Why is the music so loud at Starbucks? It’s a coffeehouse, not a nightclub!
More than once I’ve nicely asked a Starbucks employee to lower the music. Those few times, they were personable and lowered it enough for me to detect a difference.
People go to Starbucks for their beverages, not to rock to loud music. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see people at the coffeehouse busy with their laptops, wearing a headset.
Recently it happened again: The music was the loudest I’d ever heard at a coffeehouse.
What I noticed is that the coffeehouse actually has several speakers fastened to the walls. Speakers! Who’d ever think that one day, a coffeehouse would have speakers on the wall?!
It was uncomfortably loud, so I approached the counter where several employees were.
The reason I visit Starbucks is because I’m a direct support provider for a special needs woman who loves Starbucks beverages.
I’m finding myself sitting inside the popular coffeehouse at least once a week.
So I stand at the counter; the woman taking orders for the drive-through, plus a woman at the counter, noticed me and kind of at the same time asked if they could help me.
The one for the drive-through was further back and had on her headset, plus a friendly face. The one closer up was stoic. I made the mistake of choosing to speak to the one closer up.
I asked if she could lower the music. For the first time, I got pushback from a Starbucks employee about this issue, and it surprised me.
She replied rather coldly, “It’s not loud.” In a microsecond I concluded she had hearing loss – her ears were getting maybe 80% of the volume, while my ears were getting 100%.
I said, “Yes it is; this is the loudest I’ve ever heard it…” Man I gave her affirming eye contact; how dare she be so impersonal?
The block of ice replied, “I’ll lower it only a little bit.”
Now, never ever, has a Starbucks employee responded this way to me. And no, I had not asked rudely. It was more matter-of-factly, the kind of voice you use when asking someone to do a favor.
I returned to my seat. There was no change in the volume. I kept looking at this employee, imprinting her face in my mind so that I could accurately describe her to the manager should I decide to complain over the phone.
Call me a Karen if you will. But since when did Starbucks become a nightclub? Furthermore, there was only one other customer, besides me and my client, inside at the time.
So it’s not as though the music had to be loud to be heard over 10 conversations going at once.
But then I decided to give it another try after spotting an employee come out of nowhere to work in the corner; she was older and had a manager look about her.
I asked if she was a manager; she said no. I asked if she could lower the volume. She said she would but I sensed vague reluctance, though not rudeness.
At my seat once more, I heard only a subtle difference. The volume was still loud.
At 63, I still have better hearing than people half my age, as far as being able to hear soft or subtle sounds, as well as sound from a distance. This was confirmed with a hearing test not too long ago, though I’ve lost high frequency hearing.
But we don’t need high frequency hearing to have “good hearing” in day to day life. We only need to be able to hear spoken words in a noisy room or from across the room, or hear a siren in the distance when driving, etc. I can always hear a car door shut, from anywhere inside my house, when I’m expecting a service person.
For decades I’ve been vigilant about protecting my ears, and it’s paid off. I’m far from needing hearing aids and can decipher speech on the TV with the same volume setting that I was using at least 10 years ago when I got my first flat-screen TV.
At least three of my siblings have confirmed hearing loss; two wear hearing aids. This is because they never took measures to protect their hearing (earplugs and noise cancelling headphones, or plugging their ears during unexpected loud noise).
By the time my father was my age, he had hearing loss in the normal range of frequency. So much of impaired hearing has to do with years of exposure to loudness without protection.
So I’m at the table, and noticed that the music was then turned down to an acceptable level.
A woman approached and asked us if everything was alright; I recognized her as one of the women I had seen outside in a meeting with several other employees.
I asked if she was the manager; she said yes. I mentioned that the music had been too loud, but that it was fine now.
She said she just wanted to make sure everything was alright, but that the volume at that point was the lowest it could be allowed to go.
Again I said it was fine at that point, and then I added with a sweet smile, “After all, this is a coffeehouse, not a nightclub!”
What’s ironic is that it’s pretty much guaranteed that the sour little pill of an employee behind the counter won’t be there next time I and my client visit that location. The turnover rate is obvious.
However, I told the client, “We’re not coming to this Starbucks again. The other ones don’t play the music this loud.”
She was perfectly okay with that; there are Starbucks everywhere.
But shame on the coffeehouse giant. Thirty years ago, it would’ve been unthinkable to have booming music inside a coffeehouse. Just ridiculous.
When that block of ice is my age, she’ll be wearing hearing aids. And that will be her fault.
