Bob is the new hire in a small office. As the boss is showing him around and introducing him to his four new coworkers, he explains the rules about the music playing in the background. Each of the five people in the office get one weekday every week to play whatever they like. Each employee gets their day in turn to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance at listening to what they like. Since the staff person that Bob is replacing had their music day every Friday, that will be Bob’s day as well. The staff of the office are tasked with monitoring a wide variety of inputs and need to be able to respond quickly and cooperatively in a fluid business environment. With that being said, the staff doesn’t deal with people outside the office except through e-mail or text message so the content and volume level of the music played is largely irrelevant to the boss so long as internal communication within the office is not impeded. For similar reason, the boss has also decreed that personal music systems played through individual headphones are not permitted. His view, correct or not, is that headphones and personal music systems disrupt communication and teamwork much more so than ambient music played for all.
The boss appreciates the improved morale and working environment for his staff that music can bring. He also appreciates that he has five people bringing in all kinds of new music for him to sample that he would never find on his own. That aside, the work must go on. If you’ve got problems with the music, figure it out collectively, quickly and without disrupting the workflow. If the staff can’t figure it out, the boss will do it for them by shutting off the office music entirely. That’s your warning, you will not get another.
Monday through Thursday, Bob listen to his coworker’s music with polite acceptance, saying virtually nothing good or bad about what is being played. NPR, Texas swing music, hard core death metal, classic Motown, Klingon opera and everything in between - nothing gets a more dramatic response than Bob’s inflection free “That’s nice.”
Friday, Bob’s turn as office DJ, and he chooses…nothing at all. Silence is echoing from the speakers as Bob quietly and pleasantly goes on about his duties. When asked about his choice, Bob explains that he has no problem with the music policy be he would prefer to have it off entirely. He considers the music to be slightly distracting especially now while he is still learning the job. If he gets a day to choose what he likes then he would prefer a quite environment to help him focus on the work.
Monday say: “Eh, Bob’s day, Bob’s choice. I don’t really like it but I can hardly claim offense or injury as a result of it. If I expect Bob to accept my choices then I need to accept his. I guess it’s ‘restful Friday’ for a while. Lets get back to work.”
Tuesday says: “Bob, please play something, anything,. Find something that you consider minimally intrusive and let it go. Light jazz, classical guitar, local news and weather (now with traffic on the ones, threes, fives, sevens and nines), ‘Mitch McConnell sings the Blues’. Pick something.”
Wednesday says: “Auction it off. High bidder gets the day with the proceeds going into the office coffee and snack budget.”
Thursday says: “I’ve got the most seniority. If Bob doesn’t want his day then it falls to me. More of the music I like, we all win!”
[/hypothetical]
I’m dealing with something very much like this at work right now and I’m seeing all of these people. Thursday can fuck right off. Beyond that, I’m not sure I hugely care about how this shakes out although I am enjoying the show. What’s your choice?
Poll coming