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Let Me Keep my Earbuds In


I always listen to music when I do any kind of work. Whether it is homework, office work, or cleaning the house, music keeps me present, zoned in and focused on the task at hand. A lot of people I know are the same way. Sometimes you need background noise. There are people who can’t sleep a wink without some white noise to get them through the night. For me and the people like me, music is what helps us be at our most productive. We can work without music but we don’t want to. It motivates and inspires us to keep working until the job is done.

In contrast, I’ve met many people who cannot understand how someone can function that way; they need complete silence to work. That’s fine. Whatever works for you, man. I can see it being a distraction for some people. Silence works for you, music works for me. But there are some people who cannot wrap their minds around it and it is infuriating.

Especially when they are my superiors. Especially when they mock me for it.

At my first two places of employment, music was looked down upon. You can’t be focus on your work if there is anything else going on (lies). However, these same people worked with TVs constantly blasting in their offices. Is that not the same thing? In both these jobs I was able to get away with listening to my YouTube Mixtape. My work spoke for itself; the music wasn’t distracting me. Still, it did not save me from the passing comments and sneers, ugh millennials. Sorry I can’t change the era I was born in…God forbid I can multi-task…Geez.

I am currently sitting at my new job waiting to be trained. Sitting in the silence, writing this blog (after completing all my required reading and paperwork, of course), wishing I could listen to some form of sound besides people typing. Send me those compliances videos I need to watch? I’ll listen to those. Any sort of information video for me? Anything at all?

Truth be told, I probably can listen to music right now, but I won’t.

From being an employee here for 10 hours, I can genuinely say I like it. Everyone I’ve met so far has been awesome. I work in a collaborative, social environment where I can actually decorate my cubical (Don’t get me started on the Anime War of 2018)! There are some people in the office already that have their music going while they work. I think I can be truly productive here! I can see myself now, creating my zip pages, tackling the workload I have for the day, listening to music and eating a healthy snack. Let’s start my one-way ride to office productivity!

But the last thing I want to do is make a bad impression on my second day of work. Again, I’ve been an employee here for about 10 hours. To get caught listening to music or even worse, gasp, playing a video would be the last thing I need. I don’t want my assumptions about my workplace to be the end of me. So I will sit patiently in my deafening silence waiting for instruction. Someone will teach me how to do my job. Soon. I hope.

But, back to the point. Maybe I am a millennial. Maybe I do share some of the horrid, horrid traits my generation possesses (sarcasm). Maybe I like listening to music while I do my job. But look at my work. Look at my grades. It obviously works for me and a lot of people. Please be more open and accepting about it. Let me keep my earbuds in.

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