I 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.
Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
251–260 of 321 posts
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don’t see these in Canada but I am always flabberghasted by them while in the US. I noticed that holding my finger over the tiny speaker hole greatly reduced the volume, and I resolved to carry a roll of duct tape with me so I could do some public service next time I had to deal with them.
I agree they are abhorrent and I'd prefer if they were banned. From a practical perspective, try pressing the second button down on the right. This will mute on most models.
At the gas station that I went to, I tried every single button and none of them muted it. I don't go to that gas station anymore.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was once in charge of the electronics department for a retail store, except for whatever music my bosses wanted to have playing over the speakers. It was one CD with a mix of pop and hip hop. They never would change it, so I decided to commandeer the stereo as I just couldn't handle the repetition anymore. I played new music we got in, both alternative and what was popular. The customers seemed fine with it, and I…
> DO NOT CHANGE THE CD IN THIS STEREO Reminds me of working in a big box electronics store during college. One day I answer the phone and the line sounds dead, but I say "hello" a few times and a woman finally acknowledges me and then goes on a long rant about what the world is coming to and she can't believe it. She eventually gets to her relevant question and I answer it. I didn't think too much of it because stran…
Now I want to know what they were listening to.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
The monitors have 8 buttons, 4 on each side, the top button on the right side is mute. source: learned by mashing all of those buttons in blind rage trying to get it to stop.
On all the pumps near me, the second from the top on the right side mutes the video. Some gas station attendants or kind customers thought to write "Mute" on the button in sharpie, and I encourage everyone to do the same.
I ran into one at a Phillips 66 yesterday where the (hidden) mute button silenced all the video clips except the ads.
I was not happy.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#255I 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.
Isn't eveything somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things?
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#256I 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.
Isn't eveything somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things?
No. There are real abuses in this world that need our attention much more than this.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#257They 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.
They seem to have themselves confused with the internet, which is free. If I have to listen to ads, that means the gas is free.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#258They 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.
It's a form of pollution, really - and a sign that there are a set of perverse incentives which can cause it.
Somewhere out there, advertisers are paying dollars for those commercials, and in many cases no-one is listening, or worse - it's causing active irritation to the people who are.
If you think of the commercials as oil, and the speaker systems and infrastructure as pipelines, then cases like this where commercials are on incessant loop are like an unbridled oil spill.
Unfortunately, many advertisers likely aren't metric-savvy enough to realize they're being scammed and not getting a return on their investment; the folks selling the airtime likely take a skim of their deals and use it to wine and dine the advertisers' own staff.
Purchase and persuade one or two layers of staff and management, and you're unlikely to get too much organizational pushback.
Instead, there should be costs placed on the measurable negative externalities here: the stress caused to people who experience this noise pollution, the devaluation of the otherwise quiet, productive environments it seeps into, and the opportunity cost from the resources wasted on building the infrastructure to make it possible in the first place.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
A friend of mine made more money from licensing a single song to Armani stores than he made from the entire rest of his sales put together.
Now that you've pointed out that this process exists, I'm super intrigued to hear the playlists of different stores and compare that with the brand image of said stores. Maybe if I like 'x' brand, I'll also enjoy their store playlist... could be the key to finding lots of great music.
I actually often go to one chain because I always pick up one or two nice new songs while shopping, and I like their clothes.
Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts
#260Reddit thread: 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).