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July 19, 2023 6:26 PM Subscribe
I'm hunting all your terrible customer service related songs! I have a Mage: the Awakening game coming up and it's come to pass that all our player characters are battle hardened customer service veterans - after all, if you can survive manning the register during Black Friday, the Technocracy's got nothing.
I'm putting together a Tidal playlist to support our game, as we play at a few different venues and being portable is good. I can finangle Bandcamp and Youtube exclusives but I also like paying people so Tidal is best.
We're genre agnostic but ska, electronica and shoegazey stuff would be perfect. Any era is good too, I'd personally love some sixties or seventies folk on the topic but I don't even know where to start.
Songs about working in a shop - working in a fast food joint - working shitty desk jobs also acceptable. The bigger the focus on the horror of manning a counter are better.
One of the characters is a former Hot Topic worker so bonus prize for the worst emo and mallgoth shit you can muster. It's likely to cause me physical pain but I would probably enjoy sharing that with the party so we can all suffer together.
I'm putting together a Tidal playlist to support our game, as we play at a few different venues and being portable is good. I can finangle Bandcamp and Youtube exclusives but I also like paying people so Tidal is best.
We're genre agnostic but ska, electronica and shoegazey stuff would be perfect. Any era is good too, I'd personally love some sixties or seventies folk on the topic but I don't even know where to start.
Songs about working in a shop - working in a fast food joint - working shitty desk jobs also acceptable. The bigger the focus on the horror of manning a counter are better.
One of the characters is a former Hot Topic worker so bonus prize for the worst emo and mallgoth shit you can muster. It's likely to cause me physical pain but I would probably enjoy sharing that with the party so we can all suffer together.
Best answer: Harvey Danger, Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas (Sometimes)
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:02 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:02 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Jim Croce, Working at the Car Wash Blues
posted by SPrintF at 7:05 PM on July 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 7:05 PM on July 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Going back a ways to a cult favorite: the Roches, Mr. Sellack.
Cant find a link for a regional artist favorite, Laurel Brauns’ “Restaurant Song,” which begins “I think I’ll go chug a beer in the walk-in/‘cause the manager’s high on OxyContin”
posted by Miko at 7:13 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Cant find a link for a regional artist favorite, Laurel Brauns’ “Restaurant Song,” which begins “I think I’ll go chug a beer in the walk-in/‘cause the manager’s high on OxyContin”
posted by Miko at 7:13 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Enter Shikari - Rat Race
posted by glonous keming at 7:30 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 7:30 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: "Down at McDonnelzzz" by Electric Six!
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:36 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:36 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: GLORIOUS GLORIOUS GLORIOUS!
Keep it coming, friends!
posted by Jilder at 7:57 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Keep it coming, friends!
posted by Jilder at 7:57 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Don't forget the scenario of Prince's Raspberry Beret!
I was working part time in a five-and-dime
My boss was Mr. McGee
He told me several times that he didn't like my kind
'Cause I was a bit too leisurely
Seems that I was busy doing something close to nothing
But different than the day before
That's when I saw her, ooh, I saw her
She walked in through the out door, out door
She wore a
Raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second hand store...
posted by ojocaliente at 8:08 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
I was working part time in a five-and-dime
My boss was Mr. McGee
He told me several times that he didn't like my kind
'Cause I was a bit too leisurely
Seems that I was busy doing something close to nothing
But different than the day before
That's when I saw her, ooh, I saw her
She walked in through the out door, out door
She wore a
Raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second hand store...
posted by ojocaliente at 8:08 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Slave to the Wage - Placebo
I've Got to Get My Numbers Up - Dead Milkmen
Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochrane
posted by EvaDestruction at 8:30 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've Got to Get My Numbers Up - Dead Milkmen
Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochrane
posted by EvaDestruction at 8:30 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The Woolworth Manager's Work Song is probably not quite the right vibe (because manager, and the oppression is so very internalized), but it's a fun bit of ephemera and who knows if I'll ever have a better occasion to post it here.
posted by aws17576 at 8:40 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by aws17576 at 8:40 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Stan Ridgway, I Wanna Be a Boss. Not perfectly on target but it was the first thing I thought of for such a game.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:11 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:11 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
This isn't your genre AT ALL, but the musical "She Loves Me" is about retail workers in a perfume store and several songs apply. The MOST applicable one is Perspective.
I'm an idiot. But at least I'm an idiot with a job.
Call me fool,
That's alright with me.
Here's my rule,
Never disagree.
Where's my pride?
Swallowed long ago.
Deep inside,
Where it doesn't show.
Bowing, scraping, nodding, beaming
Always humble
Not an ounce of self respect.
Yes sir, yes sir, you're so right sir
Black is white sir
'Scuse me while I genuflect.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm an idiot. But at least I'm an idiot with a job.
Call me fool,
That's alright with me.
Here's my rule,
Never disagree.
Where's my pride?
Swallowed long ago.
Deep inside,
Where it doesn't show.
Bowing, scraping, nodding, beaming
Always humble
Not an ounce of self respect.
Yes sir, yes sir, you're so right sir
Black is white sir
'Scuse me while I genuflect.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
All Shook Up (Sixteen Tons) - here played by Johnny Cash
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:04 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:04 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Dire Straits - Money for Nothing
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:24 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:24 PM on July 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
One of my favorite customer service songs: GPCs by Insatiable.
“HEY! You owe me an APOLOGY!”
posted by corey flood at 10:40 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
“HEY! You owe me an APOLOGY!”
posted by corey flood at 10:40 PM on July 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Psychostick Minimum Rage
Fountains of Wayne Hey Julie
Butterfingers I Love Work
posted by stillnocturnal at 12:11 AM on July 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Fountains of Wayne Hey Julie
Butterfingers I Love Work
posted by stillnocturnal at 12:11 AM on July 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Car Wash
Get a Job
And while it's not strictly about work, I do think Teenage Lobotomy fits.
posted by brookeb at 12:30 AM on July 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Get a Job
And while it's not strictly about work, I do think Teenage Lobotomy fits.
posted by brookeb at 12:30 AM on July 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: There's got to be a ton of punk that fits this, but The Showcase Showdown's Rip 'Em Off comes to mind.
posted by cobaltnine at 3:40 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by cobaltnine at 3:40 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Donna Summer - She Works Hard For The Money
posted by Mchelly at 5:01 AM on July 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 5:01 AM on July 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Maybe too positive, but "Government Center" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
posted by potrzebie at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: They're more punk and very Australian, but The Chats Smoko is a fun one:
It was there I spotted the bloke
Perched atop of his milk crate throne
He eyed me off as I approached
Then he said
I'm on Smoko, so leave me alone *repeats 8x*
posted by crossswords at 10:09 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
It was there I spotted the bloke
Perched atop of his milk crate throne
He eyed me off as I approached
Then he said
I'm on Smoko, so leave me alone *repeats 8x*
posted by crossswords at 10:09 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Less about working per se, more about dreaming of being free from a situation where one is stuck on the bottom of the pecking order: I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:23 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:23 AM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I've best marked the stunners but all these are brilliant. I knew this was the right crowd to ask.
crossswords: Convieniently, I too am very Australian and that Chats song is 100% perfect.
"I'm Going to Be a Wheel Someday" is perfect too. I actually got my Mages mixed up and we're playing the older Mage: The Ascension with a few character classes that features wheels as a motif so it works out beautifully.
I personally love "She Works Hard for Her Money" but we mostly get fired a lot because we do not, in fact, work hard for our money.
I loooooooooooooove Restaurant Song, Miko. It's available on Tidal but it has a ten minute silent intro?? Wild.
posted by Jilder at 7:14 PM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
crossswords: Convieniently, I too am very Australian and that Chats song is 100% perfect.
"I'm Going to Be a Wheel Someday" is perfect too. I actually got my Mages mixed up and we're playing the older Mage: The Ascension with a few character classes that features wheels as a motif so it works out beautifully.
I personally love "She Works Hard for Her Money" but we mostly get fired a lot because we do not, in fact, work hard for our money.
I loooooooooooooove Restaurant Song, Miko. It's available on Tidal but it has a ten minute silent intro?? Wild.
posted by Jilder at 7:14 PM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ah so glad you like it! The intro is probably because it was a “hidden” track on her excellent album “Closed for the Season.”
posted by Miko at 7:19 PM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Miko at 7:19 PM on July 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I actually got my Mages mixed up and we're playing the older Mage: The Ascension with a few character classes that features wheels as a motif so it works out beautifully.I could give you a list of wheel songs off the top of my head but that wasn't the assignment..
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:16 PM on July 20, 2023
Response by poster: Nerd of the North: The wheel is a nice cherry on the rest of the song and not a requirement. So far the list has been bang on point, wheels are a game mechanic and not something I need to hammer home in the playlist the same way I do the "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING YOU FORGOT YOUR FRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEES" vibe.
posted by Jilder at 10:36 PM on July 20, 2023
posted by Jilder at 10:36 PM on July 20, 2023
Best answer: 90's era White Wolf rpgs? Themes of corporate capitalistic dystopia? Then you need to prowl the catalog of industrial dance-floor staple, Snog.
Corporate Slave - exactly what it says on the tin
Hey, Christian God - the deep-seated teen angst raging against the holiday shopping season
Basically any of their albums will hit the themes you're looking for - 'Buy Me, I'll Change Your Life', 'Third Mall From the Sun', etc etc..
posted by FatherDagon at 8:40 AM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Corporate Slave - exactly what it says on the tin
Hey, Christian God - the deep-seated teen angst raging against the holiday shopping season
Basically any of their albums will hit the themes you're looking for - 'Buy Me, I'll Change Your Life', 'Third Mall From the Sun', etc etc..
posted by FatherDagon at 8:40 AM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
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The Specials, Rat Race
The Jam, Man In The Corner Shop, Smithers-Jones
Madness, Cardiac Arrest
The Clash, Career Opportunities
The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night
Dolly Parton, 9 to 5
Johnny Paycheck, Take This Job and Shove It
posted by paper scissors sock at 6:54 PM on July 19, 2023 [6 favorites]