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Starbucks' Music Is Driving Employees Nuts (www.cbc.ca)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC.ca: You may not give a second thought to the tunes spinning on a constant loop at your favorite cafe or coffee shop, but one writer and podcaster who had to listen to repetitive music for years while working in bars and restaurants argues it's a serious workers' rights issue. "[It's] the same system that's used to [...] flood people out of, you know, the Branch Davidian in Waco or was used on terror suspects in Guantanamo -- they use the repetition of music," Adam Johnson told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti. "I'm not suggesting that working at Applebee's is the same as being at Guantanamo, but the principle's the same."

Earlier this year, irritated Starbucks employees took to Reddit to rage about how they had to listen to the same songs from the Broadway hit musical Hamilton on repeat while on the job. One user wrote that if they heard a Hamilton song one more time, "I'm getting a ladder and ripping out all of our speakers from the ceiling." As a solution, he suggested health inspectors could enforce better working conditions, or a tip line could be created for people to report poor working conditions, like repetitive music. Another solution? Communication, says neuroscientist Jessica Grahn. She studies music, which science has shown to be one of the strongest influencers of mood, she said. It can calm dementia patients struggling with depression or anger, or increase our endurance when we're working out. However, there are downsides to the power of music. Unlike how we can close our eyes to things we don't want to see, we can't close our ears to sound. Having control over one's environment can make a big difference, said Grahn, which is why she recommends employers and employees talk about why certain music is being played, or what they can do to switch things up.

5 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Applebee’s vs Guantanamo by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I'm not suggesting that working at Applebee's is the same as being at Guantanamo, but the principle's the same."

    Food’s probably better at Guantanamo, for one thing.

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  2. Someone Think about the Theme Park Employees! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    What about the theme park employees stuck in the same non-stop single-song loop forever?

    Now, for the grace of the mighty heroes and heroines that have survive those Gitmo-like circumstances every day... let us sing a song:

    It's a small world after all...

  3. Re: Why music ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Often the places had instruments and you made your own music. If you played Greensleeves five times in a row you'd get the lute taken off you.

  4. Re: silence: indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Plus royalties to the Cage estate would be huge.

  5. Re:I sympathize by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can never get over how banal the lyrics are. "Convenient shopping in the middle of the Chuo line, easily accessible from Shinjuku on the Yamanote line?" I'm already here!

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