In turn, I really dislike the crowds of people around. Too many people around, together with all the colors and shapes and sensoric overload in general, for me. I cope as well as I can, and said music is a great help in cutting the amount of data streams to process down to a manageable level.
Sorry.
Not having to interact with other people is what makes internet shopping the best kind of shopping.
I canāt stand being in big box stores any more. 30s in a supermarket and I guarantee thereāll already be at least one person Iād happily punch if thereād be no consequences.
Agreed. Internet shopping is best shopping. Physical stores do suck.
@shaddack: I highly recommend shopping Tuesday or Wednesday. Nearly all stores have the lowest volume on these days. Sorry about your sensory issues, I just really hate getting crashed into by people wearing headphones (happens far too often).
The store I worked at right out of school went through three distinct phases while I was there. When I got hired they would play one of the local radio stations with extra commercials from the head office every once in a while. Sometimes in bad weather they couldnāt tune in anything so theyād turn the whole system off, commercials and all.
After that we had the awesome period where they installed satellite radio, again with the extra commercials from head office. Whenever the assistant manager was closing the store heād usually switch it away from the bland mix station for the last couple hours and take employee requests so we got to hear everything. It turns out the holiday station is actually pretty cool in August (though hearing Metallica cut away to a commercial for cordless screwdrivers is pretty odd.)
Then they took the Radio Walmart approach, which was to have all stores play the same songs pumped in from head office. Whoever programmed the playlist must have been going through a bad breakup because there were five different versions of All By Myself in rotation.
The last time I was in a Walmart was in 2009, IIRC, on an errand from my boss -on a weekday afternoon. They played the Grateful Deadās āBox of Rainā. It was a strange and scary experience.
How does retail music selection get paid for? I was under the impression you couldnāt just throw on a random CD or a local radio station due to public performance rights ā same way cable TV costs a lot more for a bar, and theme restaurant staffs never sing āHappy Birthday.ā Isnāt that the point of companies like Muzak? You pay them a flat fee indexed to your storeās capacity or something, they provide a choice of their own private stations, and deal with ASCAP/BMI/etc. so you donāt have to?
Mom & Pop stores can probably fly under the radar, but if every Walmart in the country is playing āLet It Goā twelve times a day, Disney is going to have an opinion about that.
Indeedā¦it was five years after leaving retail that I could enjoy it again.
I was in Sainsburys when they played Anthem for a Lost Cause.
@daneel
It could have been worse, Atlantic 252 had a bad playlist and an annoying habit of repeating certain songs once every half hour.
I may never be cured.
I also moved overseas, got married and had a childā¦such drastic intervention may be required to undo Retail Music Overload Disorder.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
