Ah... Another quiet Friday afternoon in the office.
(She says nonchalantly, as though she hasn't just spent the last two hours ripping her hair out from boredom.)
Quiet Friday afternoons aren't horrible. Usually they can be almost pleasant, if the appropriate mix of snack and game and music can be reached (and if that pesky phone doesn't ring... Which is my other complaint this afternoon. It's actually been busy with calls for people who went home already. "Sorry, Client, that particular employee said 'Screw This' an hour and a half ago and left no forwarding address. I suggest holding your question until Monday, and going for a beer instead... Because I guarantee that's what Employee did.") to minimize my boredom.
But today was not that day. I've been antsy and fidgety and less than productive for a whole lot of hot, miserable hours in an office I would vacate were it not for its orgasmic air-conditioning. So I had to find a way to cope.
My method of choice today relied heavily upon music. Unfortunately,I was rocking out to the radio when I realized that I had it turned up a little loud. I realized this when that famous song came on that got me in trouble not too long ago:
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, But chains and whips excite me."
Cue a lecherous EngineerFriend who comes toddling around the corner, wide-eyed and springy-stepped to ask what's going on with a "wicked grin." (His words. <eye roll and sigh> Not going there.)
So I shut the radio off (after cussing at it a little for getting me into that situation in the first place) and decided to google "Office Appropriate Music."
And got PILES of hits.
(Apparently I'm not the only ignorant schmuck who has been caught busting a move behind her desk.)
There have been oodles of studies revolving around Office-Friendly Tune-age. And here's the basis of what I've found:
* If you work in an office (anywhere boring, really, which bases itself on client service), you have two options: light, airy, classical drivel; or silence.
*If you work anywhere else (anywhere equally boring but less client-oriented), you have two options: headphones, or silence.
* There will ALWAYS be someone who prefers to listen to country. (Thank goodness it's that and not Christian Screamo. Yes, it exists. Count your lucky stars and be grateful that you don't know about it.)
* It is almost never appropriate to listen to music with lyrics in a client-oriented space. You risk offending someone with a lyric that comes out of nowhere, or leaving someone out of a genre they don't know/understand/give-a-crap-about.
Which is all fine and dandy with me, I suppose. I'm not particularly a fan of the classical drivel, but every once in a while I do get caught air-conducting Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite. And it *is* nice to know that there is a standard I should be meeting... Even though my own desk has a propensity towards announcing its sadomasochism.
* If you work in an office (anywhere boring, really, which bases itself on client service), you have two options: light, airy, classical drivel; or silence.
*If you work anywhere else (anywhere equally boring but less client-oriented), you have two options: headphones, or silence.
* There will ALWAYS be someone who prefers to listen to country. (Thank goodness it's that and not Christian Screamo. Yes, it exists. Count your lucky stars and be grateful that you don't know about it.)
* It is almost never appropriate to listen to music with lyrics in a client-oriented space. You risk offending someone with a lyric that comes out of nowhere, or leaving someone out of a genre they don't know/understand/give-a-crap-about.
Which is all fine and dandy with me, I suppose. I'm not particularly a fan of the classical drivel, but every once in a while I do get caught air-conducting Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite. And it *is* nice to know that there is a standard I should be meeting... Even though my own desk has a propensity towards announcing its sadomasochism.
P.S. - I would love to cite the information here specifically, but it's all basically the same no matter what website you pull up. So, to make it more exciting, google "Office Appropriate Music" and see what hits you get. But make sure to check out http://www.externaldesign.com/office-music-in-the-workplace.html. That one was my favorite, and had the greatest wealth of information.
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