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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It was a bright, frigid morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan, two weeks before the University of Michigan let out for winter break, and the college town's numerous coffee shops were abuzz with the gentle tapping of keyboards, the whooshing of espresso machines, the occasional chatter—and the tinny strains of 1980s and '90s pop hits.
It's that last element of the sonic landscape that drives Gina Choe and Libby Hunter crazy. Standing just inside a cavernous cafe where The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" competed with a sizzling griddle, jostling coffee cups, and echoing voices, Choe said, "I came in here once, and [the music] was everywhere around me. Everyone was talking more loudly—I couldn't even hear my friend."
As Choe checked a decibel meter on her phone ("65, the level of loud conversation"), Hunter mentioned that the last time she was here, she had asked a counter worker if the music could be turned off. "The manager came over to my table, and she was really nice, but she said no, because of the 'atmosphere.' It's amazing how afraid they are to not have music."
Hunter, a retired middle-school music teacher, and Choe, a 2017 Michigan graduate who is working in a research lab while she prepares to apply to medical school, do not travel in the same circles, and might never have met at all had they not come together over a mutual love of quiet spaces—and a loathing for piped-in background music.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @07:07PM (8 children)
I used to work in a cube farm that had Muzak piped in. Oh fucking shit, it was so annoying. Not only was it distracting, it wasn't my taste and it repeated every few hours.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @07:24PM (5 children)
And, you couldn't figure out how to destroy the speaker? All it takes is a thin, narrow blade. Or an ice pick. Just insert it through the face of the speaker, and fish around until all that paper-like material is turned into confetti. It makes no more sound. YAY!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Tuesday December 26 2017, @07:32PM (3 children)
I guess if he wanted to lose that job, there were easier ways to achieve that than destroying the employer's property. Especially if he wanted to get another job later.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @09:07PM (1 child)
I guess I can get away with stuff, because I'm expected to be anywhere at anytime. Our place doesn't pipe music, but we have PA speakers. The damned things blared like they were competing for decibels at a football stadium. I figured out how to turn most of them down, turn a couple off - and one I just cut the wires on. The volume control didn't work, there was no on/off switch, so I just cut the wires. If I hadn't been able to reach the wires easily, I would have knifed the speaker. The guy who fixes things can get away with a lot of crap, LOL. Maybe GP should have talked to the maintenance guy to start with?
Funny thing - a few months after I got the volume of those speakers under control, the company bought radios for us to use. The speaker system is still there, and if someone doesn't answer his radio, he can still be paged. But, I did tame the damned things, and they don't blow you away anymore! Oh - I forgot what is probably the most important part. The outside speakers. We got complaints now and then about people trying to sleep. Someone would turn the entire system down, then someone else would turn it all back up again, at the master control. I killed all of those outside speakers, on my own initiative. None of them makes the slightest sound when the PA is keyed up.
I believe that the master volume control is still set on 11 or 12 or whatever. When people talk into the microphone, I think they expect to hear themselves. Nevermind the feedback involved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @04:50AM
> The outside speakers. We got complaints now and then about people trying to sleep.
Senior residence next door to my parents used to have an outside PA speaker, in a doorway where the smokers congregated. Woke me up, I called the owner in the middle of the night and woke him up (he didn't have an unlisted number at that time). It stayed off for a few years, then someone turned it on again, woke me once or twice. Got pissed enough that I went over there, jumped up, grabbed the wires, pulled them out.
Since then they re-built the whole place and that entrance has been moved away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @11:02PM
Yeah, I was a contractor, and this was during the depression of the early 2000s. I ended getting fired anyway after refusing to leave (unpaid) after four hours of work to come back in the evening for another four hours.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @02:07AM
Most places that have speakers in the ceiling also use that as a public address system.
...and if you did want to disable a speaker, most ceilings use removable tiles.
Lifting the tile and disconnecting the speaker|snipping the wire would be even more effective without costing anyone a cent in replacement materials.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Tuesday December 26 2017, @11:33PM
Likewise, for years. It wasn't too loud, but one day a tune began running through my head -- and that tune came up next on the Muzak. OK, coincidence...but not long after, it happened again. Over the next week or so, it became obvious that I was imprinted with the song rotation. Creepy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @04:52AM
Ramones, "I Want to be Sedated" was playing on the Muzak(?) when I walked into the grocery store this morning. Does that help to sell food?