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| - I had issues with this Whole Foods. They insisted on blasting the stun tunes so you couldn't even have a conversation. I encountered unfriendly, uncaring employees.
My last few visits have been so pleasant that I'm now a fan. I asked a worker about a product. He dropped what he was doing and led me to the location. At checkout, the cashier was busy catching up on gossip with a co-worker. When she saw me, she cut off her gab session and cheerfully came over to help me.
You like to feel appreciated. The store isn't crowded, so maybe the staff isn't harried. The stun tune system was set at a reasonable level.
Some mornings when you enter the store you are met with the wonderful aroma of meals in the making. You smell the coffee.
Other times, they clean the floor with noxious industrial-strength cleaners that wipe out the delicious aroma. You can't have everything.
Stun tunes: Readers may not be familiar with this term. Retailers use a loud soundtrack to stun shoppers senseless and bollix their judgement. The tunes are blasted through a low-quality, high-treble system to enhance the piercing screams. The tunes are scientifically selected for maximum annoyance. You're unnerved, irritable. You're a prudent, methodical shopper, but the stun tunes disrupt your concentration. Disoriented, you find yourself wandering the snack aisles in search of a quick reward for surviving the punishment.
You would think that stores would encourage a relaxing, enjoyable shopping experience, but you don't know retail psychology. They want to stress you out just short of going postal, whereupon you'll flee the store before you can reconsider your foolish impulse buys.
Casinos blast you with stun tunes to loosen your inhibitions against making crazy bets. Restaurants use stun tunes to create an atmosphere of excitement so you might splurge on a lavish meal, overpriced wine, inappropriate desserts. The tunes are so loud it's pointless trying to make pleasant dinner conversation. Just mutter a few obvious cliches and grunt when you hear them from others.
Stun tunes also help distract you from realizing that you've been suckered into having a meal in a subprime establishment. For example, Outback Steakhouse. I was given a gift card from them. What could I do? Against skepticism, I made an effort to spend my gift.
"Can you lower the volume a little?" They were blasting idiot pop tunes at full volume. We were the first diners in the door, so they weren't crowded.
No, I was informed, we can't lower the volume. That's the way we like it. It helps us turn tables faster.
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