Announcements over the tannoy

[Tarser]

Today, in a supermarket, there were several announcements over a tannoy. I've heard these many times in all parts of the country and they are all identical in the utterly absurd way the person speaks. The announcement immediately climbs to a very high note and stays on that note for nearly the whole announcement and then drops alarmingly to a pitch several octaves lower to finish. It suddenly struck me as absurd, incomprehensible and needing an explanation. So come on, anyone from a supermarket, Why do you do it? Are you trained to speak like this? Do you think it sounds 'efficient' and professional? Or is the whole point to sound ridiculous? Is there a purpose behind it or is it just one of those incomprehensible things like why footballers spit and rugby players don't?

[tonyav]

To get your attention.

[Suetheramble]

....and why do mothers always pack they children into those car seats on the side the road is on when the pavement side is safer all round?
Why do folk always do a polite little silly run when you let them cross over in front of your car?
Why do cashiers in supermarkets say thank you for waiting when I didn't have a choice I would prefer sorry to have kept you waiting.
...think I am having a bad hair day!!

[spudqueen]

I'd be careful about using the word Tannoy unless you know that it is an actual Tannoy. In the immediate aftermath of the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster there was a letter in one of the national newspapers from Tannoy Ltd complaining that people had been reporting about messages spoken over the Tannoy system on the ship, when in fact it was not a Tannoy system, but some other public address system. So be warned, even if people die Tannoy are not bothered, just as long as you don't associate their name with it when in fact it was someone elses public address system that was in place.

[Tarser]

Interesting and revealing, Spudqueen. I fell into the Hoover Vs Vacuum cleaner trap and assumed that they were the same thing - such is the power of a brand name. But whatever the PA system, come on you supermarket workers, why do you speak in that daft voice? I'm willing to bet that you are instructed to speak in that way, as you all do it in the same way. The question is, WHY? It sounds ridiculous and it doesn't make the message clearer.

[kinell]

i always have a right chuckle in my local tesco when the tills queues are backing up a bit....
'will all multi-skillers report to the till manager',

i have this vision of a juggler balancing a ball on his head with a hula-hoop on the go whilst riding a monocycle!

[Tarser]

Ha! Ha! 'Multi-skillers'...another example of absurdity in our culture. We need to reveal these daft things. In Waitrose, the workers behind the till are called 'partners'. How nice! I doubt that they are paid anything like the 'partners' in the board room - still, at least they have a nice word for the job.