Think of it this way: even if you love eggnog, drinking it eight hours a day for a month straight might make you want to barf. Some retail workers say the effect is the same when a narrow range of Christmas music is piped into their ears, brains, consciousness, souls on a near-constant basis each holiday season.
Elizabeth Ventura, a cashier at a deli called 'Essen, said this is the time of year that she pines for sonic variety like a lost Eden.
"It's Christmas music the whole day, 24/7, since before Thanksgiving," she said as customers placed salads on scales and flashed their debit cards to the insistent strains of an Electroclash remake of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
A music-streaming company called "Soundtrack Your Brand," which is owned by Spotify, has taken a stab at quantifying the cost of this Yuletide tune glut. Their survey, while not scientific, is based on responses from 2,000 retail workers in the U.S. and United Kingdom — one in four of whom say they are made "less festive" by the repetitive mix of music they hear on their shifts.
CEO Sars Olaf spoke to WNYC from Stockholm about the problem. "Retail is obviously challenged by Amazon and other digital companies and is trying to find its place," he said. "The Christmas season is retail's critical time of the year, when they should really be helping staff feel good and fired up ... and they do this to them."
This story includes Sars's suggestions for upgrading holiday playlists beyond Bublé and the Beeb, as well as sleigh rides to Grandma's house, figgy pudding, and a tragic snowman determined to experience all life has to offer until — spoiler alert — the sun rearranges his jolly, happy molecules into water.
In-house plug: WNYC is doing its bit to relieve the scourge of clichéd holiday playlists with this stream of standards by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Otis Redding, Frank Sinatra, and Wynton Marsalis.