Whoa oh oh. Listen to the music. All the tiiiiime.

July 29, 2009 11:43 PM

Are you forced to listen to the same music every day at work or elsewhere, and do you like it, dislike it, or just not notice it? Mainly, I'm curious how you manage to deal with it, or if I'm really that sensitive to repetitive music. Or are you the one playing the same station out loud every day? Have you had any incidents arise from it from co-workers/colleagues? And is Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" really that addictive... still?

So a couple of office co-workers, whom I otherwise get along with, have taken to playing the same contemporary pop station at work five days a week, nine hours a day. My headphones block it out as long as I'm not listening to talk radio, which I still have to do at times. I may be a victim of particularly sensitive "peripheral" hearing. And if I have to get up and walk around, it's better for me to take the headphones off.

While I've hinted that I'm not a big fan of hearing Kelly Clarkson wail her same three big hits throughout the day, or hearing the chorus of "Keep Bleeding Love" until it makes me want to slit my wrists, it's still something that I (and a couple others) have had to put up with. And this is after having a previous job for five years where the management insisted on playing a similar station for the customers, leading me to develop the ability to recognize certain bad songs after hearing the first fraction of a second.

The only solutions are likely to be either to confront them or tattle to the boss and risk coming off as a jerk (which I have an extreme fear of), or to be a jerk and play my own music out loud, but I doubt I'll do either.

So... yeah. My question remains what's above the fold.

(I had no idea whether to post this under human relations, society & culture, work & money, or media & arts. Or health & fitness.)

posted by TheSecretDecoderRing to grab bag (27 comments total)

I feel for you. I had this problem at a previous workplace. I can quite easily block out music that I like, but music that I dislike. I listen to an alternative radio station all day which is quite repetitive, but at least I don't mind the songs.

At the previous workplace, we asked the offender if we could take turns, so we each had a day to choose what we listened to. Unfortunately, on her 'off' day, the offender wore headphones and sung really loudly to whatever she was listening to.

Another solution: no music for anyone.
posted by wingless_angel at 12:12 AM on July 30

What to say? It sucks? Yeah, of course it does.

A few years ago, I worked front desk at a hotel. They had Sirius Radio. You'd think this'd be a good thing, but trust me, if you only use one channel, it isn't. Most of the time, they had it on some "Coffeeshop" channel, which though pretentious, had enough variety and unexpected gems to prevent me from going completely insane.

But when the middle of November rolled around... they switched to the "Holiday" channel.

If I ever hear the song "Happy Holidays" again, I'm going to beat someone senseless with a yule log. Men may die. I'm playing this by ear. If it is followed by "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town", you'll probably be able to see me on the evening news. I'll be the one surrounded by the choppers, hostage negotiators, and the local SWAT team. If anything by Mannheim Steamroller is involved, they're going to have to call in the Feds.

This lasted until the middle of January, when Management judged us to be far enough from New Years to switch back to our regularly scheduled programming.

If you aren't willing to either compete with your own music, talk to the offenders directly, or talk to management, all of which are viable options in theory, your two options seem to be 1) quit, or 2) grin and bear it. If it were me, I'd go with number 2 given the present state of the economy.
posted by valkyryn at 12:15 AM on July 30 [6 favorites]

I was just thinking about this. I'm waiting tables at a Denny's for the summer, and I've noticed that the exact music plays in the exact order at the exact time day after day after day, mixed up a bit maybe once every 5-10 days. It doesn't really bother me, actually. Actually gives me a little way to benchmark time passing. And I find myself looking forward to the few songs I enjoy.

They play Sufjan Stevens at Denny's???
posted by Precision at 12:32 AM on July 30

I found some slight relief in making up strange and/or obscene lyrics to the songs that play often. You may get some odd glances from your coworkers but it does boost your creativity.
posted by The otter lady at 1:30 AM on July 30

Every time I would go into FAO Schwarz I would ask the employees if they ever got sick of the music. (Endlessly looped "welcome to our world of toys") Only one admitted that it drove them a little wacky, all the rest of them said that they didn't hear it any more.

I say don't try to fight it. The harder you fight it, the more you loathe it and seethe at hearing just a note of it, the more you notice it. Take off the headphones. When your brain knows all of the music it won't call your attention to it.
posted by Ookseer at 1:47 AM on July 30

I don't think I ever came up with a good way to deal with this at any job, ever, and I'm still scarred from listening to Guns and Roses Sweet Child O Mine over and over at three AM while frosting doughnuts in a truck stop. That was twenty years ago. I think I have PTSD. Another job played and sold fifties music, the same four tapes, over and over? Do you know who shot Liberty Valence? It should have been me.

Anyway, the way to deal with it I suppose is to develop a bitter sense of humor about it.

I think you're on your way.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:59 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Unless it's Bubbly by Colbie Caillat. Then you're probably just going to want to go ahead and shoot yourself.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:03 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]

More sympathy. I had to listen to the same oldies station and the same dopey DJs doing the same stupid show for two years, relieved only when it was drowned out by woodworking machinery.

I understand why you'd want to avoid confrontation and/or snitching, but have you considered a negotiation? You can explain to your coworkers that the music is getting old and, while you don't want to make a stink over it, you need some relief. You ought to be able to agree on some quiet time now and then, and you should be able to pick the station at other times.

You have some power here -- the threat of going to the boss and the radio going away entirely. Don't feel bad about using it.
posted by jon1270 at 2:33 AM on July 30

Count your blessings -- if you worked at Bic Camera, in Japan, you'd be hearing the SAME SONG every five minutes (youTube). But I feel your pain.
posted by Rash at 3:50 AM on July 30

I had this problem with a co-worker some years ago. My job was writing-intensive and required focus; hers wasn't and didn't. She was unwilling to negotiate any particulars with regard to radio station choice, volume, hours played, etc., and I had to endure her oldies with gritted teeth for several months, but eventually the day came when she had a tight deadline and she turned off her radio. And that was when I struck.

"Splish splash! I was taking a bath
Along about a Saturday night"

"Chryseis, would you please stop singing? I have to get this done."

"Rub-a dub, just relaxin' in the tub
Thinking everything was all right"

"Seriously, would you shut up? I have to concentrate! This is important!"

"I was rolling and a-strolling, reeling with the feeling,
Moving and a-grooving, SPLISHING and a-splashing..."

We came to an understanding after just a couple of songs, and she ended up getting a pair of headphones. It helped that I can't sing and have no particular worries about coming off as a jerk once gentler approaches have failed.
posted by timeo danaos at 4:19 AM on July 30 [12 favorites]

This drives me up the freaking wall. For a while at work, the radio was fixed on an FM radio station which played top 40 hits on high rotation. It seemed that they only every played 40 songs in a day over, and over, and over, and over...

I just got through it by loudly proclaiming that I was going into the Cone of Silence, putting my earphones in, and listening to my own music. Bouyed by the smug feeling of supremacy, I got through the day loudly humming along to Elvis Costello, The Clash or whatnot ;)
posted by lottie at 4:27 AM on July 30

I've had this happen before. I took the bus in High School, and for the first two years all they played was country music. I absolutely hated country music, and I had to spend at least two hours each way to get to my house. In the end I got used to it and learned to like a few songs, but I still don't voluntarily listen to it.
posted by biochemist at 4:45 AM on July 30

Oh god. I had a temp job in a factory that played the irritating local radio station loudly all day. It had a playlist of about three songs which seemed hand-picked in order to annoy me. How many times can you listen to the same Celine Dion song without developing a murderous rage towards your colleagues?

I passed the days composing long, bitter poems in my head about the deficiencies of the job, which was slightly comforting for a while. If anyone would have given me a pair of headphones attached to a white noise machine, however, I would have been overcome with gratitude.

So I guess my advice is headphones + white noise.
posted by cryptozoology at 4:53 AM on July 30

When I worked in retail in high school when the music cycle would start over I knew my shift was almost over. Otherwise I really didn't interact with it on a conscious level.

I suggest earplugs if you can get away with them.. I am one of those people who hears little noises that other people either don't or can't so I am basically always irritated by some little squeal, bump, buzz or hum. Earplugs or headphones help me focus since it drowns out the distractions.

The other option here is to just say directly to the folks in question "hey do you guys mind if we listen to something else/rotate stations/have silence for a little bit/&c.?" Most civil people will be happy to compromise. If they aren't civil I think its perfectly legitimate to have a discreet word with your supervisor.. frame it in terms of lost productivity and the problem should take care of itself.
posted by zennoshinjou at 5:21 AM on July 30

I once worked in an office tower mall. They had figured out the average time people spent in the mall and worked out a tape loop that spanned this time. It was 17 minutes long. I was there for 8 hours a day. You do the math. Think Lawrence Welk-type Christmas carols for extra fun insanity. Some days I would be able to tune it out, some days I was stark raving made by 10 a.m. I worked retail so headphones were out, not that personal music devices had been invented yet at any rate.

If gently asking these coworkers if they would turn their music down is not an option, perhaps at a staff meeting ask if there can be a rotation, or tell your boss you can't concentrate to repetitive music (I have this problem-- talk doesn't bother me, but the rhythmic lyric-based sound is very intrusive).
posted by nax at 5:26 AM on July 30

I used to work at an ice cream store that had Satellite Radio. It was tuned to like "THE CENTURIES GREATEST ROCK HITS" which meant Creed, Creed and, uh, Godsmack. But in the mix was ONE Thin Lizzy song. And the songs would play in the same order on like a 3 hour loop. Which meant that at least once in a shift that Thin Lizzy song would play and we'd all give out a great sigh of relief and take solace.

Eventually, we struck up a deal with the hardware store across the street- When our boss was out of town, we'd walk over with a pint and they'd let us steal a ladder for the day. With the ladder we could climb up to the ceiling where he'd hidden the receiver and hook our iPods up.

Someone eventually got fired for this, but! WORTH IT.

Anyhow, point being is that you maybe need to grin and bear it. Maybe everyone else likes it? Also, you said you have headphones- Try earplugs, they do wonders for blocking out anything that's not a jackhammer or a subway train.

As for Fergie, there was a girl I worked with who when that horrible, horrible song came on, would turn down the radio and subject us to the screeching-est, most heartfelt acapella rendition of that song. It was,uh. It just was.
posted by GilloD at 5:53 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Ok, I feel for you and I know what it's like.

At a warehouse I used to work in we got the local 'rock' station which consisted of Creedence, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oils, Matchbox 20 etc etc while the 'new' music they played was Fall Out Boy. Again and again and again and again.

So I decided that, after arguments, negotiations, pleading, begging, that we would play a small game to liven things up. The goal was to turn a negative (ie hearing that song that you knew was coming up by that band that they always play) into a postive (ie winning money).

I wrote up a whole bunch of small slips of paper with the band's names on them - these are the bands that you just know they are going to play. Each person who wanted to be involved chipped in 50 cents, drew a name out of a hat and then we waited. If your song came up - Jackpot!

The idea was that the wager was small enough to allow us to play all through the shift but that the total would still pay for your lunch.

I was never happier to hear a Nickelback song in my life cause they paid for my quarter chicken and chips.......
posted by micklaw at 6:09 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]

I worked retail, and we had a machine that played a long loop of classical. At some point, you realize that Ode to Joy will be followed by that Chopin etude, etc. It ruined a lot of nice music for me for a while. In mid-Nov., we went to the Holiday tape. Gaaahhhh.

You're probably going to work for most of your life. You're going to have situations where coworkers do things that cause you misery, of which they are unaware. Negotiating a more productive work environment is not being a jerk. You ask them for a few minutes of their time, explain that their pop music has an annoyingly repetitive beat,* and that you have pretty good hearing, making it hard to tune out. Note that musical taste is extremely subjective. Then ask for their help trying to create solutions. Maybe they can turn the radios off for part of the day. Maybe they could try different stations. Maybe there's a sound-blocking solution.

If they won't help solve the problem, then it's reasonable to ask management to help solve the problem. Be respectful of their taste, and ask that they be respectful of your needs. Learning to ask for what you want/need will make your life better. It is an incredibly awesome skill, and it gets much easier with practice. You can ask for what you need and still be a charming wonderful person. In fact, the more cheerful and calm you are, the better you will feel.

* Music that I like often sounds crappy to me when I'm just far enough away to only hear the beat. Otoh, I wouldn't recognize Kelly Clarkson's vocal styling on a bet.
posted by theora55 at 7:18 AM on July 30

I worked on a patio at this restaurant one summer and they only had one CD, the Forest Gump Soundtrack. I think by mid-August I realized that sometimes CDs "get scratched" and will stop playing.
posted by jmmpangaea at 7:37 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]

all the rest of them said that they didn't hear it any more.

This. I used to work at a Mexican restaurant. I heard 99 red balloons every hour for about 6 months straight while on the same loop. After about a week though, I just started to tune it out. The key is when I got engrossed in my work, I didn't even notice the music anymore. When things slowed down and I got bored, I started recognizing songs not in my language...a clear sign I'd heard them too much.
posted by jmd82 at 7:52 AM on July 30

Depending on your co-workers, take turns in some sort of semi-organized fashion, or no non-headphone music for anyone. Don't be afraid to ask your co-workers about taking turns with the radio/CD player; worst case, things don't change, right?

My current lab is mostly in the latter category (a bench a few bays down plays a shitty and inexplicable mixtape frequently (n'sync, beethoven, devo, and a lot of shitty '80s music?!), but everyone else sticks with headphones.) The lab I was in before that had... bad taste. And no interest in taking turns (that or everyone else was OK with bad power metal and Today's Popular Music). Noise-blocking headphones or earplugs are the only way to stay sane in that situation.
posted by ubersturm at 8:04 AM on July 30

Get a pair of good open-design headphones - I suspect your ones are cheap crappy supra-aurals (ie. they lay on top of your ears, as opposed to circumaurals which completely enclose your ear). I have both the Sennheiser HD-590's and the JVC HA-RX900's. I prefer the latter ones at work because 1) they look like you're an air traffic controller (which can contribute to the point you're trying to make), 2) they have great bass and 3) they don't leak sound quite as much as the HD590s. Then, enjoy your own stuff off an iPod or whatever. Open-design means that you'll be able to hear other stuff, like phones ringing or possibly even people talking to you, as long as your music isn't up too loud.

And if anyone approaches you to joke or comment about your giant headphones, simply say "I can't stand that fucking shit they're playing." and scowl. That's what I do. Plus, make sure you loudly say "ah, for FUCK'S sake!" before reaching for the headphones the minute the radio music at your work starts up.
posted by tra at 8:55 AM on July 30

Having worked far, far too many fast food gigs, I can feel your pain. The only solutions I've ever found that are workable are:

a) listen to the songs with a critical ear. Dissect them. Analyze them. Find out what makes them tick. Try to chart the chord changes, key changes, song structure, etc. You don't have to like the songs, but you may be able to appreciate the craft that went into creating them.

b) re-write the songs into crude/disgusting/surreal parodies of themselves, especially as they might pertain to your work environment. Eventually you won't hear the original, your mind will just insert the "corrected" version. This was my favorite way of coping, and I still get a smile when I hear "Unforgettable" by Natalie Cole.
posted by lekvar at 11:32 AM on July 30

This will date me, but during a miserable college job I had to sit in a cubicle with a woman who listened to Top-40 radio nonstop, and Amy Grant's "Baby Baby" was in heavy rotation.

It was like something they do to inmates at Guantanamo. It was awful.
posted by jayder at 3:23 PM on July 30

I was once a janitor in a supermarket, meaning I worked the graveyard shift, waxing floors and such. The radio was always tuned to the "hard rock" station, meaning Zep, Foreigner, and gosh darn it, plenty of Lynyrd Skynyrd. (Hey, how's that for dating me?) I was a "punk" back then, meaning I disdained the 70's AOR lineup, and I still pretty much do, but maybe not for quite the same reasons that I did in those early 1980's.

Anyway, one night, yes indeed, here comes another rendition of "Free Bird". The radio was turned up loud, like the grocery-stocker guys liked it and we all got to hear the intresting news that This Bird Will Never Chaaaayaayaayayayayayyayayaa-ange once again. During one of the choruses after the words "never change" I yelled out really loud "yeah, and that's why you died!" (referring to the plane crash that killed a couple of LS members.)

Right at that moment, for some unknown reason, which had never happened during the several months of the job, the radio suddenly went super quiet...not off, but just very, very quiet. There was no possibility that anyone had heard me and quickly turned down the radio, since the radio was always turned up very loud and the night workers never paid any attention to each other anyway. The radio stayed quiet throughout the next few songs, then went back to normal.

I finished the shift with the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up.
posted by telstar at 1:13 AM on July 31

Unless it's Bubbly by Colbie Caillat

(Checks YouTube) So now I have a title to go with the annoying song with the husky female vocalist, whom I was only somewhat familiar with before. It's too bad the station doesn't play any songs by that one obscure group that her dad used to produce albums for... they had some minor hits.

Reading many of the responses has been cathartic, although I do wonder if my beef is more with the kind of people who voluntarily to the same station day in and day out (a side which I don't think we've heard from here), or the station for playing the same music day in and day out. Even the formats I do like, such as the local oldies/classic rock stations, are much more varied, but I can only listen to "Magic Carpet Ride" so many times. It's interesting though that some (most?) satellite radio playlists aren't as long as one would think.

I can't help but keep track of this sort of thing, but in the past two days at work I've heard the Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock duet, "Picture," five times. The song was originally released as a single in '03. I don't get it. There are other songs that gets played so much, I assumed they were current hits, when in fact they're a couple years old.

As for quitting, this is a situation I thought I'd never have to endure again when I quit my old job. Granted, it's not nearly as bad as it was there (and there's no more "Delilah" 4 hours a night), but... man. And the job before that, I thought listening to the same handful of mix tapes was a nightmare. But I'll take the grin and bear it route for now.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:31 AM on August 1

Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock duet, "Picture," five times.

Oh sweet Jesus, that is one of the worst songs ever recorded.

On the other hand, at least it's funny.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:49 AM on August 1