CULTURAL CONFLICT - Or mall music madness!

Anyone else bothered by the music played in stores or malls?

Have you noticed it's not the music you would choose if you were in charge? Have you noticed how often the genre doesn't exactly track with the paying customers? Have you noticed it's a rare business where you feel like finding the manager to thank him?

I'm sure it fits perfectly the whacky-haired, complexion-challenged, metal-pierced, minimum-waged post-pubescent clerk the manager or owner pawned music control off to; but seriously, when the receipts are tallied at the end of the day, what percentage of them were generated by his peers?

Last summer we went to Alaska for a visit with my older sister and during a shopping trip in Anchorage we visited a local shop that was so pleasant to shop in; I told my wife the music made shopping there enjoyable. Someone had taken great care in selecting music that was enjoyable without being a distinctive genre. There were people of all ages in the store, even little kids, and it was enjoyable.

I don't consider rap music, but I don't care if others do ... and I won't deny them the right to listen to it. But it's offensive to me to be forced to listen to it while I'm tool shopping at Home Depot. Likewise, to be forced to listen to hip-hop while eating breakfast at Denny's.

Have these stores lost their collective minds? Have they no sense of their customer base?