The Sound Of Silence....

[gness]

...I have probably had a chunter about this before.....

Does noise.....especially music in shops and cafes etc. niggle you? Or do you not notice it?

A friend and I tried a new cafe in town yesterday.....after our gym visit we needed coffee and cake....
It was lovely except for the grating, loud music which wasn't improved by the three screechy toddlers who came to the next table....
Today, just in case we hadn't replaced all the calories yesterday, I met with five friends for coffee and cake.....
It was lovely.....silence bar the hum of chatter until the music was put on.....again tinny, loud and grating....and folk began to talk loudly to be heard...
But.....when I mentioned it I was surprised that not one of my friends had noticed the music.....they just hadn't heard it.....although having had it brought to their attention they didn't like it....

Do people just no longer hear the "music" that places inflict upon us.......does it improve sales do you think... does it grate on you at all....or do you enjoy it?.....x

[gness]

That happened to us in the restaurant I mentioned that has closed. Jam...we asked for a few minutes of quieter music to present a leaving gift to a colleague....but no!

How do they know they won't do more business though, Pixie if they are never quiet....or even just play soft pleasant music?...x

[gness]

I've just fished out some ear plugs, Donny..... :-)

Mikey.....I wonder how they'd react if you took your own Mozart in to play as you walked around the store...or had a pint!

[pixie374]

It's just what all the studies show- they spend a fortune on testing how to make customers spend more, music, colours, direction etc. I guess they just go with the research. I can understand why people don't like it, but I don't find it invasive enough to bother about.

[mikey4444]

Gness....my point was meant somewhat ironically, although its true.....its always loud pop music, and never classical.

But if the music being played in any venue, shop, Pub, cafe, whatever, is so loud that people can't hear each other, its by definition far too loud.

Its my personal belief that in many cases, the music is for the Staffs benefit, not the customers.

[gness]

Mikey....I bet if you ask the staff about the music they'll raise their eyes upwards...listen for a moment and say...Oh....I just don't hear it..... :-)

You see I find that strange, Pixie....there were six of us today.....three either side of a table chatting till the music started then it became two groups of three and passing messages along to the four at the ends because all chatting and listening had become impossible...x

[pixie374]

That has to be too loud for eating. Did they want you out? ;-) x

[gness]

I don't think so, Pixie.......I guess six pensioners playing who can flick the cappuccino cream onto Gloria's nose got a bit messy.....and Olive's demonstration of her new tap dance routine was noisy on the wooden table top....but other than that...... ;-)

[pixie374]

Lol... but you didn't break anyone's leg? They don't realise how lucky they are! Xx

[gness]

No, Pixie...all legs intact...well apart from the table..... :-)

[Eleena]

Hi gness,
I love a bit of music playing in the background.,

[davegosling]

I'm of an age where I struggle to isolate a single voice from a background of sound, so add my vote to the hate camp!

[goodgoalie]

Anyone ever been in a branch of Superdry? The 'music' is mind-numbingly loud, like a full-on club night

[campbellking]

Having said that, you're not always safe in the 'open air'. I was refereeing a park level football game last season when half way through the first half a chap decided to start practising playing his bagpipes some hundred feet away. The din persisted for most of the second half too, and the players, managers and myself rather failed to appreciate his 'talent ' , but could quite easily see why his other half had asked him to rehearse outside.

[corylus]

I Gness, re: music, I know just what you mean about being out with a group of 'elderly' women, my former colleagues (most of whom refuse to wear hearing aids despite my advice!) I (the youngest! Ha) have to pass the gems of sparking conversation up and down the table, obviously sometimes the wit and repartee is wasted despite my efforts. It's just like being back at work for me!

[gness]

Music in the background is fine, Eleena......noise blasting out of speakers will have to be banned if we all do our bit now!...:-)

Vote added, DaveG!....x

I don't know Superdry, Mikey....but I will avoid it.....x

Campbell......one evening I was driving across country to my folk club night and there, in a layby in the middle of nowhere, two men were playing the bagpipes.......I guess their wives had sent them far away.... :-)

Less of the elderly, Cory! Only one of us has reached seventy... ;-)
We still have a smattering of British Sign Language from our working days.....but we just look like a group of ladies having seizures now... :-(

[corylus]

Oi Gness, I'm the youngest by a long way, the oldest of the ex-collegues in this group is 88!

[gness]

You're GoodG...not Mikey!....and I've only just opened the red...but blame the mind befuddling music, GoodG.... :-(

Ahhh....we're spring chickens then, Cory...... ;-).....xxx

[kvalidir]

My man and I go to a large bookfilled independant coffee shop a lot because it's got no music. It smells of freshly perked coffee and old books and people actually have conversations with one another from table to table right across age and social groups, quite of their own accord because they are nailed down by an omnipresent blather of piped music. Bloody awesome place, we love it. If we want music we'll go to a festival or a club or a live music night ( which they also have in the evenings).

[goodgoalie]

You can probably guess what type of music and how loud from the Superdry homepage: https://www.superdry.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyczbkpGq1gIVhL3tCh2rXgnGEAAYASAAEgLCvvD_BwE&;gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLe9qJeRqtYCFUil7QodXAAG5Q

And who started the vogue for tattoos on the back of the hand like that? That's probably another thread, like neck tattoos.....

[gness]

Exactly, Kval......listen to the music of choice.....when you choose... I'm getting more niggley about it daily I think.....
I'll just be the daft biddy who goes on so much about music they'll turn it off when the see me coming...

Ahhh......yes, GoodG....I can imagine.....I thought maybe it was a strange dry cleaners.....

Now tattoos.....hmmm.....quite like a nice tattoo..... :-)