One thing that permeates my time on Produce (A)Isle is music.
Music pervades our shopping environment now. It is piped into every store. More and more in outdoor shopping situations, it pervades the atmosphere there as well as one crosses streets and strolls the sidewalks. We are so used to it being everywhere that we tend to tune it out as we wander in and out of a store - in fact, it is probably more noticeable when it is not there.
One can tune it out with occasional visits. On Produce (A)Isle, as with all the other stores, it is a constant background.
Presumably like most stores, we subscribe to a music service which pipes in a standard set of song genres, punctuated by store commercials. I imagine there are several selections; ours when I first started was a modern sort of rock music station for which I knew none of the songs.
Background music bores its way into your brain. It is my constant companion as I move from sales floor to walk-in cooler to back room and back out. Even if you do not like the songs - even if you hate the songs - you find yourself humming along or singing under your breath, often to your own annoyance. The same is true of the commercial - after 100 times of the same commercial, you begin to find yourself reading along with the speaker (Our store has multiple hiring opportunities, in case you did not know).
The fact that makes the whole thing intolerable is when it is music you do not like. Even as you pass through the 5 states of musical grief - Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance - you find yourself singing along, and not just at work either. It fills your brain outside of the job as well, until driving to or from anything because a contest of "find something else to fill the brain with".
Our music changed about two weeks ago to music of the 1980's. No-one is quite sure how it happened, but word on the street is that a higher up may or may not have made a suggestion based on a customer comment which may or may not have been an actual comment. Regardless of where the request came from, the music is still there - but I enjoy singing along now and know the words to everything.
And then, when I am humming along blissfully, I shudder. Christmas is coming. I wonder how long until that music makes its appearance...
Christmas shopping music! That's the absolute worst! I suspect it will be starting any minute now, it is, after all, August. lol.
ReplyDeleteI used to live where there was a K-Mart that played loud heavy metal type rock over it's loudspeakers. It literally drove me out of the store because it was so annoying I couldn't concentrate on what I needed to get. They eventually closed because of a huge shop lifting problem. I always wondered if there was a connection. It would make an interesting study to determine how background music influences shopping behavior (my guess is less positively than they hope).
Do you have the problem of the music staying "stuck" in your head after you go home?
Leigh, the "Christmas in August" is my fear too, although I think they may delay until November. That is just a guess, though.
DeleteIf that K-Mart was like our store, there is a "set" of music types that the store can choose from and it may be on the individual store level. I cannot think of a store I have been in played metal music except for very specific clothing stores; to your point that sort of thing over time likely would encourage a specific type of customer (good heavens, even I would not want to shop there).
In terms of sticking in my head, I have to be honest that the more modern music "stuck" at inconvenient times. The music we are now playing is the music I went to high school with; perhaps it seems less "stuck" only because of the fact that I would possibly hum it anyway.
Sitting here thinking about it, I can't remember hearing any music playing at my local grocery store, at least not for a long time. But I know they use to pipe it in and heaven forbid it they played a set that I loved because it made me linger and "stock up" on things I hadn't been planning on. I'll have to pay attention next time to see if they have indeed stopped playing music or are just playing something I'm not familiar with like classical piano concertos.
ReplyDeleteEd, I would be interested to hear your report. Honestly, classical music is a pretty rare thing except in specific high end stores that I can remember; I wonder if that is due to the fact that classical music does not encourage people to spend more.
Delete"And then, when I am humming along blissfully, I shudder. Christmas is coming. I wonder how long until that music makes its appearance..."
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, the Great Scourge of Yule, where naught exists but sleighbells ringalin', while one quietly hopes to have their eardrums gouged out after the very concept of musical ad nauseam has vomited itself into a withered husk.
And like some insidious beast, it always creeps closer every year, doesn't it? Much like what was once Black Friday, then later became Black Thursday, and has now grown like an all-consuming sickness into Black November. A squamous, bloated thing, chanting every hour of the day in its horrid native tongue as it seeks ever-more revenue upon which to feed: "On Sale! On Sale! On Sale!"
It does get pushed back a bit every year. I am somewhat in fear of when it will start; given our climate is a warm one, anything before November will strain the credulity of the season.
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