conflict of interest

My office has a democratic way of determining what music we all listen to over the big speakers.

We installed a digital jukebox, placed everybody’s mp3s in it, and randomized thousands of songs to determine which gets played and in what order.

This has led to really unusual musical bedfellows, given our collective eclectic taste – the latest chill-out groove followed by “Pass The Duchie” , Canto-pop, the a cappella version of U2’s “Pride”, a Filipino love song and ending with a rousing rendition, in Japanese, of the theme song of “Mazinger Z”. Other days, we have a mix of lounge music, bossanova, Top40, grunge, old Broadway standards and Amy Grant (sigh). Today, we were alliterative: Britney, the Beach Boys and Black Box Recorder. I just cringe when we hit death metal, left behind on our servers by another exployee.

Democracy, I realize, does not mean everyone is happy (but you feel like a winner when your song gets played!).