Silence Please
If there is one group of Workers across the Western worhl who will be glad that Christmas is over that group is shop workel,'s．
It is not that they like to complain．They realize that they are going to be rushed off their feet at Christmas．They know that their employers need happy customers to make their profits that pay their wages．But there is one thing about working in a shop over Christmas that is too bad to tolerate．
That thing is music．These days，aH Shops and many offices have what is known as“Piped music”or“muzak”playing for au the hours that they are open．Muzak has an odd history。During the 1940s，music was played to COWS as Dart of a scientific experiment．It was found that COWS which listened to simple，happy music produced nlore milk，Perhaps workers and customers who listened to simple，happy music would be more productive and spend more money．
In fact，nobody knows what effoet playing muzak in shops has on profits。It is simply something that everybody does．But we are learning more about the effect of constantly repeated hearings of songs on the people who have to hear them all the time．
Research shows that repeated hearings of complex pieces of music bring greater enjoyment before becoming tiresome．And that point come much sooner with simple songs．
“That's especially the case with tunes that arc already familiar one that tipping point is reached，repeated listening become unpleasant．says professor John Sloboda of UK’s Keele University’s music psychology group．And the less control you have over what yOU hear，the less you like it”
That's why police forces in the US often try and resolve hostage situations by playing pop songs over and over again at high volume．Eventually，it becomes too mach for the criminals to stand and they give up．
The problem gets particularly bad at Christmas，when the muzak consists entirely of the same few festive tunes played over and over again．What makes it worse for the shop workers is that they already know these tunes．They get bored very quickly．Then they get irritated．Then they get angry．
Shop workers in Austria recently threatened to go on strike for the right to sileflce．“Shop workers can’t escape the Christmas muzak．they feel as if they are terrorized au day．Especially、Jingle Bells4．It arouses aggressive feelings，”said Gotffried Rieser，of the Austrian shop worker’s union．It is not just shop workers who complain．A smwey this year by UK recruitment website Retailchoice．eom found that Christmas is not only the most testing time for shop workers，but that almost half had complaints from customers about muzak．And the British Royal National Institute for the Deaf estimates that some stores play jingle Bells 300 times each year “That 7s acoustie torture。”says Nigel Rodgers of Pipedown．a group against muzak．”It’s not loud but the repetitive nature causes psychological stress。