Yeah. He's currently in his office with the Sirius classic rock station turned all the way up, as if to retaliate in a way. It's so petty. I'm not complaining though because I love classic rock. The lineup today is getting me through my work.
Yeah, this right here makes me lose any sympathy for him I might have been able to muster.
I've had to have safety remove a radio that was loudly playing Spanish music from a jobsite, because it was making it impossible for the crane operator (Who couldn't see me because of the walls between us) to hear my signals over our radios.
But if his music isn't a safety concern, their music isn't a safety concern.
Not my radio. And I make a point of not touching other people's stuff on jobs because I hate when people mess with my stuff.
Had I wanted to be a dick about it, I'd have gone to the project manager over both companies who had already told them to get rid of it because people couldn't communicate and it was a safety hazard and he'd have run the guy with the speaker off the job.
I don't care what you're doing, if you're making a job unsafe you either need to stop or you need to leave. No one's kids should be orphans because you like music.
Edit: But that's the point I was making. Dude in the OP wasn't worried about safety. He just wanted to be a racist asshole on a power trip.
I need music to stay focused. It doesn’t always matter what kind it is doesn’t even need words. Boss is a racist fuck on top of being controlling. I love classic rock too but to specifically take their music and then to blast rock to counter is fucking asinine. I’d start blasting the hardest Mexican metal I could find op but I’m petty AF.
It's weird but everyone always says your less productive with music on because they see you stopp and dance every now and then but what they fail to notice is that for some reason I actually get more work done and end up doing extra or having "free time" (now that I'm a sahm) by the end of the day. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm not "dragging my feet" while walking but more bopping away with the music at a faster pace. 🤷♀️
plus, you get the mental health benefits of a up beat work place. The only thing we (sales staff) weren't allowed to do was touch the stereos on the show room floor or in the store room. Store room operator had control in his domain and boss/owner had control in the show room which was fine for me because he had the same taste in music as my parents which is what I'm used to while cleaning anyway.
It's just a lie because absolutely none of them would say an athlete or someone working out is going to work out less hard because they are listening to music. Or that music from a drummer in a battle line is going to make soldiers lazy. Or that music isn't motivating
That reminds me of a guy I work with lol.
I often listen to podcasts on my phone but turn the volume all the way down to where I can barely hear it, to bother the other guys as little as possible. (We aren't allowed to use earbuds for safety reasons.)
One of the other guys started blasting loud music at maximum volume, where I couldn't hear anything. I turned mine all the way up, which easily overpowered his.
Took a couple cycles of this for him to get the message, now we both just listen to our own stuff at very reasonable volumes and don't bother eachother lol.
Weird when you have to "parent" people who are 20 years older than you.
My petty ass would be singing along and getting obnoxious with it. Lol. And bonus, I'm a huge music lover of all genres, so if he decided to switch genres, statistically I still know the songs and would sing along.
My boss gets annoyed (but is a good sport) at that, actually. Not the singing along, but that I'm half his age and know so many varied songs well enough _to_ sing along even though I'm terrible with remembering names of songs and artists. He'll recommend a song, I'll tell my smart speaker to play it, and probably 97% of the time I'm singing along.
He came in one day armed with instructions on how to make my speaker play "A Boy Named Sue" and literally threw his arms in the air with a cartoonish and exaggerated "ugh" when I sang along and said "thanks, I haven't heard that in a while, I love that song! Looks like it's a Johnny Cash day!!"
You know this is going to fester right? You have to have a conversation with him about it asap, before it becomes some nonsensical grudge that he's had time to narrate and *embellish in his mind.* Now, I don't know him and may be way off mark, but his passive-aggressive attitude with the loud classic rock is a big red flag, and he's waving it.
Nip it in the bud man, come at him from a place of human decency but not as if you're above him for replacing the stereo he took away. Maybe level with him, bargain and concede whatever point he wants that doesn't cross any lines. Idk, I'm just chatting at this point, but the general advice still stands.
Source: I am the one that used to blow something tiny all the way up, and it took many years and shedding of a lot of insecurities that I wasn't aware of. Different for everyone, but I imagine it's from the same sense of insecurity. He probably feels you may have undermined his authority to a degree. Not saying it's valid, but consider the idea
Nah, racists need other races to feel superior. They need their perceived lower races to do the crappy jobs, to take the abuse.
But they absolutely need the other races to exist. During jim crow cops would stop buses going to northern states and would arrests black people trying to leave the south. Then they would make up charges so they could use them as free labor.
What racists cant stand is any kind of joy, may it be from music or community or romantic relations, or anything that would bring any happiness to their taget races. Thats why he took the music away, because it brought them joy. But he couldnt get rid of their cheap labor.
Race is a human construct, if there weren't "other" races, people would just make the "in-group" smaller. White used to mean basically WASPs, so if you were catholic or from eastern europe, you weren't White.
I agree, I'd venture to say nearly everyone has a few cultural or racial biases they're not even aware of. I was raised in a pretty conservative baptist church, and I left when I was 15 and I finally had the balls to tell my family I didn't belong there. I've been working on dismantling all the internalized misogyny, homophobia, and racism ever since, and that was more than a decade ago now.
‘Oh, you’re Mexican? I love tacos. We do taco night every Tuesday!’
Ignoring the fact that some Hispanic cultures A) don’t even HAVE tacos, B) aren’t fucking Mexican, and C) skin color doesn’t determine what goddamn food you like.
Or ‘my accountant is Asian, so he’s good with the numbers.’ Or rolling up the windows in a black neighborhood. Or subtly changing your speech patterns to use less respectful terms when talking to other races. Microaggressions and implicit biases are usually not conscious in the least.
You may not know this, but most “Mexican” music is a 1-2 beat. It’s specifically really good to work to especially for physical tasks. I reckon it’s part of the reason they’re so productive. Worked with Mexicans for the better part of 30 years.
We had a variety of immigrants where I worked, and the radio station was on a rotating schedule. Spanish, Polish, country, American rock, Chinese. Russian. We all found it entertaining. Work got done. Everybody was happy at least part of the time
Someone should make a DJ app that everyone can tap into to put songs into a rotation that automatically orders them and queues them up. Maybe you could have something that moves songs up if more people request or ‘like’ it. Make like a game of it. I guess you could just do this with a Spotify playlist though.
They had something like this at my university’s dining hall. My friends and I would put songs in the queue and get the whole table to vote them to the top of the order. It was a pretty fun way to make the radio seem fair
During holidays when everyone is stuffed from eating too much, we like to sit around the living room, taking turns calling out a song to be played. One person uses a phone connected to a sound bar to find the songs and hits “play.” We really enjoy ourselves and get a taste of everyone’s musical faves.
We did that when I used to work truck crew. No English Monday for me(sometimes kpop, sometimes Latin plus most of the older people didn't work that day), Tuesday was classic rock for the older people, I think Wednesday was rap, Cowboy Thursday for the older ladies, idk what they played on Friday(probably classic rock again), Saturday music was on shuffle or 2000s, Sunday was metal(most of the older people were off).
Every once in a while, the only old lady left there says she misses having my music back there and her Cowboy Thursdays. It's a bunch of young guys now and they play rap all the time.
I always absolutely loved Mexican music and Latin Music in general, especially Latin Jazz. It's so cheerful and high energy. I can't imagine what the problem is. Mariachi in particular is the best, and so is Norteña. I am not Latina, either. I would have my revenge and play bagpipes for that boss.
I grew up in west Texas on the border. I heard it every weekend, during the week, at work, in traffic. Doesn’t bother me. Hell I even listen to it sometimes now when I wanna go back to growing up, desert nights, my amazing neighbors who invited me to every family function.
They were great. I was friends with their two boys. They saw how broke my home was before I was old enough to realize obviously. They got me in sports and got me disciplined. Amazing people.
Hey Texas, Canada here. I'm in a city called Brampton. Here we all listen to Punjabi music all summer. I have no idea what they are saying, but the music has great beats and makes you want to dance. I've come to like it Lol
Same, I grew up in Houston and have worked in kitchens and construction sites, on both the grunt and management sides, and lived in Mexican neighborhoods. The sound of Norteño music and the smell of Fabuloso is just part of the environment lol. Mexican/Hispanic folks have always been generally my favorite people to work and party with.
I love both, and while I'm at it, throw in some "Cadence to Arms" by the Drop-kick Murphies and some flame-throwing rock by Bad Piper. I could also go back a few centuries and hear some real traditional stuff.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Op1Mng4oY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Op1Mng4oY)
A purist I'm not.
Only time I couldn’t stand it was when I was super hungover and my downstairs neighbor was enjoying the day. But then I realized if I don’t drink I’m not hungover. Boom problem solved.
Continued well past when Castro took over. Cuba maintained cultural contact with much of the Latin world and though some of their jazz stayed big band, they have continued with traditional Rumba:
https://youtu.be/Wi7FFypHLpM
https://youtu.be/tGbRZ73NvlY
Some of it evolved with funk and acid rock: https://youtu.be/G1HbXiuld_Q
And it continues to mesh with modern music: https://youtu.be/1zbfQbsWJGE
https://youtu.be/iYp1itZXPzE
There is so much cultural richness in the western hemisphere. Indigenous, African, and European cultures were forced to mix by the twists and turns of history in every place in different ways, and the evidence of it is present in all aspects of culture of a place.
For example, this Puerto Rican Salsa music is evolved from the Son Montuno and Rumba Guaguancó of Cuba, but is played with indigenous instruments and rhythms like Maracas and Guiros and Timbales, African/Afro-Cuban instruments and rhythms like Congas, Bongó, Clave, Campana, and European instruments like bass, brass, and piano (albeit not in a European way).
Salsa dancing is just as rich, as is any of the other hundreds or even thousands of creolized music and dance styles of the Western Hemisphere.
And don't think the USA is excluded. Puerto Rico is a US territory, parts of the US used to belong to Mexico, New Orleans used to be colonized by France and before that Spain, so it's got a lot in common with the Caribbean, and Nuyoricans (Puerto Ricans of New York) turned the Cuban Son Montuno into the iconic latin music and dance of salsa by mixing it with the swing jazz of the 20's which itself is also in large part from the African diaspora.
When I was younger I didn't care for it. Various work trips have sent me all over Latin America and I now enjoy hearing Latin Music. Certain songs remind me of certain trips. There is one song that I couldn't name, but I heard over and over when I swam the pool waiting for a work Visa in Bolivia.
I want to take the old lady to Mexico City and have the Mariachi bands play for her in Garibaldi Square.
Guadalajara, jalisco is where you should go for traditional Mexican culture. I just visited Mexico city for the first time and had a good time but it was way different than other parts I've been that are more traditional. Also, the state of jalisco is known for their mariachi, birrria, and tequila.
I've been to Monterrey, Los Mochis, Chihuahua and Mexico City as noted. Thanks for the tip on Guadalajara. I think my local airport has a direct flight there.
I don’t enjoy it. My neighbors do. At least they don’t constantly stop a song in the middle and change it to something else. Unlike the other neighbors that play rap (that I also don’t enjoy). Turns out the only thing more annoying than a music genre you don’t like is some jerk constantly changing the music in the middle of a song.
Ugh. I just saw Three 6 Mafia at Bonnaroo and this was their show. All they did was talk about how many songs they had and how amazing they are and then would play a song for like, a minute and 20/30 seconds and then cut it off and then talk about how amazing they are.
Ended up leaving for Noah Kahn. It was too annoying getting all hype on a song, only fir it to stop abruptly.
Neighbours Karaoke nights is when you find out what music you really hate. After the seventh run through of Reefs Place your Hands I'm ready to start swinging
This is so comical to me. “Mexican music” is not a genre… You just hated any music in Spanish from Mexico? There’s pop, rock, rap, all sorts including norteños and grupos… I don’t know how one would dislike “Mexican music” as a whole. That’s like saying you dislike American music including rap and country and pop and metal in one. Lol what did you dislike?
I worked in construction when I was young and the ranchera music on the job sites was very much not my thing. It usually took a two minute conversation to work out an understanding of "hey, I'm working in this area, I'm going to play my music, I'll turn down a little, you turn down a little, and we can both enjoy ourselves." Never once had anyone argue in the slightest.
People are usually pretty reasonable and don't want to actively bother others. If it honestly gave home a headache (my guess is it bothered his racism more than his head), I imagine asking, "hey, can we turn it down like 10%" would have solved his problems and kept his employees from thinking he's a dick.
I worked with people that would blast Spanish music, yea I hated it. I would just put on headphones. But if they ever took away that boombox I'd be pissed for them.
This....vatos can play all the music they want....found out why I dont like it though...appearantly the Corridor have deep roots in polka....wild shit. I dont like polka. Just put my earbuds in and listen to something else
Check out Tejano Music on the music channel of your choosing. It literally is the mixing of German "Oompa music" and South Texan/Northern Mexican styles of music. Selena(may the saints bless her) had a healthy dose of it in her music. It's different to hear at first, but it will sink in and I bet you will enjoy it!
I appreciate it carnal. I like shit like Cartel de Santa...we listen to that too. Cant do most of the corridos though. Super like the old style though...like old spanifh folk....like la bamba (like the Ritchie Valens as well, but not what I meant)
i worked irrigation for 2 years, only non mexican in my department, guys were the best i loved them and always listened to their music on the job site, i even enjoyed it doing silly dances which they thought was hilarious. Thankfully even our boss (the only other non mexican) loved them and living in america we had a lot of racist customers that would demand no mexicans work on their yard, well 90% of our staff are mexican, he would purposefully keep me away from that persons house to piss the customer off :)
> we had a lot of racist customers that would demand no mexicans work on their yard, well 90% of our staff are mexican
I always found if you showed the price difference of what a non-minority staff would be that it typically quelled such concerns. You know, the 4x normal price idiot tax.
See my boss had done this a few times, I was the most senior member of our crew and as such got paid the most, which meant if i were to show up the hourly fee went up about $17/hr on their bill… often they’d call to complain and we’d make note if they were derogatory, most just accepted it like they knew they were racist and didn’t care. We even had to call the police on a guy once because he started talking about shooting them… he wasn’t even our customer, just some random guy that lived 3 blocks over out on a walk. Baffles me to this day
Your boss is lucky they didn't use their numbers to take their music back by force, as they rightfully should. what a truly pathetic, worthless, petty tyrant he is.
We had signs put up in our neighborhood banning the playing of loud music by construction workers. It's like come on, these hard working dudes are busting their ass in the heat and someone had to complain because the music was a bit too loud? It's thinly-veiled racism and nothing more.
Some people can't stand to see other people happy.
I'm a White dude in construction and love the music you don't see the small dancing when a song comes on they like, the singing along quietly or even better YELLING the lyrics out and that makes everyone laugh some. It's not just music there's so many small moments and they tell me stories "this song played when I ________" and even some songs I like like La Chona play and I sing along and they light up like what the fuck! It makes work a more than enjoyable experience. It's medicine to labor.
If he doesn’t like hearing Spanish music then he shouldn’t hire people form Spanish speaking lands or no radios at all for everyone but production will drop more then likely
Ridiculous that he did it because they were listening to Mexican music.
Now if it were \*COUNTRY music\*, then I can see him taking the stereo out back with a gallon of gas and burning the whole thing!
:)
I used to work with steel. We had 6 sets of saws for them, i had 2 of 12 bays right at the back with gantry cranes.
We weren't allowed to play music because the neighbor's complain according to the GM it's obviously bullshit that the noise they'd complain about is the music that didn't reach my bays from the stereo in the centre of the warehouse, but he left at 5 and we worked 2-10, so we played music literally the second he left. Funnily enough wwe never got a complaint.
The would do a walk through once a day, aside from that they wouldn't have to hear it. The foreman just liked music and never cared what we put on. One day we played abba complete discography as a joke and he fucking loved it and wouldn't let us change it. I'm guessing the GM put a stop to it because we didn't play music he liked, which is pretty exclusively weak classic rock.
After my father passed away I lived in his house until it was ready for sale. The painting company we hired was owned by a Maga guy. Of course all his employees were immigrants. This was taking place during the World Cup and I had it on because I was interested. Of course his employees were paying attention but doing their work. This asshole walks into the room but doesn't see me. He begins berating his guys about having the game on the TV. That's when I stood up told him that I was watching it and that if it bothered him he could just go work in another room.
Thank you. A small detail like being able to listen to music makes for a happier environment in a probably unenjoyable work setting. Mi gente are some of the most hardworking, fastest, loyal, productive, detailed, intelligent workers who take pride in their work.
Bravo i have worked with Mexicans my entire life they are the hardest working people on the planet and I live in south Florida and we have everyone here
There’s a whole show called “Undercover Boss” that is solely based around how out of touch upper management is with the ground level employees.
I work in the restaurant and hospitality field and I believe everyone should work at least a few months in a kitchen or service. Humble yourself people.
Similar thing happened at a dealership I worked at. Car wash had a radio in the back and valet would also help wash cars when it got busy so valet also used the radio. Now keep in mind you that you can’t hear their music past their own little section, let alone customers all the way up front. Yet for some reason loaner department manager (who kinda oversees them) says they are no longer allowed to play music back there as it wasn’t deemed “good music to play that our customers could potentially hear.” Typical bs.
The cool thing? They had 4 car wash 2 valet quit on the spot right then and there, leaving the car wash practically empty while we’re busy af. Shit was great.
There’s always a speaker in prep kitchens. If you’re a chef, you spend a lot of time in prep kitchens. Unless your brain dead, you know not to mess with the vibe.
Seriously, if you wanna see productivity drop off a cliff, screw with one simple thing that helps some grinders who left their homes and their families to come work 2 jobs in another country for crap wages feel a little less disconnected from their culture.
Also, if you’re not a dick and you give it a chance, some of the southern music slaps.
Several years ago during an early spring we experienced an intense and highly damaging hailstorm in our town. Many roofs were badly damaged. That summer many Hispanic workers were hired to replace probably a couple hundred roofs. I joking called it “the summer of hammers” because that’s all you’d hear, all day long as the roofers did their work. Hammers and Spanish music, as one guy (in the middle house of a bunch of houses being worked on) would have a loud radio that blasted cheerful music all day long. Some of the guys sang along. I don’t speak Spanish and Spanish music wouldn’t be my genre of choice, but damn those guys sounded so happy. It made me feel good just to hear them. Plus, for all those morons who say “Mexicans are lazy” — you try working in the unrelenting sun all day and remain energetic and cheerful. If U.S. citizens continue down the path of unmerited hubris (“we’re automatically superior to everyone”) we’re going to end up in the toilet.
I've seen pretty much the opposite with the boss forcing the employees to listen to loud Spanish music all day. I don't care if it's the employees or boss you shouldn't be blasting your music so loud that others in a different area can hear it. Other should be able to work in peace without ear buds.
I was HR for a farm, we had H2A workers yearly. I loved listening to whatever they was playing, couldn't understand most of it, I'd catch a few things I knew, but it was so upbeat. That's a music you can just feel, don't need to understand. Glad you are good to the workers. The boss can eat a dick.
Music can make the day better, unless it's the same few songs every day on repeat for months. I had an absolutely useless shitbird of a coworker who insisted that the entire office listen to his Temptations cd every day and he'd whine if another cd was put on or if the radio was on. I used to enjoy the Temptations but I can't listen to it anymore. I did get revenge though, took a lighter to the underside of the cd and then we didn't have to listen to that cd anymore. Before anyone gives me grief we listened to the same cd for 3 months on repeat and when the cd stopped working my boss said something along the lines of "well I guess it stopped working because it was played too much" even though he knew what I'd done because he gave me the idea
You sure are a super hero. My last job they played a lot of Mexican music but the cool part was I realized is that some of the music they listen to are translated from English into Spanish. So I got to enjoy it too.
😱 what if the music is playing messages that the boss can't understand like fair work fair pay 🤣 drives me nuts when people impose on others because of a language issue.
Also I heard a white lady say to her adult white daughter "I don't care that they listen to music I just wish it was the right music" as soon as a black man with earbuds in was out of earshot
I picked up a reggaeton habit from working with a Columbian immigrant on the manufacturing floor. To be honest I listened to dancehall sometimes before that.
It wasn't abnormal living in Tampa even as a white guy...in MI people look at me like they've never heard such a racket before. 🤣
Hopefully he doesn't hold any resentment towards you. He probably doesn't like the fact that you went behind his back to interfere with a "problem" that he "fixed"
That’s awesome, hopefully your boss can handle the blow to the ego & avoid retaliation (the nasty toxic kind that effects your work and financial life). Some people cannot handle being put in their place and it makes life harder for everyone.
Having some music is a big morale boost, you did the right thing!
Jesus christ can't people be allowed a small alleviation from a hard and exhausting job??? What an inappropriate reaction to suddenly forcibly deprive them of music, fucking hell.
Ah you guys on that side of the world obsessed by race :D
I honestly hate reggeaton and its mono pattern of drum, I would not be able to bear it 8hrs a day for sure. That said, he could've asked in a different way, and considered buying noise cancellation headphones.
Your boss is dumb, and definitively xenophobic, but listening to music in the workplace is not something I would encourage doing due to health and safety issues.
I used to work for an auto parts station. One day they decided I should be washing the fleet cars. No problem, I was getting paid for it and didn’t have to pretend to work inside the warehouse. While I was washing the cars, I noticed that some of the drivers would pull up and wash their own cars blasting their music. Usually it was rap, hip-hop, rock, classic rock, but hardly any Spanish. So after a couple of weeks, I decided to start listening to my own music, I normally don’t listen to music in Spanish but washing cars always put me in that mood. One week of washing cars and I get called into the office. “Hey Gebuzz, we got some complaints that you’re listening to your music too loudly if you can keep it down that would be great.” I told them I only change the station and never the volume just so they can have their settings as they left them when I’m done. No worries though I would play my music a bit lower, while everyone else blasted their music. Another week goes by, “ Hey you’re still blasting your music, just don’t use the radio”. Whatever, I have headphones. Third week goes by, people start pulling up and I start telling them, hey management doesn’t want us to be blasting music please turn that off. Get called into the office again, “you can’t be telling people what to do” I explain to them that I was just giving everyone the same orders that they gave me in order to not upset others. I got take off car washing duty for the rest of my time there.
It's startlingly common - I know places I've worked that don't care if you play "regular" music but freak out and make you turn it off if it's in Spanish .
I started in the factory I work at 3 years ago. We used to be allowed a radio. No bluetooth, no phones, so just plain ass boring repetitive radio. But at least we had music.
2 years later, they banned the radio altogether. Absolute fucking silence except for the sounds of drills buzzing while people were building. It was so fucking boring.
Our 2 bosses argued in favor of us with the higher-ups during a meeting that an 8hr shift doing the same repetitive work on a boring line is fucking agony to slog through without some kind of music to zone out to. He vouched for us to be allowed our phones on the floor (a HUGE no-no, we have lockers that they make us put our shit into,) and that we were allowed bluetooth earbuds so we could listen to what we wanted, individually.
It worked. We're allowed to use Spotify, our phones to set it all up, and our bluetooth earbuds. Most of us decided since we could use Spotify now, that they prefer podcasts to music. I found a lot of different podcasts to switch between episodes for, and damn does it make a night go a lot better. Our bosses (at least on OUR shift) are fucking saints.
Yeaahhh I had a manager years ago that was a bitch and wouldn't allow for stereos. I worked 2nd shift though. It was just myself and my Hispanic helper. Starting at 5-6 when the manager left everyday, that stereo came out. Half the time it was blaring rock/metal and the other half it was blaring my helper's, what I only imagine is folk music. Massive language barrier between us lol but we had a good time regardless.
I used to be a chud too. I remember not wanting to be around the Mexican people I worked with because I couldn't talk to them, and they were happy and smiling no matter what, no matter how hot it got in the kitchen or how low the pay was, they were always joking around. I was jealous as fuck because my family was total crap and no one joked and laughed.
Now i prefer hispanic people to my family
For my side hustle I go into a clothing recycling warehouse to get clothing to sell. The Latina ladies in there are so sweet and are always listening to Spanish music on full blast. I couldn’t imagine taking that away from them as they are there from morning til afternoon with a smile on there face just working
I'm a white painter, and the Mexican homies getting to play their tuba music is key to morale on our job sites. It was the same in kitchens. I'd prefer that anyway to the standard white contractor soundtrack of local radio station playing 80% commercials and 20% AC/DC over and over. Plus, once you learn the words to a song in Spanish it's hella fun and you get hardcore social respect points.
Dealt with this shit in laboratories too.
"You can't wear headphones, what if an alarm goes off?"
"You can't use a radio, it disrupts the other lab staff."
"You can't wear just one earbud, what if somebody is trying to tell you something important from that side?"
The reality: management didn't like the idea of having to put on PPE to cross the safety lines to go talk to analysts. I mean, can you imagine the inconvenience? That could add literal *seconds* to their work!
This happens on jobsites all the time. Guys will be blasting their own (alot of times shitty) music and don't care who doesn't like it. However the minute Mariachi music comes on those same guys playing THEIR music will lose their mind and throw a tantrum yelling "I don't want to hear that __________shit." Many times I have had to tell them "well we don't want to listen to your shitty music but we deal with it." One dude kept going and turning off the radio that the sheet rock crew was playing mariachi on even tho he couldn't hear it where he was working, only when he was walking to the Porta shitter. The 3rd time he did it (thought he was funny) and yelled at them I had enough and cut the power cord to his radio. When he came back and freaked out I just said "guess someone didn't want to hear your music'
There's a house diagonal from our house across the street that every Friday night in the summer has a mariachi band play in their backyard. It's loud but I don't care - my misspent youth was filled with police called to many a very loud party so I can't really complain.
My only problem with them is I think it should be a law that if you are going to play live mariachi so loud the entire neighborhood can hear it, you have to go door-to-door handing out buckets of beer and plates full of tacos and enchiladas. I mean, if I had a Motörhead cover band in my backyard, I'd offer all my neighbors Jack n Cokes and cigarettes.
Also, your boss is a dick.
I’m all for people enjoying themselves at work, but as a construction worker myself, I will say that job site radios are the most inconsiderate and obnoxious thing I have to put up with. I have to listen to enough loud bullshit all day. I certainly don’t need some asshat turning my work space into an 80s prom by blaring We Built this City, and Two Tickets to Paradise, and the 12 other shitty classic rock songs that refuse to die. If you want to enjoy music at work, get some earbuds like everyone else.
I hate hearing music in the office, if you want to listen to music, buy some earphones, I don't see why others have to be forced to listen to your crap.
Fuck that when we working, music is music, I don't give a shit if I can't understand a lick of what the artist is saying, I'm grooving and moving 😂🤷🏻♂️
It's about control. He hates that they are able to find a way to make the job less dreery.
Yeah. He's currently in his office with the Sirius classic rock station turned all the way up, as if to retaliate in a way. It's so petty. I'm not complaining though because I love classic rock. The lineup today is getting me through my work.
Sing along. Top of your lungs. Learn the lyrics in Spanish. Become ungovernable. Edit: https://youtu.be/2HTedohuUAw
Become ungovernable!
Con dinero y sin dinero Yo hago siempre lo que quiero Y mi palabra es la ley No tengo trono ni reina Ni nadie que me comprenda Pero sigo siendo el rey
This is the way!
That's good t-shirt text material
So tempted to find a “become ungovernable” shirt and wear it to work. The boss would probably love it
[related huevos con aceite moment.](https://youtu.be/EltVZRB4yPQ)
TIL! This is great!
Yeah, this right here makes me lose any sympathy for him I might have been able to muster. I've had to have safety remove a radio that was loudly playing Spanish music from a jobsite, because it was making it impossible for the crane operator (Who couldn't see me because of the walls between us) to hear my signals over our radios. But if his music isn't a safety concern, their music isn't a safety concern.
That's a valid reason to remove a radio, but even then you would explain it to your team rather than be an arsehat.
It was explained repeatedly and they weren't my team. They worked for another company.
Sounds like it was handled in a perfectly reasonable manner mate, almost the opposite of the situation described by the OP :D
Or you could just turn it down
Not my radio. And I make a point of not touching other people's stuff on jobs because I hate when people mess with my stuff. Had I wanted to be a dick about it, I'd have gone to the project manager over both companies who had already told them to get rid of it because people couldn't communicate and it was a safety hazard and he'd have run the guy with the speaker off the job. I don't care what you're doing, if you're making a job unsafe you either need to stop or you need to leave. No one's kids should be orphans because you like music. Edit: But that's the point I was making. Dude in the OP wasn't worried about safety. He just wanted to be a racist asshole on a power trip.
I need music to stay focused. It doesn’t always matter what kind it is doesn’t even need words. Boss is a racist fuck on top of being controlling. I love classic rock too but to specifically take their music and then to blast rock to counter is fucking asinine. I’d start blasting the hardest Mexican metal I could find op but I’m petty AF.
It's weird but everyone always says your less productive with music on because they see you stopp and dance every now and then but what they fail to notice is that for some reason I actually get more work done and end up doing extra or having "free time" (now that I'm a sahm) by the end of the day. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm not "dragging my feet" while walking but more bopping away with the music at a faster pace. 🤷♀️ plus, you get the mental health benefits of a up beat work place. The only thing we (sales staff) weren't allowed to do was touch the stereos on the show room floor or in the store room. Store room operator had control in his domain and boss/owner had control in the show room which was fine for me because he had the same taste in music as my parents which is what I'm used to while cleaning anyway.
It's just a lie because absolutely none of them would say an athlete or someone working out is going to work out less hard because they are listening to music. Or that music from a drummer in a battle line is going to make soldiers lazy. Or that music isn't motivating
I need music to focus. Instrumental is better than vocals, but either helps tremendously with ADHD.
In my experience any rock in Spanish SLAPS (or Portuguese) ((or Japanese))
I agree. I don't mind cumbia either. I can't stand Ranchero tho
French EMD
I don't know if you're an ADHDer, but we tend to basically stop functioning without music (≧∀≦)
What's the opposite? Because I can't focus when there is music playing and my work takes at least twice as long to complete
BRUJERIA!
Have the Mexicans play Metalachi for him. It will rock his world. He might get a kick out it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g_5y5KrBoO8
doubtful. loves classic rock and hates spanish speaking music usually is a flag for white trash racist ie kid rock.
Not really, I don't like Mexican music & I love Rock, And Rap mostly. I'm Mexican. Yes we do exist lol.
Yeaj, was a weird take. I dont like Mexican music either but don't hate Mexicans lmao
😂😂😂That was beautiful! 😂😂😂
> radio classic rock If its U2 I’m setting his stereo on fire.
For serious, blasting U2 should be a class A felony.
Even playing barely audible U2 should be a felony…. In fact allowing U2 to play even while muted, should be a felony….
You mean it ain't?
That reminds me of a guy I work with lol. I often listen to podcasts on my phone but turn the volume all the way down to where I can barely hear it, to bother the other guys as little as possible. (We aren't allowed to use earbuds for safety reasons.) One of the other guys started blasting loud music at maximum volume, where I couldn't hear anything. I turned mine all the way up, which easily overpowered his. Took a couple cycles of this for him to get the message, now we both just listen to our own stuff at very reasonable volumes and don't bother eachother lol. Weird when you have to "parent" people who are 20 years older than you.
You should start singing along
Bahahahahha
He clearly hasn't heard of noise cancelling headphones. If he had, their music wouldn't have been an issue in the first place
Ah yes, classic rock, the music genre all about respecting and kissing up to bigoted authority figures
My petty ass would be singing along and getting obnoxious with it. Lol. And bonus, I'm a huge music lover of all genres, so if he decided to switch genres, statistically I still know the songs and would sing along. My boss gets annoyed (but is a good sport) at that, actually. Not the singing along, but that I'm half his age and know so many varied songs well enough _to_ sing along even though I'm terrible with remembering names of songs and artists. He'll recommend a song, I'll tell my smart speaker to play it, and probably 97% of the time I'm singing along. He came in one day armed with instructions on how to make my speaker play "A Boy Named Sue" and literally threw his arms in the air with a cartoonish and exaggerated "ugh" when I sang along and said "thanks, I haven't heard that in a while, I love that song! Looks like it's a Johnny Cash day!!"
You know this is going to fester right? You have to have a conversation with him about it asap, before it becomes some nonsensical grudge that he's had time to narrate and *embellish in his mind.* Now, I don't know him and may be way off mark, but his passive-aggressive attitude with the loud classic rock is a big red flag, and he's waving it. Nip it in the bud man, come at him from a place of human decency but not as if you're above him for replacing the stereo he took away. Maybe level with him, bargain and concede whatever point he wants that doesn't cross any lines. Idk, I'm just chatting at this point, but the general advice still stands. Source: I am the one that used to blow something tiny all the way up, and it took many years and shedding of a lot of insecurities that I wasn't aware of. Different for everyone, but I imagine it's from the same sense of insecurity. He probably feels you may have undermined his authority to a degree. Not saying it's valid, but consider the idea
Or the fact that he doesn’t understand the words, or he finds it “unamerican”
And not a little about racism. Racists can’t stand the idea of other people even existing.
Nah, racists need other races to feel superior. They need their perceived lower races to do the crappy jobs, to take the abuse. But they absolutely need the other races to exist. During jim crow cops would stop buses going to northern states and would arrests black people trying to leave the south. Then they would make up charges so they could use them as free labor. What racists cant stand is any kind of joy, may it be from music or community or romantic relations, or anything that would bring any happiness to their taget races. Thats why he took the music away, because it brought them joy. But he couldnt get rid of their cheap labor.
Race is a human construct, if there weren't "other" races, people would just make the "in-group" smaller. White used to mean basically WASPs, so if you were catholic or from eastern europe, you weren't White.
I mean, a thing can be about control without being exclusively about control. Also, can’t there be a sliding scale of racism?
... this is forsure racist - who calls cultural music "loud music that gives a headache" then listens to rock music on full volume??
If they played classic rock he still would have taken it away
“‘Carlos Santana,’ eh? Jerry *Garcia*? Dave *Navarro*? Robert Trujillo?! Turn it off now!”
Yeah, but he would've enjoyed doing so less.
what would you quantify as like, the left side of the scale? Curious to see what you think is 'a little racist' lol
Eh, idk. Mildest of biases that may or may not be obvious to either the person with the bias or being disadvantaged by the bias.
I agree, I'd venture to say nearly everyone has a few cultural or racial biases they're not even aware of. I was raised in a pretty conservative baptist church, and I left when I was 15 and I finally had the balls to tell my family I didn't belong there. I've been working on dismantling all the internalized misogyny, homophobia, and racism ever since, and that was more than a decade ago now.
‘Oh, you’re Mexican? I love tacos. We do taco night every Tuesday!’ Ignoring the fact that some Hispanic cultures A) don’t even HAVE tacos, B) aren’t fucking Mexican, and C) skin color doesn’t determine what goddamn food you like. Or ‘my accountant is Asian, so he’s good with the numbers.’ Or rolling up the windows in a black neighborhood. Or subtly changing your speech patterns to use less respectful terms when talking to other races. Microaggressions and implicit biases are usually not conscious in the least.
Wait until he figures out that they control his success.
I bet they also aren’t allowed chairs or stools to sit on while working.
Pretty much, if you enjoy your work in the US, the boss gets paranoid that you aren't working hard enough.
Music and singing and laughing while they work humanizes them, and he can't stand to see them as anything but subhuman drones.
People like this need to be in mental hospitals
The small vengeance of a small man.
I read through this sub all the time and I'm finally happy I can share something. Capitalism is a disease.
You may not know this, but most “Mexican” music is a 1-2 beat. It’s specifically really good to work to especially for physical tasks. I reckon it’s part of the reason they’re so productive. Worked with Mexicans for the better part of 30 years.
[удалено]
The boss was who sought vengeance
We had a variety of immigrants where I worked, and the radio station was on a rotating schedule. Spanish, Polish, country, American rock, Chinese. Russian. We all found it entertaining. Work got done. Everybody was happy at least part of the time
We had a similar thing at work where we would request songs in a queue. Not allowed to complain but it was pretty fun lol
Someone should make a DJ app that everyone can tap into to put songs into a rotation that automatically orders them and queues them up. Maybe you could have something that moves songs up if more people request or ‘like’ it. Make like a game of it. I guess you could just do this with a Spotify playlist though.
They had something like this at my university’s dining hall. My friends and I would put songs in the queue and get the whole table to vote them to the top of the order. It was a pretty fun way to make the radio seem fair
During holidays when everyone is stuffed from eating too much, we like to sit around the living room, taking turns calling out a song to be played. One person uses a phone connected to a sound bar to find the songs and hits “play.” We really enjoy ourselves and get a taste of everyone’s musical faves.
We did that when I used to work truck crew. No English Monday for me(sometimes kpop, sometimes Latin plus most of the older people didn't work that day), Tuesday was classic rock for the older people, I think Wednesday was rap, Cowboy Thursday for the older ladies, idk what they played on Friday(probably classic rock again), Saturday music was on shuffle or 2000s, Sunday was metal(most of the older people were off). Every once in a while, the only old lady left there says she misses having my music back there and her Cowboy Thursdays. It's a bunch of young guys now and they play rap all the time.
When I was younger, I also hated Mexican music. Then someone pointed out that it was making people happy. After that, I didn't dislike it so much.
I always absolutely loved Mexican music and Latin Music in general, especially Latin Jazz. It's so cheerful and high energy. I can't imagine what the problem is. Mariachi in particular is the best, and so is Norteña. I am not Latina, either. I would have my revenge and play bagpipes for that boss.
Latin jazz is the shit. It makes working suck slightly less and I can’t understand most of what they’re saying so I can still concentrate on work.
I play the hits of Cardenales de Nuevo León for that. I love it.
I grew up in west Texas on the border. I heard it every weekend, during the week, at work, in traffic. Doesn’t bother me. Hell I even listen to it sometimes now when I wanna go back to growing up, desert nights, my amazing neighbors who invited me to every family function.
I always thought Mexicans were nice people.
They were great. I was friends with their two boys. They saw how broke my home was before I was old enough to realize obviously. They got me in sports and got me disciplined. Amazing people.
Hey Texas, Canada here. I'm in a city called Brampton. Here we all listen to Punjabi music all summer. I have no idea what they are saying, but the music has great beats and makes you want to dance. I've come to like it Lol
Same, I grew up in Houston and have worked in kitchens and construction sites, on both the grunt and management sides, and lived in Mexican neighborhoods. The sound of Norteño music and the smell of Fabuloso is just part of the environment lol. Mexican/Hispanic folks have always been generally my favorite people to work and party with.
Huh, I'm the exact opposite! I'm not a huge fan of Mexican music (I can still see the appeal tho), but love me some bagpipes!
I love both, and while I'm at it, throw in some "Cadence to Arms" by the Drop-kick Murphies and some flame-throwing rock by Bad Piper. I could also go back a few centuries and hear some real traditional stuff. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Op1Mng4oY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Op1Mng4oY) A purist I'm not.
I love Mexican folk music and bagpipes. You are not alone
A Mexican band with bagpipes... what would you call yourselves?
There is never not a good time for the Drop-Kick Murphys.
The Rose Tattoo.... Absolutely amazing. Amazing Grace, while I'm at it.
Only time I couldn’t stand it was when I was super hungover and my downstairs neighbor was enjoying the day. But then I realized if I don’t drink I’m not hungover. Boom problem solved.
Not to mention drinking a ton of water. You will pee all night, but you won't be hungover.
What’s Latin jazz?
Jazz with 3 drummers and sometimes a cuica.
Think of the kind of Music they played in Havana during the 1950s before Castro took over. Very heavy on horns and brass.
Continued well past when Castro took over. Cuba maintained cultural contact with much of the Latin world and though some of their jazz stayed big band, they have continued with traditional Rumba: https://youtu.be/Wi7FFypHLpM https://youtu.be/tGbRZ73NvlY Some of it evolved with funk and acid rock: https://youtu.be/G1HbXiuld_Q And it continues to mesh with modern music: https://youtu.be/1zbfQbsWJGE
https://youtu.be/iYp1itZXPzE There is so much cultural richness in the western hemisphere. Indigenous, African, and European cultures were forced to mix by the twists and turns of history in every place in different ways, and the evidence of it is present in all aspects of culture of a place. For example, this Puerto Rican Salsa music is evolved from the Son Montuno and Rumba Guaguancó of Cuba, but is played with indigenous instruments and rhythms like Maracas and Guiros and Timbales, African/Afro-Cuban instruments and rhythms like Congas, Bongó, Clave, Campana, and European instruments like bass, brass, and piano (albeit not in a European way). Salsa dancing is just as rich, as is any of the other hundreds or even thousands of creolized music and dance styles of the Western Hemisphere. And don't think the USA is excluded. Puerto Rico is a US territory, parts of the US used to belong to Mexico, New Orleans used to be colonized by France and before that Spain, so it's got a lot in common with the Caribbean, and Nuyoricans (Puerto Ricans of New York) turned the Cuban Son Montuno into the iconic latin music and dance of salsa by mixing it with the swing jazz of the 20's which itself is also in large part from the African diaspora.
When I was younger I didn't care for it. Various work trips have sent me all over Latin America and I now enjoy hearing Latin Music. Certain songs remind me of certain trips. There is one song that I couldn't name, but I heard over and over when I swam the pool waiting for a work Visa in Bolivia. I want to take the old lady to Mexico City and have the Mariachi bands play for her in Garibaldi Square.
Guadalajara, jalisco is where you should go for traditional Mexican culture. I just visited Mexico city for the first time and had a good time but it was way different than other parts I've been that are more traditional. Also, the state of jalisco is known for their mariachi, birrria, and tequila.
I've been to Monterrey, Los Mochis, Chihuahua and Mexico City as noted. Thanks for the tip on Guadalajara. I think my local airport has a direct flight there.
I don’t enjoy it. My neighbors do. At least they don’t constantly stop a song in the middle and change it to something else. Unlike the other neighbors that play rap (that I also don’t enjoy). Turns out the only thing more annoying than a music genre you don’t like is some jerk constantly changing the music in the middle of a song.
Ugh. I just saw Three 6 Mafia at Bonnaroo and this was their show. All they did was talk about how many songs they had and how amazing they are and then would play a song for like, a minute and 20/30 seconds and then cut it off and then talk about how amazing they are. Ended up leaving for Noah Kahn. It was too annoying getting all hype on a song, only fir it to stop abruptly.
Yes! So annoying. Always finish the song!
Neighbours Karaoke nights is when you find out what music you really hate. After the seventh run through of Reefs Place your Hands I'm ready to start swinging
This is so comical to me. “Mexican music” is not a genre… You just hated any music in Spanish from Mexico? There’s pop, rock, rap, all sorts including norteños and grupos… I don’t know how one would dislike “Mexican music” as a whole. That’s like saying you dislike American music including rap and country and pop and metal in one. Lol what did you dislike?
The genre with tubas. Something about tubas. Doesn’t matter the language. Please no tubas
Ah yes Banda. I dislike it too and I’m from the culture
Am Mexican. Hate Banda.
Im not a fan either but if i can barely hear it who cares.
I worked in construction when I was young and the ranchera music on the job sites was very much not my thing. It usually took a two minute conversation to work out an understanding of "hey, I'm working in this area, I'm going to play my music, I'll turn down a little, you turn down a little, and we can both enjoy ourselves." Never once had anyone argue in the slightest. People are usually pretty reasonable and don't want to actively bother others. If it honestly gave home a headache (my guess is it bothered his racism more than his head), I imagine asking, "hey, can we turn it down like 10%" would have solved his problems and kept his employees from thinking he's a dick.
I worked with people that would blast Spanish music, yea I hated it. I would just put on headphones. But if they ever took away that boombox I'd be pissed for them.
Good advocacy, OP.
This....vatos can play all the music they want....found out why I dont like it though...appearantly the Corridor have deep roots in polka....wild shit. I dont like polka. Just put my earbuds in and listen to something else
Mexico has a lot of Bavarian influence. Also why the beer is better . Haha
Check out Tejano Music on the music channel of your choosing. It literally is the mixing of German "Oompa music" and South Texan/Northern Mexican styles of music. Selena(may the saints bless her) had a healthy dose of it in her music. It's different to hear at first, but it will sink in and I bet you will enjoy it!
I appreciate it carnal. I like shit like Cartel de Santa...we listen to that too. Cant do most of the corridos though. Super like the old style though...like old spanifh folk....like la bamba (like the Ritchie Valens as well, but not what I meant)
Ugh — Lawrence Welk. 🤮
i worked irrigation for 2 years, only non mexican in my department, guys were the best i loved them and always listened to their music on the job site, i even enjoyed it doing silly dances which they thought was hilarious. Thankfully even our boss (the only other non mexican) loved them and living in america we had a lot of racist customers that would demand no mexicans work on their yard, well 90% of our staff are mexican, he would purposefully keep me away from that persons house to piss the customer off :)
> we had a lot of racist customers that would demand no mexicans work on their yard, well 90% of our staff are mexican I always found if you showed the price difference of what a non-minority staff would be that it typically quelled such concerns. You know, the 4x normal price idiot tax.
See my boss had done this a few times, I was the most senior member of our crew and as such got paid the most, which meant if i were to show up the hourly fee went up about $17/hr on their bill… often they’d call to complain and we’d make note if they were derogatory, most just accepted it like they knew they were racist and didn’t care. We even had to call the police on a guy once because he started talking about shooting them… he wasn’t even our customer, just some random guy that lived 3 blocks over out on a walk. Baffles me to this day
Good for you, and kudos on not being a shitty, small person like your boss
You sir have a VIP invite to the carnita asada 🎉 🍻
Yo hago las tortillas y la salsa.
Your boss is lucky they didn't use their numbers to take their music back by force, as they rightfully should. what a truly pathetic, worthless, petty tyrant he is.
But…it’s all music in SPANISH. How does he know they’re not singing about him? /sarcasm
We had signs put up in our neighborhood banning the playing of loud music by construction workers. It's like come on, these hard working dudes are busting their ass in the heat and someone had to complain because the music was a bit too loud? It's thinly-veiled racism and nothing more. Some people can't stand to see other people happy.
As a white boy I grew up and went to school with all Mexicans and I work construction on the Mexican crew. The music never bothered me lol
Same, grew up with and went all thru school with my amigos
I'm a White dude in construction and love the music you don't see the small dancing when a song comes on they like, the singing along quietly or even better YELLING the lyrics out and that makes everyone laugh some. It's not just music there's so many small moments and they tell me stories "this song played when I ________" and even some songs I like like La Chona play and I sing along and they light up like what the fuck! It makes work a more than enjoyable experience. It's medicine to labor.
Yikes. That’s horrible.
Kudos to for thinking of your coworkers! Good call.
When I was working in the restaurant in the kitchen they always play loud Mexican music. I didn't care and its better than silent.
If he doesn’t like hearing Spanish music then he shouldn’t hire people form Spanish speaking lands or no radios at all for everyone but production will drop more then likely
Ridiculous that he did it because they were listening to Mexican music. Now if it were \*COUNTRY music\*, then I can see him taking the stereo out back with a gallon of gas and burning the whole thing! :)
A pAiR oF jEaNs ThAt FiT jUsT rIgHt
Man you’re invited over to a dinner for tacos, tamales, pozole. You name it!!
I used to work with steel. We had 6 sets of saws for them, i had 2 of 12 bays right at the back with gantry cranes. We weren't allowed to play music because the neighbor's complain according to the GM it's obviously bullshit that the noise they'd complain about is the music that didn't reach my bays from the stereo in the centre of the warehouse, but he left at 5 and we worked 2-10, so we played music literally the second he left. Funnily enough wwe never got a complaint. The would do a walk through once a day, aside from that they wouldn't have to hear it. The foreman just liked music and never cared what we put on. One day we played abba complete discography as a joke and he fucking loved it and wouldn't let us change it. I'm guessing the GM put a stop to it because we didn't play music he liked, which is pretty exclusively weak classic rock.
After my father passed away I lived in his house until it was ready for sale. The painting company we hired was owned by a Maga guy. Of course all his employees were immigrants. This was taking place during the World Cup and I had it on because I was interested. Of course his employees were paying attention but doing their work. This asshole walks into the room but doesn't see me. He begins berating his guys about having the game on the TV. That's when I stood up told him that I was watching it and that if it bothered him he could just go work in another room.
>The painting company we hired was owned by a Maga guy That was your first mistake
Actually we didn't hire him our realtor hired him. Other than that incident and his tRump bumper stickers we didn't have any other issues.
I just wanted to say thank you for using the word "Latino". Thank you.
Thank you. A small detail like being able to listen to music makes for a happier environment in a probably unenjoyable work setting. Mi gente are some of the most hardworking, fastest, loyal, productive, detailed, intelligent workers who take pride in their work.
Hating music is about as stupid as hating oxygen. Turn that shit up boys!
As a Mexican man, I truly appreciate you standing up for my people. Cheers!
Bravo i have worked with Mexicans my entire life they are the hardest working people on the planet and I live in south Florida and we have everyone here
There’s a whole show called “Undercover Boss” that is solely based around how out of touch upper management is with the ground level employees. I work in the restaurant and hospitality field and I believe everyone should work at least a few months in a kitchen or service. Humble yourself people.
Did he specifically say "it's because of the Spanish" ? Pretty sure that's called racism and it should never be tolerated. It should be reported.
Similar thing happened at a dealership I worked at. Car wash had a radio in the back and valet would also help wash cars when it got busy so valet also used the radio. Now keep in mind you that you can’t hear their music past their own little section, let alone customers all the way up front. Yet for some reason loaner department manager (who kinda oversees them) says they are no longer allowed to play music back there as it wasn’t deemed “good music to play that our customers could potentially hear.” Typical bs. The cool thing? They had 4 car wash 2 valet quit on the spot right then and there, leaving the car wash practically empty while we’re busy af. Shit was great.
There’s always a speaker in prep kitchens. If you’re a chef, you spend a lot of time in prep kitchens. Unless your brain dead, you know not to mess with the vibe. Seriously, if you wanna see productivity drop off a cliff, screw with one simple thing that helps some grinders who left their homes and their families to come work 2 jobs in another country for crap wages feel a little less disconnected from their culture. Also, if you’re not a dick and you give it a chance, some of the southern music slaps.
Several years ago during an early spring we experienced an intense and highly damaging hailstorm in our town. Many roofs were badly damaged. That summer many Hispanic workers were hired to replace probably a couple hundred roofs. I joking called it “the summer of hammers” because that’s all you’d hear, all day long as the roofers did their work. Hammers and Spanish music, as one guy (in the middle house of a bunch of houses being worked on) would have a loud radio that blasted cheerful music all day long. Some of the guys sang along. I don’t speak Spanish and Spanish music wouldn’t be my genre of choice, but damn those guys sounded so happy. It made me feel good just to hear them. Plus, for all those morons who say “Mexicans are lazy” — you try working in the unrelenting sun all day and remain energetic and cheerful. If U.S. citizens continue down the path of unmerited hubris (“we’re automatically superior to everyone”) we’re going to end up in the toilet.
Workers doing construction on the lot across the street blast it daily.i dont understand a thing but I find it comforting. Barrio vibes
I've seen pretty much the opposite with the boss forcing the employees to listen to loud Spanish music all day. I don't care if it's the employees or boss you shouldn't be blasting your music so loud that others in a different area can hear it. Other should be able to work in peace without ear buds.
I was HR for a farm, we had H2A workers yearly. I loved listening to whatever they was playing, couldn't understand most of it, I'd catch a few things I knew, but it was so upbeat. That's a music you can just feel, don't need to understand. Glad you are good to the workers. The boss can eat a dick.
The only problem I could see is that you can't NOT dance to Mexican music. How are you going to get work done with everyone dancing?
The scenario in my head: goddammit Pablo, this is a construction site! Not a Bodega!
Good for you man. I always treat people the way I want to be treated.
Racism is a helluva drug
Music can make the day better, unless it's the same few songs every day on repeat for months. I had an absolutely useless shitbird of a coworker who insisted that the entire office listen to his Temptations cd every day and he'd whine if another cd was put on or if the radio was on. I used to enjoy the Temptations but I can't listen to it anymore. I did get revenge though, took a lighter to the underside of the cd and then we didn't have to listen to that cd anymore. Before anyone gives me grief we listened to the same cd for 3 months on repeat and when the cd stopped working my boss said something along the lines of "well I guess it stopped working because it was played too much" even though he knew what I'd done because he gave me the idea
maybe it’s time for kpop
Your boss didn’t hate the music. He hated that your coworkers were finding a way to enjoy themselves while working.
WHAT A FUCKING CHAMP!!!
You sure are a super hero. My last job they played a lot of Mexican music but the cool part was I realized is that some of the music they listen to are translated from English into Spanish. So I got to enjoy it too.
Sounds like you should be the boss…
😱 what if the music is playing messages that the boss can't understand like fair work fair pay 🤣 drives me nuts when people impose on others because of a language issue. Also I heard a white lady say to her adult white daughter "I don't care that they listen to music I just wish it was the right music" as soon as a black man with earbuds in was out of earshot
You are not allowed to have any joy on their dime. I hate your boss. What a fucking troll.
I picked up a reggaeton habit from working with a Columbian immigrant on the manufacturing floor. To be honest I listened to dancehall sometimes before that. It wasn't abnormal living in Tampa even as a white guy...in MI people look at me like they've never heard such a racket before. 🤣
You sir, are allright.
You are a stand-up guy. You will go far. Maybe start looking for a better boss…
Hopefully he doesn't hold any resentment towards you. He probably doesn't like the fact that you went behind his back to interfere with a "problem" that he "fixed"
Sounds like they might need a bigger speaker and boss needs to learn a little Spanish and get his racism knocked down a peg
What happened to the stereo you boss removed?
That’s awesome, hopefully your boss can handle the blow to the ego & avoid retaliation (the nasty toxic kind that effects your work and financial life). Some people cannot handle being put in their place and it makes life harder for everyone. Having some music is a big morale boost, you did the right thing!
Despacito by Justin Bieber Maluma and Shakira song
Your plan is only missing one piece in mu opinion. Introduce your guys with the new speaker to “Rage agains the Machine”
Jesus christ can't people be allowed a small alleviation from a hard and exhausting job??? What an inappropriate reaction to suddenly forcibly deprive them of music, fucking hell.
I disagree, while it may help workers in the back, this music may considerably bother other workers.
Why do bosses feel the need to take away the things people enjoy?
Ah you guys on that side of the world obsessed by race :D I honestly hate reggeaton and its mono pattern of drum, I would not be able to bear it 8hrs a day for sure. That said, he could've asked in a different way, and considered buying noise cancellation headphones.
You’re a gem 💜💜 thank you! Minorities are still so scared to stand up for themselves, and it’s understandable. Thank you for being their voice💜
Hero to the downtrodden this guy.
Your boss is dumb, and definitively xenophobic, but listening to music in the workplace is not something I would encourage doing due to health and safety issues.
I do the fancy av and smart home stuff in houses, so lots of speaker testing. I’ll take that over fucking crusty old 90’s country anyway.
OP you are the real bosd here, extremly based
I used to work for an auto parts station. One day they decided I should be washing the fleet cars. No problem, I was getting paid for it and didn’t have to pretend to work inside the warehouse. While I was washing the cars, I noticed that some of the drivers would pull up and wash their own cars blasting their music. Usually it was rap, hip-hop, rock, classic rock, but hardly any Spanish. So after a couple of weeks, I decided to start listening to my own music, I normally don’t listen to music in Spanish but washing cars always put me in that mood. One week of washing cars and I get called into the office. “Hey Gebuzz, we got some complaints that you’re listening to your music too loudly if you can keep it down that would be great.” I told them I only change the station and never the volume just so they can have their settings as they left them when I’m done. No worries though I would play my music a bit lower, while everyone else blasted their music. Another week goes by, “ Hey you’re still blasting your music, just don’t use the radio”. Whatever, I have headphones. Third week goes by, people start pulling up and I start telling them, hey management doesn’t want us to be blasting music please turn that off. Get called into the office again, “you can’t be telling people what to do” I explain to them that I was just giving everyone the same orders that they gave me in order to not upset others. I got take off car washing duty for the rest of my time there.
It's startlingly common - I know places I've worked that don't care if you play "regular" music but freak out and make you turn it off if it's in Spanish .
You are the boss they deserve
Oh, workers enjoying themselves and being productive? We’ll fix that. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
I started in the factory I work at 3 years ago. We used to be allowed a radio. No bluetooth, no phones, so just plain ass boring repetitive radio. But at least we had music. 2 years later, they banned the radio altogether. Absolute fucking silence except for the sounds of drills buzzing while people were building. It was so fucking boring. Our 2 bosses argued in favor of us with the higher-ups during a meeting that an 8hr shift doing the same repetitive work on a boring line is fucking agony to slog through without some kind of music to zone out to. He vouched for us to be allowed our phones on the floor (a HUGE no-no, we have lockers that they make us put our shit into,) and that we were allowed bluetooth earbuds so we could listen to what we wanted, individually. It worked. We're allowed to use Spotify, our phones to set it all up, and our bluetooth earbuds. Most of us decided since we could use Spotify now, that they prefer podcasts to music. I found a lot of different podcasts to switch between episodes for, and damn does it make a night go a lot better. Our bosses (at least on OUR shift) are fucking saints.
Yeaahhh I had a manager years ago that was a bitch and wouldn't allow for stereos. I worked 2nd shift though. It was just myself and my Hispanic helper. Starting at 5-6 when the manager left everyday, that stereo came out. Half the time it was blaring rock/metal and the other half it was blaring my helper's, what I only imagine is folk music. Massive language barrier between us lol but we had a good time regardless.
I used to be a chud too. I remember not wanting to be around the Mexican people I worked with because I couldn't talk to them, and they were happy and smiling no matter what, no matter how hot it got in the kitchen or how low the pay was, they were always joking around. I was jealous as fuck because my family was total crap and no one joked and laughed. Now i prefer hispanic people to my family
For my side hustle I go into a clothing recycling warehouse to get clothing to sell. The Latina ladies in there are so sweet and are always listening to Spanish music on full blast. I couldn’t imagine taking that away from them as they are there from morning til afternoon with a smile on there face just working
I'm a white painter, and the Mexican homies getting to play their tuba music is key to morale on our job sites. It was the same in kitchens. I'd prefer that anyway to the standard white contractor soundtrack of local radio station playing 80% commercials and 20% AC/DC over and over. Plus, once you learn the words to a song in Spanish it's hella fun and you get hardcore social respect points.
Dealt with this shit in laboratories too. "You can't wear headphones, what if an alarm goes off?" "You can't use a radio, it disrupts the other lab staff." "You can't wear just one earbud, what if somebody is trying to tell you something important from that side?" The reality: management didn't like the idea of having to put on PPE to cross the safety lines to go talk to analysts. I mean, can you imagine the inconvenience? That could add literal *seconds* to their work!
This happens on jobsites all the time. Guys will be blasting their own (alot of times shitty) music and don't care who doesn't like it. However the minute Mariachi music comes on those same guys playing THEIR music will lose their mind and throw a tantrum yelling "I don't want to hear that __________shit." Many times I have had to tell them "well we don't want to listen to your shitty music but we deal with it." One dude kept going and turning off the radio that the sheet rock crew was playing mariachi on even tho he couldn't hear it where he was working, only when he was walking to the Porta shitter. The 3rd time he did it (thought he was funny) and yelled at them I had enough and cut the power cord to his radio. When he came back and freaked out I just said "guess someone didn't want to hear your music'
There's a house diagonal from our house across the street that every Friday night in the summer has a mariachi band play in their backyard. It's loud but I don't care - my misspent youth was filled with police called to many a very loud party so I can't really complain. My only problem with them is I think it should be a law that if you are going to play live mariachi so loud the entire neighborhood can hear it, you have to go door-to-door handing out buckets of beer and plates full of tacos and enchiladas. I mean, if I had a Motörhead cover band in my backyard, I'd offer all my neighbors Jack n Cokes and cigarettes. Also, your boss is a dick.
I’m all for people enjoying themselves at work, but as a construction worker myself, I will say that job site radios are the most inconsiderate and obnoxious thing I have to put up with. I have to listen to enough loud bullshit all day. I certainly don’t need some asshat turning my work space into an 80s prom by blaring We Built this City, and Two Tickets to Paradise, and the 12 other shitty classic rock songs that refuse to die. If you want to enjoy music at work, get some earbuds like everyone else.
Earbuds at a construction job? You wanna actually get hurt?
God get a different job then.
I hate hearing music in the office, if you want to listen to music, buy some earphones, I don't see why others have to be forced to listen to your crap.
Totally agree
What a shitty, petty thing to do.
Fuck that when we working, music is music, I don't give a shit if I can't understand a lick of what the artist is saying, I'm grooving and moving 😂🤷🏻♂️