Office Rat-A-Tat: Music in the Office?

Years ago I worked in a cubicle next to a woman who played gospels tunes at a ridiculous volume on her computer all the day long. After complaining to mid-level management, I was moved to a different bank of cubicles, only to discover that my new neighbor not only kept a radio on her desk playing from morning to night, she also sang along. Oh joy.

And as annoying as her voice was (it had the tessitura and rapture of a power drill), even more annoying was the fact that I'd find my emails and memos littered with whatever lyric she was singing, as if they'd somehow worked their way into my consciousness and forced themselves out through my fingers, rather than my tapping toe or vox box.

A memorandum to our facility manager on the installation of a new security system in the server room wound up going something like this:

Frank, Please be advised that our team has located the east bay corridor track and tagged it with proper I.D. for the scheduled installation on Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee that Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Eventually, I moved out of cubicle city and landed a job with a real office and a door that kept the locals' soundtrack out of my life. And, yes, I'll admit it, ever since, I do find myself now and then tuning into the radio online, or popping in a CD on the job, with my door closed, of course.

At my wife's architecture firm, everyone listens to music at his/her computer. They even have iTunes on a common server so they can listen to each other's music. But they're all into big, expensive headphones that keep the music in their own, respective ears. And if any one starts singing along, that person is blindfolded and shot between the eyes. (Well, at least in theory.)

My question to you all is: Is it okay to play music in the office? If so, what music??? Which tunes enable you to get through your difficult days with grace and efficiency?

RPPRs (Related Past Posts that ROCKED!) Though they weren't official Office Rat-a-Tat posts, they might as well have been: Higgins' wonderful post a couple weeks back on Annoying Office Interruptions and Ransom's totally clever post on Work Incentives. Check "˜em out if you missed "˜em.

And check out all the official past Office Rat-A-Tats here>>