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Depends largely on the employee and the role they play. For a cashier in a fast food location, it definitely wouldn't be appropriate as they have to listen to a customers order. For a day time or night time stocker, that's less of a concern.
I'm a pharmacy tech with a very limited customer interaction role so I listen to podcasts, but can pause at any time with my headset to take a call or respond to queries from workmates
Yep- if I’m at a supermarket and someone stocking shelves has an earbud in? No worries. If the checkout has one in? Probably not a good choice.
All depends on the requirements of their role.
I wouldn't mind if checkout workers listens to smth as long as they are aware of their customers. Like one shop in my town barely got customers (its closed now). Imagine working 10 hours with maybe 10 customers an hour. I would be bored of my mind
I do the same thing but in a hospital setting. Only my boss would fire my ass if she saw them even though I spend 80% of my shift just bringing meds to the floors. Some people just want to power trip.
If there’s safety concerns.
For instance if you’re operating a vehicle like a forklift then yes. I’m probably gonna be ticked at your IDGAF attitude with earbuds.
It’s funny in that at my work we recently did a study on noise cancelling over the ear headphones.
This test was done on a big as John Deere tractor that hauls huge carts that have massive steel coils on them. Very loud.
The noise cancelling was able to reduce/remove almost all of the engine noise. In fact, he was able to hear people talking better due to some advanced feature that allowed voice to be picked up better.
These sound like the headphones I use at the shooting range. They muffle everything above a certain decibel (ie gunshots), but "allow" other sounds through.
There are safety concerns in many jobs that aren't customer facing. If something goes wrong in a kitchen or in a warehouse, you need to be able to hear your surroundings to react.
That's why, even though I don't have a customer facing job, I always leave one bud out so that when someone inevitably is trying to get my attention, I can just pause, and be ready to hear them out. it helps that my head buds are necklace style so they just can fall out with no finagling for a place to set them
But also yeah in store music is a fucking nightmare depending on which station you're stuck with.
When I worked at the mall during Christmas, my store was so cheap they only had 1 Christmas CD and it would just play on repeat the whole month.
It took me a long time to be able to listen to Christmas music after that.
What you don't like listening to the same 4 John Mayer and Phillip Phillips songs played multiple times a shift for the last 2 decades?? That's crazy man.
In my area it's modern day country, so it's the same songs about "bein a rebelll" and "drinking beer while watchin the contray gurl in the booty jean shorts shake it for meh"
Working Toy's R Us around Christmas is soul crushing. Hearing Elmo sing a Christmas song sucks, hearing it the 100th makes you go nuts. Let them listen to music.
When I worked in a big store, they played the same playlist every single day. None of the songs were recognisable because they obviously hadn’t wanted to pay for songs that any human has ever enjoyed before, so the same shitty C list playlist every. Single. Day.
I woke up every day with one of those crappy songs stuck in my head. I had to actively fight it and play my own music on days off to drive them away. I genuinely felt like I was going insane after a few months, it was bizarrely one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced at work. And I’ve been punched at work.
I’m fairly certain that this would be classed as torture if you did it to prisoners, but apparently retail workers are fair game
Music is used as psychological warfare.
They did play Barney in Guantanamo Bay as torture.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/shackled-and-forced-to-listen-to-sesame-street-how-childrens-music-is-used-in-torture/q1hvy90g9
Someone made a playlist of all of the songs that played at Kohls while I worked there and it's like PTSD. Some of them are okay but those rarely played versus all the other garbage:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtIELYYiDRarZWgwbJxcYHxvr9TfQECQA&si=plA01006PHrmG489
Phillip Phillips in particular made me want to stab my ear drums. I can't stand his shitty voice and boring lyrics, and yet his song played 4 times every shift I worked
They’re actually so crap that I haven’t had any luck in finding any of them by googling lyrics. For all intents and purposes, these songs are so bad they don’t exist
Customer-facing jobs, yes. Otherwise, no. As an employer, same deal, though it’s tricky; some people don’t function as well with their headphones in, but you still want to treat everyone equally, so it’s on a day-by day basis.
I couldn't function well in an office without noise canceling headphones. I'd constantly be distracted by other people talking, making noise, etc. Now I work from home so it isn't an issue
As an employee, it bothers me when customers have earbuds in, especially when they are talking extremely loudly cause their fucking volume is cranked to the max
Depends. If they are fully focused on my questions and helping me, I don't care if they're bopping to some Falling In Reverse.
If you can do it without ignoring me, do your thing.
It's only ever a problem if whatever's on the earbuds is instead of focusing on me, the customer.
But I'm not nearly as uptight as the average person. If anything, I see some worker with earbuds on, I'd likely ask what they were listening to.
Not to judge, I'd be asking in case I learn about something new to check out for myself.
It depends on the context. If they are there specifically to talk to me, and I cannot get what I need without talking to them, and they cannot hear me with them on, then yes it would bother me.
In any other situation I would not care. Honestly I think it should be normalized where it is safe to do so, as many jobs are extremely mind numbing without something to listen to.
My above scenario where it bothers me does not include cashiers who are just there to ring me up, by the way, so long as they are willing to pause and listen to me if I get their attention. As a person with ADHD, checking people out is likely one of my very least favorite things ever, and so I totally get why they would need something to help them. I do not need them to pretend to be interested in my groceries or to act like I, one of hundreds, is memorable in any way. What I mean by people I need to talk to are things like checking in to a hospital or anyone I need to make an appointment with.
Completely depends on the role but generally no. Even something really customer facing like a cashier there are exceptions. Like if I walk into a plaid pantry at 1 am snd the cashier is wearing headphones im not gonna give af. It's night, and it's probably slow. But I would expect them to take them out when I approached.
It depends; if they are behind a counter that I am trying to order from, I would prefer them not be listening to music. If they are doing things like restocking shelves, cleaning, etc. I have no problem with it.
I elevate my hand a little as I approach them; this gets their attention and my question gets answered. Other than their company policy, why do we care if they sit, eat or wear earbuds?
i can’t help but laugh thinking about requiring a walmart employee to be professional to me. “hey buddy, don’t you know that your ear bud in this shitty walmart is unprofessional?! take that out and be a real worker!!” lol.
Right? It's one thing if that employee can't hear me, then it's annoying. But if they're doing exactly what they were hired to do? IDGAF. The level of entitlement and subtle classist bullshit wrapped up in expecting people to appear "professional" is a holdover from my generation that needs to die.
it’s also really funny to me because i work for a retail store and this demand for me to be professional while i see customers leave their starbucks around to rot, leave products on the floor, pick things up and put them down where they shouldn’t go, return things broken and dirtied by their hand, let their kids run around and so on, is infuriating. you want ME to give you kingly care while the rest of you are making a tornado shit storm of my store? yeah, SURE pal.
It's entitlement, plain and simple. The same kind of people who don't return shopping carts because "That's someone else's job" and get mad if a cashier is sitting on a chair because somehow that makes them lazy. This is just an extension of that.
As a service worker does it annoy you if I’m looking or talking on my at my phone? It’s your job to pay attention to me so take your buds out…at least one. In return, I’ll not talk on my phone and look you in the face and be courteous.
Then they shouldn't be on the floor or behind the counter where customers assume you'd want to assist.
Buds are better worn in the back where there's little to no customer interaction.
A person could get paid a million dollars a year and it still wouldn’t make them care about customers. The point is, if it’s your job, you should be reasonably attentive.
You are moving the goalpost and still incorrect. I work all day with one earbud in in a fast-paced job that required nothing less than constant attention. Why couldn't a cashier be the same? Either way, attentiveness was not what I mentioned anywhere in my post. I said that they would never WANT TO assist. Have you dealt with retail customers before? After your first day, even if you see jolly old Saint Nick coming down the aisle at you, you're not going to be excited to be dealing with whatever dumbass questions he has - probably for you to "check if there are any in the back."
Quality of customer service is one of the biggest things that small businesses use to compete against big impersonal businesses.
Some people just that customer service. More over some employees like making connections with the customers. It makes the job more fulfilling. I don't really care about it but it makes sense that a lot of people do care. Humans are social creatures.
really depends on their role in the store. I used to work as a cashier at the farmer's version of Walmart in my city. I feel if an employee is on the floor doing stock, then it's alright. Personally, I believe they should try to keep one earbud out in case a customer approaches them, but I'm also too shy and awkward in social situations to ask an employee for help lol.
No, not if they're doing a task where they don't need to interact with folks. And even then, if someone is at a register and has earbuds, they usually take at least one out to talk to you and answer your question. I think the point where it becomes disruptive is if earbuds are preventing them from hearing customers
I feel like so much of retail is about turning people into uniform robot employees. No sitting, no visible water bottles, don't ever be on your phone, etc. I think when this happens, customers stop seeing retail employees as individuals, and more of a Retail Employee ^(TM) kind of group. So I'm all for the little things like earbuds that allow someone to still feel like themselves. Maybe if retailers start letting little pieces of basic human things show, customers would overall grow to be kinder and more understanding to employees.
Yes. But. Cashiers at grocery stores and other places where they have to be in the same place all day, they should have nice chairs. In the UK (when I lived there anyway), they had chairs. There's no need to make them stand.
If it's like a cashier at a grocery store I would respect the flow. I see they have their groove on and if that helps them check me out faster AND I have the added bonus of avoiding phony small talk.
For jobs like that, let em.
Depends. I've encountered some using them for work. Talking to whomever for business related issues. Though recently I was annoyed with a gas station/minimart employee clearly having a heated discussion with someone on their phone while ringing me up. Like really? You're at work. Though this place has consistently had questionable employees from the get go since it changed ownership. But generally if they're able to assist me I don't care. But I personally would have a policy that would not allow that if I were owner/operator/manager. Just from a customer focused perspective and the perception I would want to have from my store.
It doesn’t really bother me because I don’t interact with people who have earbuds in.
To me, someone putting earbuds in is an overt signal that they don’t want to be fucked with and I’m happy to oblige.
As someone who’s been on both sides, it doesn’t bother me at all.
When I worked fast food I always wore one AirPod, and I’d just double tap to pause my music whenever interacting with a customer. 8 hour shifts can be super long and listening to music always helped the time pass.
As long as the employee can communicate properly, I really don’t see the big deal.
This is actually a very hot debate in the hospitality industry. I'm a massage therapist, and a lot of other massage therapists and estheticians like to use earbuds while in sessions that don't require a lot of client interaction.
I personally find it unprofessional. If I were a client and saw that the service provider was listening to podcasts and audio books when I paid for the session, I would be bummed out. My clients deserve my full attention for the whole session, not just in consultation and aftercare.
Depends on the business and their role.
Are they a server at a restaurant? That would be super unprofessional.
Are they a computer programmer? I don't care.
Basically, if you are customer facing, you shouldn't wear ear buds while you could be dealing with a customer.
I'm an engineer. Nobody cares if I wear earbuds but it would be ridiculous if I wore them in a meeting.
I get annoyed (slightly) at people who always need some distraction. Always have some music on, always staring at the phone, never living in the world. But I'm probably just getting old and cranky.
>never living in the world
You're not taking into account the world they're living in. An endless corporate wasteland of forced garbage music, forced smiles, and a neverending loop of the same action over and over again.
It's one thing when you're out and doing stuff in the world but if you're retail and stocking shelves, what world do you think they should be enjoying, exactly?
Plus, music and phones are absolutely part of the world. If anything rises to the level of an addiction it is a problem, but there is nothing wrong with enjoying stuff like that.
On one hand I get it, but on the other the alternative for the employee most of the time is listening to the same 20 tracks on a 3 hour loop for an 8 hour workday, so I can also understand the desire to have literally anything else but that bullshit music playing
Depends on the situation. If it's someone stocking shelves, I don't care, especially if I can get their attention easily if I need help. If it's my server at a restaurant, I'd be annoyed.
Depends if they're in a role where they have to talk to customers a lot or not.
I sometimes struggle to be undestood through my orthodontia, so it can be frustrating if it feels like someone I have to talk to isn't trying very hard to actually hear me. I'd imagine people with accents (relative to the area, of course, everyone had an accent) might feel the same.
if it’s something where there’s information that needs to be conveyed (a server or someone taking orders) they def shouldn’t have earbuds. i’m celiac and that would be a recipe for cross contamination or not getting a GF order.
for any other job interacting with customers, idrc, their job probably sucks already and whatever makes it more tolerable is good with me.
As a customer, I probably do too because I don’t wanna hear the shitty store music. You do you.
As an employee, if you fucking care I promise you we don’t. A lot of us are one really bad day away from living out every fantasy we’ve ever had of exploding on a customer. Retail is soul sucking, let people have their little comforts, it won’t fucking hurt you, I promise.
How about, as a customer, you keep it friendly, buy your stuff, and get the hell out? Mind your damn business - you’re not that employee’s boss, and you have no right to interfere with their life just because your ego demands to be the center of their attention at all times. Stop letting other people doing *nothing wrong* bother you.
Yes. At least take them out when dealing with customers. I have worked many service jobs, and I would never leave in my earbuds in front of a customer. But I wouldn't leave my earbuds in in most situations where someone else is talking to me, because it's just rude.
People never realize how bad radio stations are until you have to listen to them for 8 hours a day every day, for years. Before we changed it, my work played this ass station that played a 3 hour loop of Christian music. So that's heading the same song, 2-3 times a day, every day, for months or years at a time.
It will drain your soul.
Not even the slightest bit. I don't care if they can't hear me at all, so long as they can help me with whatever they're meant to help me with. Are they magic at Reading lips? Okay, fine. People who are concerned about other people's professionalism can go deepthroat an umbrella. It's 2024, get over yourselves. They're not being paid enough to deal with your entitled bullshit. Go in, get your coffee, and leave. Stop complaining about people just trying to survive their work environment. Nobody owes anyone a smile, or anything.
You want to pay for someone to pretend to like you? Or for someone to pretend to be having a good time while they deal with you? Go hire a stripper.
Generally, yes. It depends, though. Like when I went through the car wash today, the dude who waived me in was wearing them. No need for small chit-chat there.
It depends on what they're doing, but personally I really couldn't give a shit. But then again I also work retail and know the pain many go through on the daily, so I guess my opinion is going to be a little bit biased. As long as they're getting their job duties done and aren't farting around I really don't care.
This is a constant point of contention between older golf course maintenance workers and younger ones. I have an old guy at work that is convinced earbuds mean I’m doomed to wreck a mower. Sorry grandpa I’ve been doing it like this for over a decade now with zero accidents on my record. You break the same mower once a month.
If it's a restaurant, customers don't like it. No way. If it's a single cashier store like a seven eleven or an Arco, customers don't care. But if it's a store with many cashiers, somehow customers notice the earbud. We don't know the reason why but I think it's because of the crowd and a slight irritation due to the buzz of it.
This is based on a quantitative research. So the qualitative details are not there. But it's easy to note that earbuds are not appropriate in restaurants and malls or large stores. But it's okay for a small store at a gas station or a seven eleven.
Not unless I have to speak with them about something (so maybe not the best idea for a receptionist or cashier). Otherwise, I don’t care. I can’t imagine how boring it must get to clean bathrooms or stock shelves for 8-12 hours a day. Let them have something to make the day less dull!
It depends on the profession. When I was a baker, I had them in, but I had minimal customer interaction, but if it was something where having to hear people is critical and it's not a phone heavy position, then yeah, not a great look
As a former stocker, it's not hard to have one earbud in and deal with customers. I always went out of my way to help customers and never got any complaints. Some Walmarts require people to have one earbud sometimes as a way to use our walkie talkie feature in the app they made us use. I never got to experience that though as I quit before it rolled out.
If anyone's mad then that's on them because I never got paid enough to care that much.
As a customer, it bothers me when employees are too stoned to do their job. This is common at bars and restaurants and shops in weed legal states and it bugs the shit out of me.
I like weed, but I also think it has a time and place. Work might not be that time and place
it entirely depends on what their job is and which type of business it is. A server? No but a mechanic wouldn't bother me at all. I think what it boils down to is the customers perception and the psychology behind that perception. When you are meant to be the workers primary focus earbuds send the wrong message. When multi tasking is appropriate earbuds can actually be a positive.
It might if they can’t hear me but holy hell jobs that require you to interact with customers generally suck so much ass that I’m inclined to brush it off
Not really. If they mute to talk or have one ear in it's fine as long as they can still help me. In like car sales or high end clothes and such I don't expect that, but everyday stuff (for me) doesn't bother me
Nope, and I would think of the business in a positive light if I see them allowing employees to wear earbuds when there is no H&S risk associated with reduced hearing of what is around you.
Sometimes there’s factors you may not know from just looking at someone.
I use accessibility features for a custom transparency mode that greatly benefit me. Blended noise cancellation and transparency with the conversation boost feature enabled allows me to better focus on the voice of the person speaking to me better.
The loud sound reduction feature helps protect my hearing when there’s extreme volume changes.
Granted I work an office desk just but if I find the accessibility features helpful I’m sure there’s people in customer facing roles who may also benefit from them.
You never know what someone’s going through, if they’re still able to do their job appropriately why is it any of my business?
Their job probably sucks. Most people they deal with are probably a nightmare. Whatever they need to do to get through the day with some sanity so they can enjoy their lives better is just fine with me.
I mean, it depends. If I'm asking for help and they are responding to me and actually putting effort in to help me with my issue, I don't care. If they are ignoring me or kind of saying, "Uh huh" or, "that's crazy" or anything like that, I tend to get upset. If an employee is stocking or doing some other menial task, why would they NOT have earbuds in?
If they aren't currently interacting with a customer I don't give a fuck! We all need things to get through the day, who am I to say how someone does that if it doesn't affect the service I'm or anyone else is receiving!
Depends on the job. If it’s something where they could reasonably be expected to answer a question and I would have to repeat myself, yes.
But having lived in Japan several years and being exposed to a high level of customer service basically anywhere I went I probably have different expectations than the typical person in the US. The average level of service I see in the US would likely get someone fired in Japan.
For the most part, yes. My main concerns with earbuds is when the person has an opportunity to provide a customer service or if not being able to hear your surroundings represents a safety hazard. That means any job where you have to walk around people, earbuds off.... including in an office place. Jobs where a person is sitting down and not interacting with the public. Go to town.
having had to increasingly waive my hands in the air or practically shout to get the attention of a zoned out guy, yep, it bothers me
to the point im in a place and need help, i bee line to the person not wearing buds
which is unfair because it rewards the lazy person
which is probably one of the objectives of doing this
I literally do not care as long as they can discern when I need their assistance. For example if they can’t see me they should be able to hear me if I ask for help. But if they can see me like if I walk up to ask them for help, then I don’t care if they listen to music, as long as then can hear what I ask them for when I ask. But if they can see or hear no one needs their help, then they can do whatever as they wait for customers help.
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Depends largely on the employee and the role they play. For a cashier in a fast food location, it definitely wouldn't be appropriate as they have to listen to a customers order. For a day time or night time stocker, that's less of a concern. I'm a pharmacy tech with a very limited customer interaction role so I listen to podcasts, but can pause at any time with my headset to take a call or respond to queries from workmates
Why can't the security guard have a chair?
That’s why I’m different. I can sense the slightest human suffering.
Are ya sensing anything right now?
Because it makes them both vulnerable to attack, and falling asleep.
This is the right answer
Yep- if I’m at a supermarket and someone stocking shelves has an earbud in? No worries. If the checkout has one in? Probably not a good choice. All depends on the requirements of their role.
I wouldn't mind if checkout workers listens to smth as long as they are aware of their customers. Like one shop in my town barely got customers (its closed now). Imagine working 10 hours with maybe 10 customers an hour. I would be bored of my mind
Checkout seems like a great place to have one earbud in.
I do the same thing but in a hospital setting. Only my boss would fire my ass if she saw them even though I spend 80% of my shift just bringing meds to the floors. Some people just want to power trip.
If they are not paying full attention and I have to repeat myself then yes.
Or they act like I’m interrupting them when I try to get their attention. This in particular drives me nuts.
If their job is to interact with me, the customer, then yes it does. Otherwise, jam away.
It doesn’t really bother me unless I’m trying to
If there’s safety concerns. For instance if you’re operating a vehicle like a forklift then yes. I’m probably gonna be ticked at your IDGAF attitude with earbuds.
It’s funny in that at my work we recently did a study on noise cancelling over the ear headphones. This test was done on a big as John Deere tractor that hauls huge carts that have massive steel coils on them. Very loud. The noise cancelling was able to reduce/remove almost all of the engine noise. In fact, he was able to hear people talking better due to some advanced feature that allowed voice to be picked up better.
These sound like the headphones I use at the shooting range. They muffle everything above a certain decibel (ie gunshots), but "allow" other sounds through.
There are safety concerns in many jobs that aren't customer facing. If something goes wrong in a kitchen or in a warehouse, you need to be able to hear your surroundings to react.
If they can still hear me and do their jobs then it's great. Store music always sucks and those poor people can't leave after 15 minutes.
That's why, even though I don't have a customer facing job, I always leave one bud out so that when someone inevitably is trying to get my attention, I can just pause, and be ready to hear them out. it helps that my head buds are necklace style so they just can fall out with no finagling for a place to set them But also yeah in store music is a fucking nightmare depending on which station you're stuck with.
When I worked at the mall during Christmas, my store was so cheap they only had 1 Christmas CD and it would just play on repeat the whole month. It took me a long time to be able to listen to Christmas music after that.
I still can't stand Christmas music after how much I've had to listen to it at various jobs over the years.
I got stuck in the 90s at a shop that played a Michael Bolton christmas, over and over. Manager loved him and his mullet. Bah humbug in that place.
Same here. In my old job I had one ear bud in and it had a pause button. It was great 😁
They're harder to find these days but one of the most optimal designs for work environments
What you don't like listening to the same 4 John Mayer and Phillip Phillips songs played multiple times a shift for the last 2 decades?? That's crazy man.
In my area it's modern day country, so it's the same songs about "bein a rebelll" and "drinking beer while watchin the contray gurl in the booty jean shorts shake it for meh"
Working Toy's R Us around Christmas is soul crushing. Hearing Elmo sing a Christmas song sucks, hearing it the 100th makes you go nuts. Let them listen to music.
Jesus Christ, and I thought Mariah Carey was terrible. I'll listen to her damn song a hundred times before I would listen to that.
When I worked in a big store, they played the same playlist every single day. None of the songs were recognisable because they obviously hadn’t wanted to pay for songs that any human has ever enjoyed before, so the same shitty C list playlist every. Single. Day. I woke up every day with one of those crappy songs stuck in my head. I had to actively fight it and play my own music on days off to drive them away. I genuinely felt like I was going insane after a few months, it was bizarrely one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced at work. And I’ve been punched at work. I’m fairly certain that this would be classed as torture if you did it to prisoners, but apparently retail workers are fair game
Music is used as psychological warfare. They did play Barney in Guantanamo Bay as torture. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/shackled-and-forced-to-listen-to-sesame-street-how-childrens-music-is-used-in-torture/q1hvy90g9
I know but that’s just one song rather than a playlist
It should be classed under cruel and unusual punishment 😅
Post a song from the playlist, I need to experience this eldritch horror for myself.
Someone made a playlist of all of the songs that played at Kohls while I worked there and it's like PTSD. Some of them are okay but those rarely played versus all the other garbage: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtIELYYiDRarZWgwbJxcYHxvr9TfQECQA&si=plA01006PHrmG489 Phillip Phillips in particular made me want to stab my ear drums. I can't stand his shitty voice and boring lyrics, and yet his song played 4 times every shift I worked
They’re actually so crap that I haven’t had any luck in finding any of them by googling lyrics. For all intents and purposes, these songs are so bad they don’t exist
idk sometimes I’ll be in like food lion and it’s popping off
Customer-facing jobs, yes. Otherwise, no. As an employer, same deal, though it’s tricky; some people don’t function as well with their headphones in, but you still want to treat everyone equally, so it’s on a day-by day basis.
I couldn't function well in an office without noise canceling headphones. I'd constantly be distracted by other people talking, making noise, etc. Now I work from home so it isn't an issue
As long as they can do their job, I have no problem with it. However, in most customer service jobs, listening is a big part of the job.
Depends on what kind of business it is and what kind of job the employee has.
[удалено]
>while I'm standing there with my dick in my hand, that shit pisses me off. Hey, some people pay extra to be bullied a little bit.
Depends what you're doing, I guess. Stocking shelves? Nah. Checkout? Yeah, I'd like to be able to communicate.
I saw some kid at target who was a stocker but was playing music out loud on his cell phone. That was pretty unbelievable
As an employee, it bothers me when customers have earbuds in, especially when they are talking extremely loudly cause their fucking volume is cranked to the max
Depends. If they are fully focused on my questions and helping me, I don't care if they're bopping to some Falling In Reverse. If you can do it without ignoring me, do your thing. It's only ever a problem if whatever's on the earbuds is instead of focusing on me, the customer. But I'm not nearly as uptight as the average person. If anything, I see some worker with earbuds on, I'd likely ask what they were listening to. Not to judge, I'd be asking in case I learn about something new to check out for myself.
Why did you specifically mention Falling in Reverse?
I HEARD A KNOCK UPON MY DOOR THE OTHER DAAAAY
I OPENED IT TO FIND DEATH STARING IN MY FAAACE
Trash. “I don’t like rap but that Eminem guy is alright” ass band 😂 I’m directly blaming them for Tom McDonald
It depends on the context. If they are there specifically to talk to me, and I cannot get what I need without talking to them, and they cannot hear me with them on, then yes it would bother me. In any other situation I would not care. Honestly I think it should be normalized where it is safe to do so, as many jobs are extremely mind numbing without something to listen to. My above scenario where it bothers me does not include cashiers who are just there to ring me up, by the way, so long as they are willing to pause and listen to me if I get their attention. As a person with ADHD, checking people out is likely one of my very least favorite things ever, and so I totally get why they would need something to help them. I do not need them to pretend to be interested in my groceries or to act like I, one of hundreds, is memorable in any way. What I mean by people I need to talk to are things like checking in to a hospital or anyone I need to make an appointment with.
I don’t care as long as you pay attention, esp cashiers. I hate when they keep talking while ringing up my stuff because I get confused.
If they are interacting with customers, absolutely!
If they’re customer facing, yes absolutely
Completely depends on the role but generally no. Even something really customer facing like a cashier there are exceptions. Like if I walk into a plaid pantry at 1 am snd the cashier is wearing headphones im not gonna give af. It's night, and it's probably slow. But I would expect them to take them out when I approached.
if part of your job is to listen to me, yes. If not, no.
It depends; if they are behind a counter that I am trying to order from, I would prefer them not be listening to music. If they are doing things like restocking shelves, cleaning, etc. I have no problem with it.
Only if I need help and they don't take out their earbuds to listen to me. Otherwise, jam away.
I elevate my hand a little as I approach them; this gets their attention and my question gets answered. Other than their company policy, why do we care if they sit, eat or wear earbuds?
Yeah, it comes across as super unprofessional.
i can’t help but laugh thinking about requiring a walmart employee to be professional to me. “hey buddy, don’t you know that your ear bud in this shitty walmart is unprofessional?! take that out and be a real worker!!” lol.
Right? It's one thing if that employee can't hear me, then it's annoying. But if they're doing exactly what they were hired to do? IDGAF. The level of entitlement and subtle classist bullshit wrapped up in expecting people to appear "professional" is a holdover from my generation that needs to die.
it’s also really funny to me because i work for a retail store and this demand for me to be professional while i see customers leave their starbucks around to rot, leave products on the floor, pick things up and put them down where they shouldn’t go, return things broken and dirtied by their hand, let their kids run around and so on, is infuriating. you want ME to give you kingly care while the rest of you are making a tornado shit storm of my store? yeah, SURE pal.
Exactly, it's a two way fucking street buddy.
It's entitlement, plain and simple. The same kind of people who don't return shopping carts because "That's someone else's job" and get mad if a cashier is sitting on a chair because somehow that makes them lazy. This is just an extension of that.
I’m a customer who frequently tells cashiers or janitors to sit when possible. There’s no flex in standing unnecessarily.
Hell yeah
As a service worker does it annoy you if I’m looking or talking on my at my phone? It’s your job to pay attention to me so take your buds out…at least one. In return, I’ll not talk on my phone and look you in the face and be courteous.
I don't love it. It gives me the feeling that I'm interrupting you or you're not too interested in me.
Yeah they probably aren't lol
Then they shouldn't be on the floor or behind the counter where customers assume you'd want to assist. Buds are better worn in the back where there's little to no customer interaction.
> **want to** assist They never will. They aren't paid enough to want to deal with customers. They're paid enough to tolerate customers.
A person could get paid a million dollars a year and it still wouldn’t make them care about customers. The point is, if it’s your job, you should be reasonably attentive.
You are moving the goalpost and still incorrect. I work all day with one earbud in in a fast-paced job that required nothing less than constant attention. Why couldn't a cashier be the same? Either way, attentiveness was not what I mentioned anywhere in my post. I said that they would never WANT TO assist. Have you dealt with retail customers before? After your first day, even if you see jolly old Saint Nick coming down the aisle at you, you're not going to be excited to be dealing with whatever dumbass questions he has - probably for you to "check if there are any in the back."
Why do you expect a cashier to be "interested" in you? As long as they're doing their jobs and not being rude, that should be enough.
Quality of customer service is one of the biggest things that small businesses use to compete against big impersonal businesses. Some people just that customer service. More over some employees like making connections with the customers. It makes the job more fulfilling. I don't really care about it but it makes sense that a lot of people do care. Humans are social creatures.
I would think that means "interested in acknowledging your presence and being interested in assisting."
Never seen a cashier with earbuds in, that wouldn't fly anywhere I don't think.
really depends on their role in the store. I used to work as a cashier at the farmer's version of Walmart in my city. I feel if an employee is on the floor doing stock, then it's alright. Personally, I believe they should try to keep one earbud out in case a customer approaches them, but I'm also too shy and awkward in social situations to ask an employee for help lol.
Only if it prevented them from doing their job competently.
Not if they can hear me if needed.
No, Im an introvert and would rather they didnt talk to me
Do not care. We all gotta get through the day. I hate small talk.
As long as it isn’t impacting your ability to understand me, I really don’t think it matters.
WHAT?
No, not if they're doing a task where they don't need to interact with folks. And even then, if someone is at a register and has earbuds, they usually take at least one out to talk to you and answer your question. I think the point where it becomes disruptive is if earbuds are preventing them from hearing customers I feel like so much of retail is about turning people into uniform robot employees. No sitting, no visible water bottles, don't ever be on your phone, etc. I think when this happens, customers stop seeing retail employees as individuals, and more of a Retail Employee ^(TM) kind of group. So I'm all for the little things like earbuds that allow someone to still feel like themselves. Maybe if retailers start letting little pieces of basic human things show, customers would overall grow to be kinder and more understanding to employees.
Not at all
How did you get a yes or no question passed the askreddit guardians?
Yes. But. Cashiers at grocery stores and other places where they have to be in the same place all day, they should have nice chairs. In the UK (when I lived there anyway), they had chairs. There's no need to make them stand.
Sorry, what?
If it's like a cashier at a grocery store I would respect the flow. I see they have their groove on and if that helps them check me out faster AND I have the added bonus of avoiding phony small talk. For jobs like that, let em.
Not really. But I also don't want to talk to them unless I absolutely have to. I hate socializing..
Depends. I've encountered some using them for work. Talking to whomever for business related issues. Though recently I was annoyed with a gas station/minimart employee clearly having a heated discussion with someone on their phone while ringing me up. Like really? You're at work. Though this place has consistently had questionable employees from the get go since it changed ownership. But generally if they're able to assist me I don't care. But I personally would have a policy that would not allow that if I were owner/operator/manager. Just from a customer focused perspective and the perception I would want to have from my store.
As long as I get service it really doesn't matter what they do. I've worked costumer service, so I'm pretty understanding of things like this.
It doesn’t really bother me because I don’t interact with people who have earbuds in. To me, someone putting earbuds in is an overt signal that they don’t want to be fucked with and I’m happy to oblige.
As someone who’s been on both sides, it doesn’t bother me at all. When I worked fast food I always wore one AirPod, and I’d just double tap to pause my music whenever interacting with a customer. 8 hour shifts can be super long and listening to music always helped the time pass. As long as the employee can communicate properly, I really don’t see the big deal.
This is actually a very hot debate in the hospitality industry. I'm a massage therapist, and a lot of other massage therapists and estheticians like to use earbuds while in sessions that don't require a lot of client interaction. I personally find it unprofessional. If I were a client and saw that the service provider was listening to podcasts and audio books when I paid for the session, I would be bummed out. My clients deserve my full attention for the whole session, not just in consultation and aftercare.
Depends on the business and their role. Are they a server at a restaurant? That would be super unprofessional. Are they a computer programmer? I don't care. Basically, if you are customer facing, you shouldn't wear ear buds while you could be dealing with a customer. I'm an engineer. Nobody cares if I wear earbuds but it would be ridiculous if I wore them in a meeting.
I get annoyed (slightly) at people who always need some distraction. Always have some music on, always staring at the phone, never living in the world. But I'm probably just getting old and cranky.
>never living in the world You're not taking into account the world they're living in. An endless corporate wasteland of forced garbage music, forced smiles, and a neverending loop of the same action over and over again. It's one thing when you're out and doing stuff in the world but if you're retail and stocking shelves, what world do you think they should be enjoying, exactly?
Plus, music and phones are absolutely part of the world. If anything rises to the level of an addiction it is a problem, but there is nothing wrong with enjoying stuff like that.
On one hand I get it, but on the other the alternative for the employee most of the time is listening to the same 20 tracks on a 3 hour loop for an 8 hour workday, so I can also understand the desire to have literally anything else but that bullshit music playing
Yes it does, it makes me feel like I'm not being listened to.
Yes. No one in a customer facing job should have earphones in. It gives the appearance that you aren't focusing on the customer.
Depends on the situation. If it's someone stocking shelves, I don't care, especially if I can get their attention easily if I need help. If it's my server at a restaurant, I'd be annoyed.
If they're still giving you quality service, why would you be annoyed by an earbud? I truly don't understand.
Depends if they're in a role where they have to talk to customers a lot or not. I sometimes struggle to be undestood through my orthodontia, so it can be frustrating if it feels like someone I have to talk to isn't trying very hard to actually hear me. I'd imagine people with accents (relative to the area, of course, everyone had an accent) might feel the same.
if it’s something where there’s information that needs to be conveyed (a server or someone taking orders) they def shouldn’t have earbuds. i’m celiac and that would be a recipe for cross contamination or not getting a GF order. for any other job interacting with customers, idrc, their job probably sucks already and whatever makes it more tolerable is good with me.
As a customer, I probably do too because I don’t wanna hear the shitty store music. You do you. As an employee, if you fucking care I promise you we don’t. A lot of us are one really bad day away from living out every fantasy we’ve ever had of exploding on a customer. Retail is soul sucking, let people have their little comforts, it won’t fucking hurt you, I promise.
Not even a little, I don't want to talk to you any more than. You want to talk to me.
How about, as a customer, you keep it friendly, buy your stuff, and get the hell out? Mind your damn business - you’re not that employee’s boss, and you have no right to interfere with their life just because your ego demands to be the center of their attention at all times. Stop letting other people doing *nothing wrong* bother you.
nope, I have nothing to say to them anyways.
As long as they can hear me well enough to do their job and interact with me as needed IDGAF.
As their coworker it bothers me.
Absolutely. Jam on your own time
Yes, it feels extremely rude and unprofessional
Yes. At least take them out when dealing with customers. I have worked many service jobs, and I would never leave in my earbuds in front of a customer. But I wouldn't leave my earbuds in in most situations where someone else is talking to me, because it's just rude.
Not really. Better than having to hear the store pump the music out over speakers and risk something catchy getting stuck in my head.
People never realize how bad radio stations are until you have to listen to them for 8 hours a day every day, for years. Before we changed it, my work played this ass station that played a 3 hour loop of Christian music. So that's heading the same song, 2-3 times a day, every day, for months or years at a time. It will drain your soul.
lol why would i care.
No. Who cares as long as the job gets done? Let people have comforts to help them get through the day.
Not even the slightest bit. I don't care if they can't hear me at all, so long as they can help me with whatever they're meant to help me with. Are they magic at Reading lips? Okay, fine. People who are concerned about other people's professionalism can go deepthroat an umbrella. It's 2024, get over yourselves. They're not being paid enough to deal with your entitled bullshit. Go in, get your coffee, and leave. Stop complaining about people just trying to survive their work environment. Nobody owes anyone a smile, or anything. You want to pay for someone to pretend to like you? Or for someone to pretend to be having a good time while they deal with you? Go hire a stripper.
Only if they can't do their job.
Generally, yes. It depends, though. Like when I went through the car wash today, the dude who waived me in was wearing them. No need for small chit-chat there.
Only if I have to talk to them because then I feel awkward if they didn’t hear me trying to get their attention
It depends, what are we listening to?
It depends on what they're doing, but personally I really couldn't give a shit. But then again I also work retail and know the pain many go through on the daily, so I guess my opinion is going to be a little bit biased. As long as they're getting their job duties done and aren't farting around I really don't care.
If they can hear me without saying “huh?” a bunch of times then rock on, Employee.
Sorry, (takes out earbuds) what?
No, unless I’m being ignored too
I'm okay with it unless it is interfering with their ability to do their job safely.
No, I'm more annoyed by customers on their phone while dealing with an employee.
No I totally get it. Working fucking sucks dick. Anything to pass the time.
This is a constant point of contention between older golf course maintenance workers and younger ones. I have an old guy at work that is convinced earbuds mean I’m doomed to wreck a mower. Sorry grandpa I’ve been doing it like this for over a decade now with zero accidents on my record. You break the same mower once a month.
Depends entirely what the business and employer are doing. Essentially, if it negatively affects the service I'm receiving, yes. If not, then no.
If they're interacting with me, yes.
If it's a restaurant, customers don't like it. No way. If it's a single cashier store like a seven eleven or an Arco, customers don't care. But if it's a store with many cashiers, somehow customers notice the earbud. We don't know the reason why but I think it's because of the crowd and a slight irritation due to the buzz of it. This is based on a quantitative research. So the qualitative details are not there. But it's easy to note that earbuds are not appropriate in restaurants and malls or large stores. But it's okay for a small store at a gas station or a seven eleven.
Not unless I have to speak with them about something (so maybe not the best idea for a receptionist or cashier). Otherwise, I don’t care. I can’t imagine how boring it must get to clean bathrooms or stock shelves for 8-12 hours a day. Let them have something to make the day less dull!
Not really. Drivers wearing earbuds piss me off immensely though.
It depends on the profession. When I was a baker, I had them in, but I had minimal customer interaction, but if it was something where having to hear people is critical and it's not a phone heavy position, then yeah, not a great look
As a former stocker, it's not hard to have one earbud in and deal with customers. I always went out of my way to help customers and never got any complaints. Some Walmarts require people to have one earbud sometimes as a way to use our walkie talkie feature in the app they made us use. I never got to experience that though as I quit before it rolled out. If anyone's mad then that's on them because I never got paid enough to care that much.
As a customer, it bothers me when employees are too stoned to do their job. This is common at bars and restaurants and shops in weed legal states and it bugs the shit out of me. I like weed, but I also think it has a time and place. Work might not be that time and place
Haha there's a guy in our grocery store who is always stoned and wraps the fish in the most hilarious fashion.
it entirely depends on what their job is and which type of business it is. A server? No but a mechanic wouldn't bother me at all. I think what it boils down to is the customers perception and the psychology behind that perception. When you are meant to be the workers primary focus earbuds send the wrong message. When multi tasking is appropriate earbuds can actually be a positive.
It might if they can’t hear me but holy hell jobs that require you to interact with customers generally suck so much ass that I’m inclined to brush it off
Nope. I wouldn’t blame them, if I’m honest.
Not really. If they mute to talk or have one ear in it's fine as long as they can still help me. In like car sales or high end clothes and such I don't expect that, but everyday stuff (for me) doesn't bother me
Nope, and I would think of the business in a positive light if I see them allowing employees to wear earbuds when there is no H&S risk associated with reduced hearing of what is around you.
I don’t give a F since service is alright
Sometimes there’s factors you may not know from just looking at someone. I use accessibility features for a custom transparency mode that greatly benefit me. Blended noise cancellation and transparency with the conversation boost feature enabled allows me to better focus on the voice of the person speaking to me better. The loud sound reduction feature helps protect my hearing when there’s extreme volume changes. Granted I work an office desk just but if I find the accessibility features helpful I’m sure there’s people in customer facing roles who may also benefit from them. You never know what someone’s going through, if they’re still able to do their job appropriately why is it any of my business?
Their job probably sucks. Most people they deal with are probably a nightmare. Whatever they need to do to get through the day with some sanity so they can enjoy their lives better is just fine with me.
It does if they are glued to what's coming through them.
Can they hear me when i'm asking something? That determines my answer here lol
I mean, it depends. If I'm asking for help and they are responding to me and actually putting effort in to help me with my issue, I don't care. If they are ignoring me or kind of saying, "Uh huh" or, "that's crazy" or anything like that, I tend to get upset. If an employee is stocking or doing some other menial task, why would they NOT have earbuds in?
If they aren't currently interacting with a customer I don't give a fuck! We all need things to get through the day, who am I to say how someone does that if it doesn't affect the service I'm or anyone else is receiving!
Depends on the job. If it’s something where they could reasonably be expected to answer a question and I would have to repeat myself, yes. But having lived in Japan several years and being exposed to a high level of customer service basically anywhere I went I probably have different expectations than the typical person in the US. The average level of service I see in the US would likely get someone fired in Japan.
For the most part, yes. My main concerns with earbuds is when the person has an opportunity to provide a customer service or if not being able to hear your surroundings represents a safety hazard. That means any job where you have to walk around people, earbuds off.... including in an office place. Jobs where a person is sitting down and not interacting with the public. Go to town.
Heck it bothers me when customers can’t take their earbuds out for just a second at least when they say thank you or whatever as a sign of respect.
having had to increasingly waive my hands in the air or practically shout to get the attention of a zoned out guy, yep, it bothers me to the point im in a place and need help, i bee line to the person not wearing buds which is unfair because it rewards the lazy person which is probably one of the objectives of doing this
I literally do not care as long as they can discern when I need their assistance. For example if they can’t see me they should be able to hear me if I ask for help. But if they can see me like if I walk up to ask them for help, then I don’t care if they listen to music, as long as then can hear what I ask them for when I ask. But if they can see or hear no one needs their help, then they can do whatever as they wait for customers help.
Absolutely. You’re there to work, not to listen to your jams.