What do you listen to while you work?
I listen to the sound of a conveyor belt, it’s machination thrumming in the background, moving the freight we have to sort through at work. It often squeals, like agitated birds, whenever the belt is overloaded with more weight than it can move and abruptly halts. It resumes once we’re able to reduce the weight on the conveyor belt down, then we resume work too.
Music had been banned in the warehouse; I don’t know why, though it’s a blessing and a curse, because we used to have someone repeat the same three Māoli songs: “Shoot Down”, “I Would Look Good on You”, and “Every Night Every Morning.”
It got to the point where, if I heard either of those songs, I would get a visceral reaction: a brick dropping in my stomach, my body would shudder with anger and irritation, and I would use ear plugs to reduce listening to those songs. I would prefer giving in to hitting my head against the wall than listen to these songs. It’s gotten better, I don’t react as strongly as before, and I’ve grown numb instead. The songs start playing, no reaction, though I still would change it to something else.
Somehow, along the way, we weren’t allowed to play music, even songs most of us grew up listening to. So, my coworkers and I have conversations, have our own little karaoke sessions, and do what we can to stave off boredom at work.
