Radio Silence
To continue an earlier tirade against inconsiderate behavior, this all-too-common affliction is by no means limited to individuals. Clueless businesses also dispense poor taste.
We’re bombarded from dawn to bedtime by advertising and it’s difficult to hide. I do whenever possible. I change the channel during commercials or flip the mute button. I haven’t listened to a full radio ad in years and find it truly insulting to be subjected to them against my will. Do businesses like Nikki’s strike advertising deals with certain radio stations (advertise with us and we’ll discount you X amount, but only if you play our station non-stop?) That’s a frightening and perhaps cynical notion. If untrue, then what is the restaurant thinking? Hair salons and garages are other habitual offenders, and some even feature blaring TVs. Television in general is depressing enough; daytime TV is positively brain dead.
Whatever happened to what my mother liked to call “blessed silence”? Or conversation? Or reading? Must we always be electronically entertained?
I couldn’t agree more. I was delighted to be invited to a new(ish) pub, the Goat & Compass in the revitalizing North Fourth district. A friend and I joined a half-dozen others for a pint after work and were having a great time, just yakking and yukking in general, amongst ourselves. Suddenly, the hitherto silent TVs in a couple of the room’s corners blared to life, the rest of the patrons apparently transformed into rabid Packer or Cowboy fans, and the pub morphed instantly into a sports bar.
I hate sports, don’t much like sports fans, and don’t set foot into sports bars. I really didn’t expect this mild-mannered pub to make that sudden shift into blaring announcers and screaming crowds, both on and offscreen - especially on a Thursday night, which I have now learned is a new NFL night.
I emailed the establishment later to explain why we wouldn’t be back, and the manager replied with astonishment that we didn’t like it, as clearly the sound was turned up by popular demand. I replied that we were obviously outnumbered by those who did, but still wanted to make sure he knew there were at least a few potential patrons who would never be back. I haven’t heard back from him, and so that is the end of that foray into a new world ….
And here I thought the semantics of “pub” were “We don’t have walls of loud televisions here”.
But maybe the right word for that is “extinct”?
I added the image and link to your post, Susan. Hope you don’t mind. Just testing whether comments allow such things, and they do. -Editor
Ian - no, I don’t mind, although I feel a little bad about slamming them by name, almost didn’t even include it. They can be a sports bar if they want to be - it just took me off guard when a really nice little low-key watering hole turned so quickly into a screamfest to be escaped. And it really disappointed me, which was why I wrote them to explain.
A visit to the website (which is where I went to contact them, and which enlightened me a little after the fact that sports is a key part of their persona) also reveals what a great place it looks like it could be, with the biergarten and the tables out on the sidewalk. We were absolutely charmed and talking about coming back when we could sit outside, which again made it all the more disappointing.
Maybe we will go back during the nice weather when we can sit outside, I hope during the 37 days or so each year that the NFL doesn’t play!
While the email I received was polite and not confrontational, in fact kind of sad, here is the excerpt that made clear to me that the TVs would play too often for me to return:
Not to rehash the whole exchange, but I did point out to him that his budget didn’t keep him from making me happy, as there is no charge to keep the sound off!
Totally agree, R., if it wasn’t clear from my earlier comment.
It’s like those advertisements they paste into the floor tiles in grocery stores now, or like the ads that stare at you while you whizz in bar bathrooms — You can start to absolutely freak out about how few spaces aren’t “sponsored”
Concerning the Goat & Compass, or any other establishment that displays 1 screen or 20, anywhere in the world: kill the sound and let your other senses take in the atmosphere. It’s offensive, and I’m sure anyone who appreciates that would be happy to take their business elsewhere, as Susan no doubt will.