8y agoAh thank you, that always bugged me.
- mysterydip 8y agoWhen I was in Japan, most of the bigger stores played one song, their 30ish second long theme, on repeat. It's been 15 years and I can still remember Bic Camera's, Yodobashi Camera's, and Geo's.
- rmason 8y agoThey modernized the gas pumps at our local Speedway by adding video players. Instead of news like I've seen in California they play endless commercials and the volume is loud. I remember stopping one time when it was twenty below zero this winter, no one was at the pumps and the same commercial was playing and not a single pump's sound was in sync with another. I felt like I was in a movie about a dystopian future.
- brewdad 8y agoI ran into a pump in MI last summer that wouldn't even turn on until it finished playing the first 30 second commercial. Eventually, I could start pumping but it continued to play obnoxious ads throughout. I won't be filling up there anymore.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoJust wait until they start adding cameras that detect whether you're actually looking at the commercial or not, and pause the commercial when you're not paying attention. I'd link to the relevant Black Mirror episode, but I'm sure we've all seen it.
- crooked-v 8y ago"Please drink verification can."
- munk-a 8y agoHa, "pause the video"... What you meant to say was "pause the video and gas". > Dear <CUSTOMER NAME>, > Your gas filling experience has been subsidized by our advertising partners (though of course the price went up 10% because we have to build tech to support this), as a result we are currently unable to supply gasoline while the pump based advertising is not being observed. You may contact your local gas station attendant but sadly due to our desire to comply with <HIPAA/other unrelated regulation> they will be unable to abort the ad servicing. Please be aware that the Terms of Service for this pump may change without warning and that by using our gas pump you have agreed to purchase at least one item featured in the advertising roll - failure to do so will be considered a breach of contract and may result in a fine of up to $100,000. > Here at Friendly Gas we're all about maximizing the value to the customer! > Thank you for your service, > John Smith, Friendly Gas CEO And... it might be a bit hard to enforce the breach of contract portion, but pretty sure everything else in that is legal in today's world.
- accnumnplus1 8y agoThis is really a no-brainer. The music annoys me as a regular customer. The choice of music can also be peculiar - country and western in London...?
- nvr219 8y agoOf course CBC would report this, they're in Big Tim Horton's pockets
- frosted-flakes 8y agoIncidentally, most Tim Hortons I've been to don't play any music at all. I love it.
- zahreeley 8y agoNuts & bolts haha.
- spsrich 8y agoTry finding any public space in the USA where there is not blaring background music. Good luck. I always felt the reason Starbucks plays deafening music is to discourage people from lingering. It certainly has the effect on me, and I pity the poor employees.
- barrister 8y agoI work at Starbucks and I completely disagree with this article (as it pertains to Starbucks). Starbucks has a partnership with Spotify, all employees get a free Spotify account. Every Starbucks has an iPhone used to handle inventory & play the store music. This iPhone has the Spotify app installed and a fairly large collection of Starbucks playlists which accrue over time. Each playlist varies in size but some are quite large, e.g. the "Chill" playlist is likely over 50 songs. Moreover, I consider myself a hipster when it comes to music and can tell that each of these playlists has been curated in the same manner as Apple playlists, by using people "in the know". What that means is that many songs are extremely new and underground. A good example of this are songs like "High 5" by Sigrid, or "Lucky Girl" by Fazerdaze listed when they're released. So, any employee (at least at my store and those in the surrounding area) can simply change the playlist at any time. Don't like the Hamilton playlist?, go change it to the "Dinner Party" playlist. Not only can we change the playlist, we can simply use our own iPhone and play are own playlists with our free Spotify account (as long as it doesn't contain profanity). The one gripe I have is that some songs on the Starbucks playlists are completely inappropriate such as "Get Out" by CHVRCHES. If you haven't heard this song, go listen to it on Youtube and figure out why this is an awkward song to play around customers. So, imo Starbucks likely has the most lenient music policy of similar shops as well as the best music selection.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ryanmarsh 8y agoOne weekday morning I decided to take my wife and daughters (I was working from home, and we homeschool) out for breakfast at a new breakfast joint. The sun had just risen, they weather was perfect and they had a patio. We were seated outside and blasted by classic rock, really great songs actually, but not loud and at 8am. I asked the waitress what the deal was, she said it wasn't them, the property management company had them installed (it was in a strip with 4 other businesses). What benefit would it be to the property management company? I'll never know.
- dgzl 8y agoI sympathize with these employees, but isn't this somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things? It's not like Starbucks is trying to brain-wash their employees via the Hamilton soundtrack.
- JeremyBanks 8y agoIsn't eveything somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things?
- dgzl 8y agoNo. There are real abuses in this world that need our attention much more than this.
- aboutruby 8y agoReddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucks/comments/ah2m1d/if_i_have_to_hear_hamilton_one_more_time_im/ https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucks/comments/ah2m1d/if_i_have... (I couldn't find any other one than the one linked in the article).
- tjpnz 8y agoThis seems petty in comparison to what many store clerks in Japan have to put up with. Bic/Kojima Camera (perhaps comparable to Best Buy) normally has the same 10 second long jingle playing on auto-repeat all day everyday. That is the definition of real torture.
- tartoran 8y agoReminds me of Yellocabs in NYC. The screen can be muted but you're still staring at a lit blue screen while riding in the back of a cab and it's very unpleasant at night. Try relaxing if you can. I don't take yellow cabs anymore but last time I experienced this I was thinking of taping a a cloth as a curtain.
- Sutanreyu 8y agoI remember going to a mall once and being in an altered state of mind... [Mainstream] music felt like something used to get people in an almost hypnotic state of ignorance, an acoustic bubble to encourage shopping, mingling... I don't know how to quite put a finger on it. It wasn't anything particularly negative, but it was the thought of it being some sort of mood manipulator, setting a scene for those who were well off enough to be a part of it.
- ridiculous_fish 8y agoDuring my early Apple days, I worked in a lab with around 30 Macs engaged in automated restart testing. BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG
- sunshinelackof 8y agoI experienced this in college when I worked as a cashier at a grocery store. One particular "song" comprised entirely of whale noises. I probably heard it 15 times a day and it was always the target of employee aggression. For some reason the manager just refused to put on something else.
- Thermolabile 8y agoThe worst job in the world if you hate repetitive music would be working in a shopping mall. For 3 solid months before Christmas they play every Christmas song you've ever heard over and over again.
- thirdsun 8y agoProbably just a sidenote and maybe not that relevant, but I think 80s Japan had the right idea of environmental music which was considered as a meaningful part of a location, building or space - regardless of if it served artistic purposes or corporate interests. The reason this comes to my mind is this [1] recently released, utterly fantastic compilation that focuses on this very topic: Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 Roughly explained in this excerpt: > "Corporate big bucks and avant-garde music aren’t the most obvious bedfellows — but throw user experience into the mix, and you’ve got a viable cultural phenomenon: kankyō ongaku. In 1980s Japan, as the country continued to enjoy an unprecedented post-war boom, it became the world’s second-largest economy; companies like Sanyo and Muji pumped cash into the arts to enhance the experiences for its consumers." For anyone interested I highly recommend the physical editions of the release as they include twice as many tracks (digital rights for japanese music are very complicated), some of them very rare and released for the first time outside Japan. In addition they come with a hardcover book featuring extensive liner notes and an essay explaining the circumstances and setting. However there are digital versions with a limited track selection: [2][3] [1] https://lightintheattic.net/releases/4088-kankyo-ongaku-japanese-ambient-environmental-new-age-music-1980-1990 https://lightintheattic.net/releases/4088-kankyo-ongaku-japa... [2] https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/02/15/kankyo-ongaku-japanese-ambient-environmental-new-age-music-1980-1990-review/ https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/02/15/kankyo-ongaku-japanese... [3] https://open.spotify.com/album/0rrRvu7ObcLgxbuGGkx3Rn?si=V5Y6xKvRR66rFbovYml_jw https://open.spotify.com/album/0rrRvu7ObcLgxbuGGkx3Rn?si=V5Y...
- DoingIsLearning 8y agoNot sure if it is interely relevant for the thread. But I really enjoyed the music and also learning more about the genre so thanks for sharing.
- josefresco 8y agoStayed at Disney this summer. Visited a gift shop /store for some milk and the Disney employee asked me if I noticed the music. Confused I was like "uhhh sure", she excitedly told me they just updated the music and it was clearly making her day.