Nobody likes a quiet office, let’s be honest. You don’t want people hearing you open your second packet of biscuits, or someone else slurping their coffee first thing in the morning. Luckily, there is music to cover all those sounds! Or at least make it less obvious that everyone heard. Doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be an office etiquette when it comes to music.
It’s a very touchy subject in the digital media team office. As we all have such a variety of music tastes it became difficult to please everyone. We tried the standard ‘Chilling’ Spotify playlists but everyone was falling asleep. We tried the ‘Uptempo Beats’ Apple Music playlist, but then we all wanted to go out instead.
What can we say? We’re an impressionable bunch. To appease the fussy tastes of everyone, we made a collaborative playlist that you can listen to yourself. It’s aptly named 22 Lever Street: Ground Floor Edition.
We soon figured out that everyone in the office fell into a category with their music taste. And we’ve decided to expose those people for their own office music etiquette. Points to anyone who can name and shame from the list.
The music snob with a playlist superiority complex.
They’re already rolling their eyes reading this. A person who believes they have a more refined taste in music and has much more knowledge in the field of music in general. Every song and genre is unacceptable unless the snob happens to like it, then it is absolute perfection. They feel obligated to enlighten everyone with unwelcome critiques and irrelevant musical trivia.
The one that asks ‘if you’ve heard this super hip underground band before?’ when it’s just an 80’s synth cover of a Top 10.
Guilty of calling their playlists ‘mixtapes’ just to add to their aesthetic. One of their songs will come on the playlist and it sounds a bit like white noise with a beat… but in a good way, somehow. They love adding songs that have obscure album names like; MM.. FOOD or OOFIE. Yes, they’re both real names. If you’re struggling to pick them out, we’d put money on them wearing Dickies and lots of rings.
The Carly Rae, Gaga and Ariana stans.
You’ll know which songs were added by them because whenever they come on, they announce that “this is an absolute BOP”. Regularly spotted quoting Katie Price, thwoorp-ing their hand fan and knowing the latest viral tweet well before it hits the explore page. High tempo beats mixed with lyrics that leave little to be desired are abound in this queen’s music library. Perfect if you feel like you need a bit of a pick-me-up, but sometimes their picks are a bit too sugary-sweet-OH-HONEY-yasss-queen-slay-me-mother.
The basic bitches.
Anyone caught adding (the bad) early noughties R and B, Eminem or Ed Sheeran falls under this category and we’ll hear nothing else about it. Often spotted heading to Deansgate for drinks on a Saturday, looking for ‘birds’ to take home. Sadly, their dance moves aren’t good enough to ever close to the deal. Extra points if they post bottles of Grey Goose or them fishing on their Instagram story.
The one who listens to ‘dad’ music and says things like ‘they don’t make them like they used to’ a lot.
Niel Diamond, Rod Stewart and U2 are all common offenders for the ‘Dad Listeners.’ They just like what they like, and you can’t knock them for that. They’ll be the only one in the office singing along while everyone else shifts glances.
The person who never grew out of their pop-punk phase.
There are a couple of us guilty of falling under this category in the dmt office. There are more All Time Low, Paramore and Fall Out Boy songs than we’re proud of in the 22 Lever Street communal playlist. All the music that they sang in their bedrooms during the teen years. Probably still do it now, not that they’d ever admit to it.
The ex-raver.
Their name on Facebook probably used to be something like First Name ‘DnB’ Surname. If you go onto their Instagram account there will be videos of them badly mixing songs together at the weekends. For some reason they like to shout ‘Woi-oiii’ a lot, we’re not sure why.
We’re just really glad there aren’t any k-pop fans in the office. If you fancy having a chat about office etiquette, get in touch, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram 💌
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