Xmas music in shops

[boredlass1]

The original psychological effects of the reasons behind playing Xmas music in shops - making people feel jolly, spending more time and money because they are feeling jolly have long gone.

Now it makes both customers and staff miserable. Customers sympathise with staff having to put up with the dirge of 30-40 songs on a loop. Then customers spend less time in shops and spend more online or via click n collect.

So why do retailers still play Christmas music when it’s bad for MH (as well as it’s awful such as Mud’s dreary one)

I worked at a supermarket and the music was playing when store was closed! Pulled out the tannoy mike as when that was used - it cut off the music.

I cannot listen to Christmas music now. Have to mute/skip tv esp adverts. Last year I rang a call centre and the hold music was Xmas! I couldn’t remember which company it was for.

Yet don’t have this issue with carols I love them

I think we should keep the shit Christmas songs in the shops, because I really don't want them to clock on and play carols instead, thus ruining them too.

Carols are too religious which gets peoples backs up or reminds them of the true spirit of Christmas, which is counter productive for shops who want people to focus on the consumption side. If carols were played in supermarkets you’d worked in, you’d hate them too.

few customers are in supermarkets for more than half an hour so any negative effects are more for staff. But surely if any pop songs were played on a loop you’d associate them with work and hate them?

Given that half of Mumsnet seems to have finished their Christmas shopping and done the wrapping, it seems perfectly reasonable for retailers to be getting everyone in the spirit in November. (Don’t even think about it until December personally and wrapping is done Christmas Eve!)

Noooooo! has to be Slade.

I was always mildly disturbed by his manic enthusiasm as a child watching top of the pops. Slades a no from me but literally any other crimbo classic…… get me on the loop

I hate it playing in Supermarkets too but not as much as I hated it playing in the hospital corridor, on a charity stall selling Christmas cards, as we left the hospital having kissed our darling daughter goodbye for the final time. I just wanted to scream "turn that blo*dy music off!" but I was too numb to do anything.

I LOVE Christmas music playing , really gets me into the spirit of it . I worked in retail til earlier this year and our music player was broke one Xmas instore and didn’t have 1 song playing all Xmas and all the staff moaned ! It literally didn’t feel like Xmas that year coz the music lifted the colleagues mood in store . You would just see them singing along or whistling and it cheered all the colleagues up …

Most on Mumsnet are just miserable !

Oh jeez, who let out all the humbugs today?! 🤣🎄

Don’t worry @Fayaway - 35yo fellow retail “fool” here 😉 Some of us have to be or everyone would be buggered when it came to getting their Christmas shopping 👍🏻 doesn’t pay great but it’s enough for what we need and fits in well with our childcare needs so I’ll be a “fool” 👍🏻

Have worked in retail since I was 15 and still love Christmas music 😂🎄 although, in fairness I have full control over what is played and we have dozens of playlists to pick from so it’s less repetitive than some other places. Strict 1st December rule here too - but from then on it’s Christmas music, staff free to wear Christmas jumpers/accessories if they wish, and some fun festive games to keep staff morale up 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm not really a fan of shop music, Christmas or otherwise but I do feel for the assistants. I worked for a year somewhere where the managers playlist was on a loop. Those songs are still circling my head and it's been 5 years.

I would assume it's customers who think they are above and better than the people serving them

Seeing people buying shite depresses me too. Aisles and aisles of complete tat in the shops which you know is going to be thrown in landfill by the middle of January.

I love it but i do feel now is too early, start it from 1st December and end when you close for Christmas. Maybe add some Carols from Kings or similar in to the mix.

People don’t all have the same choices open to them. Working in children’s services and adult social care I’ve met many people for whom a retail job would be an amazing achievement.

Snobbish attitudes towards any kind of honest paid work are just nasty.

Well, then they’d be wrong. As I said, we all make our choices and have different likes, dislikes and requirements of a job.
I always show the utmost respect to retail workers, especially at Christmas! But I know a lot of people don’t. It’s a very tough job, that’s why I call it a ‘fools’ game’ - incredibly hard, treated badly by management and the public, and pretty thankless in terms of pay, no tipping etc.

I managed a card shop for years. We always started playing Christmas music in July when the first cards came out, one song every three hours, obviously increasing in number of songs and frequency as we got closer to Christmas.

I loved Christmas songs then and I still love them now 🎅

Having a different view doesn’t make you a snob.

There are some crazy insinuations here just because I wouldn’t work in retail!

Nobody thinks you’re a snob just because you wouldn’t work retail. Lots of people wouldn’t.

We think you’re a snob because you think everyone has the same choices and those who do work in retail are fools. That’s what makes you a snob.

We always started playing Christmas music in July when the first cards came out

That is just fucking bonkers.

I used to work in retail and I still love it!!

Thanks for the clarification.
I said neither of those things; people make their choices does not say that all people have the same choices; retail is a fools’ game does not say retail workers are fools. It means they work in a foolish sector.

But you guys pick today’s fight. MN strikes again.

I worked in retail and I didn’t mind the Christmas CD at all - and I still like Christmas music. You clearly have an issue with it and I’m sorry it distresses you - but I’d like to see the studies that link to the fact that it’s terribly bad and depressing for us all.

But for many of us, a "foolish sector" is appropriate for us at that stage of our life. Thousands of students work in retail around their studies because it's part time and flexible. They need/want 10 hours or 12 hours a week, they want a job they don't have to think about out of work, they don't want responsibility or a "career". People who have young children and juggle caring for them with another adult who is working full time might take an evening/weekend job in a supermarket or convenience store because it suits them and their circumstances. Older people who have retired again want a flexible job which isn't demanding in terms of responsibility.

Saying that an entire sector is foolish and/or the people working there are fools just shows a total lack of thought and the inability to consider the huge range of reasons why someone might be working in Primark or the Co-Op.

And whatever their reasons, they have the right not to listen to Noddy Holder on repeat for a 4 or 6 hour shift.

Choices are not made in a vacuum. Regarding the Christmas music, I have no issue with them, as long as the volume is not sky high,

Oh jeez, who let out all the humbugs today

Does not enjoying the same old shitty Christmas songs year after year really make someone a humbug?

I quite enjoy it but think it needs to wait until 1st December & then stop on boxing day.