Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts • Hacker News Board

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#111

Post by yissp » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:50 PM UTC

bogidon wrote: post #65

An 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 qui…

My 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.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#112

Post by fallingfrog » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:50 PM UTC

DrScump wrote: post #101

fallingfrog wrote: post #83

I 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.

They just played 12 songs, in a loop Sounds like Muzak, not regular radio.

Hm, 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.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#113

Post by qrbLPHiKpiux » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:51 PM UTC

781 wrote: post #110

Some 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/qXkEUZl.jpg

I'm also sick of Sweet Child O' Mine.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#114

Post by anigbrowl » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:53 PM UTC

tamaharbor wrote: post #29

If you don't like it, don't work there.

People like this are the whiniest when they don't get what they want, oddly enough.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#115

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

noarchy wrote: post #82

chrisseaton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the whole idea of Starbucks - it's the third place.

I 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]

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#116

Post by mrec » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:57 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #73

jniedrauer wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As 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.

" 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,.

That doesn't make you weird, that makes you sane. You couldn't pay me to drink in bars like that.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#117

Post by pmiller2 » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 10:00 PM UTC

dawnerd wrote: post #104

asteli wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced this in a Target last year sometime. No music over the intercom, and the energy in the place just felt more... nervous, restless. I don't know whether that's an effect inherent to silence in large spaces or whether it was an effect created by the absence of something we took for granted.

Wait, target plays music? I've literally never noticed and I was just in one last night. Only thing I've heard is their movies section playing teasers pretty loudly.

I was in a Target yesterday that played fairly loud music over their PA. I’m not sure if it’s normal or not, because I only noticed due to the volume.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#118

Post by AlwaysRock » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 10:01 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #22

In 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.

I can't say why everyone does it but soft/moderate volume music does encourage people to talk to each other more. No one wants to break silence. People are more likely to talk when they think no one can hear them.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#119

Post by mcgwiz » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 10:05 PM UTC

Reminds 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-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.)

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#120

Post by jpatokal » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

GuB-42 wrote: post #30

I 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.

The 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 (Don Quijote)

Kamera wa yodobashi kamera!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QSu1ZHunw (Yodobashi Camera)