the cafe's alive (or not) with the sound of music....

oh music.
particularly cafe music.

i've been to places that only rotate crappy hipster vinyl, yes *vinyl* as an attempt at being edgy.
i've worked places that let you bring in your own stuff (within reason), which usually works pretty well for setting different moods and having vayst variety.
i've worked at places with crappy XM radio bullshit.

and now, there's the next inevitable phase-pandora. ideally, this could be the best music variety out there, however, not so much when your stations have to be "pre-approved" (a.k.a. STRICTLY CONTROLLED/ edited) by the powers that be.

per suck-tastic when the approved stations all sound the same/ play the same lame whiny emo singer-songwriter shit/ lull you to sleep and generally put the majority of customers right into *WORK MODE*.

no really. there is a notable difference in the vibe/atomosphere when the pre-approved stations are playing versus when T.P.T.B. are out of the day and we choose fun shit (like M.I.A. or Garbage or She&Him or DePeche Mode....etc.) store stations= office death

by this (office death) i mean everyone zombie'd out on their laptops/ipads, silent as death and creepily quiet/library shush-shush. when the choice is a more lively (NOT approved, also been called "lame" by one of T.P.T.B.) one, people talk. they interact. they make friends. they get up and walk around and make the place welcoming and lively and RAD-TACULAR!

so i say- fuck the system. damn the man! save the empire!

over-eager co-workers

sigh. normally, working with someone who was just a *tad* over-eager might not be that bad- beneficial even. their spunk would motivate me to crank up my energy or, at least, not let my early morning sass get in the way. BUT this morning, i am working with s. s. is waaaaaaaay bend-over-backward-eager-to-please. and it's grating and obnoxious. i want to throttle s.'s throat and say "grow a backbone!"

here's an example: customer walks up to the counter and both s. and i are working on making drinks. s. says "oh i am so sorry. we will be right with you in just one moment." waits like, 30 seconds and then states again: "be right with you." they got it the first time and hey- here's a concept- they can see we are making drinks. whoa. crazy that. said customer then orders a drip coffee (which we brew fresh, by the cup)--s. proceeds to apologize for how long it's taking, meanwhile, ignoring the next customers in line!!!!

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!

stop apologizing and fucking do your job already!

i could give more examples, but right now, i need to go bash my head against the wall to keep sane.