Austria: A Cacophony of Carols

As the Yuletide season gets under way, shoppers from Bonn to Boston to Buenos Aires can already hear carols resounding through stores. Some salesclerks, however, may find the ceaseless piped-in tunes too much of a good thing. In Linz, Austria, suffering department-store workers have sought their union’s help. “It’s a clear case of psychoterror,” said Eduard Anger, president of the Union of Employees in Private Industry. Relentless repetition of standards like Jingle Bells can cause headaches and leave listeners dizzy, Anger says. He is asking stores to cut some of the caroling, raising clerks’ hopes for more silence and less Silent Night.