Aural assault?

Have you noticed how much "music" is pumped into public areas now days? It has permiated almost every retail outlet, Doctor and Dentist office. Possibly your office at work, restaurants, even some gas stations. It used to be confined to elevators but it has spilled out and now lives like a parasite in our aural consciousness.

It usually comes shooting down from some round metal grill. It is not good, they play horrible, awfull stuff, Sometimes at volume levels that make me cringe. Many Grocery stores play it through the intercom, not ment for music and many times the speakers are faulty or dammaged.
I was in a restaurant ( a good restaurant ),yesterday that had one of them almost directly above our heads and it sounded like the woofer surround had deteriorated, i was like listening to sand paper across a chalk board. No one seemed to notice. I know if I were working there I would turn the music off immediatly. Many times at restaurants I have asked them to turn the music down. By the way if you owned, say a Chinese restaurant, would you play country western music?
Ironically the place that bothers me the most is Wherehouse Records. They all seem to have these cheap wall mounted speakers that screem hot electrical current directly into my eardrum , distortion, with not a hint of bass. I would think.."want to sell music? Make it sound good"!
Since getting more involved in audio I have become acutely more aware of the noise. Do I have to resort to this??

complementary service to each customer
sometimes silence is the best music