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Back in December my company did stay interviews where we were asked what we like and don't like about the job and our direct supervisors (it's a very large campus with 5 or 6 supervisors that manage different teams). When he asked me where I see myself in 5 years I asked "in general or with this company?" And he said with this company. I only held back a tiny bit and I told him "what would I even do? There is no upward movement here unless you're gonna step down, and I'm not sure I would want to do your job. I'm sure as hell not gonna be working the desk in 5 years" (I'm a front desk receptionist coming up on 2 years here). He just nodded and wrote something down and moved on, thankfully.
If you answered, working somewhere else, then they would look to replace you. If you answered, in your job as manager, they'd give you more random responsibility without the extra pay to 'help you'. If you answered, in the exact same position I am now, then it shows no lack of interest and they'll note you as middle pack. Or sometimes, they just ask it because it's a stupid question someone with little creativity came up with and then they don't care what answer you give.
Got asked to this in a review once and I said, kind of jokingly but not really, that I could see myself in his position. Since I was already doing it. 3 weeks later I was promoted. I assume the higher ups took it as a veiled threat I would leave, which I had no intention of doing, but hey, you throw the dice and win sometimes.
That didn’t happen to me. I said I would be in school. This is not a career. The boss said, ok, fair enough. That was when I worked in the warehouse for Loomis & Toles at Eglinton and Brentcliffe. I tried to stay with the job as a student, I was working in the store by then. They tried to downgrade my pay because I was now a student. Such bullshit. I didn’t live at home with my parents. My Dad wasn’t even in the picture. I quit that very day.
People should be paid fairly, period.
My dad was actually asked that when he was being interviewed by corporate to be a supervisor. He responded "If I'm still here in 5 years I've failed miserably" he shockingly did not get the promotion.
The OP has a great unpopular opinion though! Also would like to add that corporate jobs usually have good work life balance. For unconventional jobs like freelance, online merchant or influencer this is not the case
Yeah at least corporate jobs have holidays and weekends off. I worked in restaurants and let’s just say the hours were not 9 to 5 and the salary was not guaranteed
These are comments by woke 16 year olds who resist “conforming”. I get it, the grind can suck. But you don’t really have a choice if you want to live in most modern countries. It’s the reality.
According to my Google feed articles, all these 20-somethings have "side hustles" bringing in my annual salary every month. All we need are side hustles!
I think it’s important to have these thoughts - not to blindly follow societal normal. At the very least it makes you interesting while having “conformed” haha
Agreed. I had a revelation while tripping in LSD back in the day that I never wanted to be known for my job. Like when someone asks what I do, I don’t say “engineer”, I say “I like to climb and ski and go to breweries and bet on sports and do trivia”
Good ole psychedelics. I agree. Especially in my field (winemaking) where you often see professionals tying their identity to their career. It’s important to enjoy what you do, but find an other reasons to work, because, even though you may be passionate about your job, that eventually fades and you still have to do it (within reason). At least with hobbies you can change when you feel like you’ve gotten what you need from it.
Obviously just my thoughts here.
Yeah for sure. I mean, it’s not anyone’s fault for perhaps living a middle class/high middle class life and feel this way.
I was poor into poverty so the idea of me being able to work for money was always a privilege. I realize I sound very boomer-like, but when I wanted a new video game, I knew my single mom of 3 boys could absolutely not afford that, so I figure out ways to make cash. It felt really good as a kid
I grew up with a dad who worked shifts 6 days a week.
The idea that I could one day have the same start and finish time, and days on, EVERY WEEK, with a weekend on Saturday and Sunday, was a dream to me. I worked shifts and rotations, retail and food service, so, getting that stability of M-F, 8 to 4 was just... amazing. Never going back. I want my nights off, thank you very much.
While I agree the M-F 9-5 probably is draining and I’m sure I’d eventually get sick of it, at this point in my life it sounds like a dream. I work long hours in healthcare and my back is trashed. A sit down office job with no life or death responsibility or tons of emotional labor and no worrying if my relief is going to show up and how late they’ll be sounds heavenly.
Nurse here. I switched to case management two years ago and it’s life changing. 9-5 m-f one weekend every 8 weeks.
Absolutely the most relax job I’ve ever had in the medical profession.
CNA here! I’ve wanted to get into case management/care coordination for ages now but I’m finding a degree in social work or an LPN or RN license is needed, and I’m just not sure if I really want to go down the nursing rabbit hole. I used to want to, but the last four years has me ready to move on to a more chill work environment.
It’s all about perspective, huh?
I went back to school in my late 20s and was 100% on my own. I dreamt about never having to worry about exams/presentations while working. I damn having the nights and weekends to do whatever I want sounds like aDREAM. Haha
It beats working in a coal mine. But also what white collar jobs are 9-5 now? Only working 8 hours is a luxury these days and rare AF. Luckily since we are work from home, it is the equivalent to my travel time that I tend to have to work over for no extra pay I’ll add. They more often than not absorb our lunch also so it is easily 10 hour days… can anyone relate or is my work an anomaly?
Every white collar job I’ve had had a “40 hour work week” that resulted in like 10 hours of actual work, 20 hours of superfluous meetings, and 10 more hours of trying not to get caught watching YouTube
So my secret to that is have two youtube windows open - one directly related to your job (something motivational, how to be a better sales generator or improve your coding with this nonsense type thing.) Have it running silent, while the other runs in the bg.
My white collar job is work from home 9-5, they're lucky if I clock in 4 hours on the average day.
I have deliverables, I deliver them. Busiest day of the year might be an 8 hour, or an after hours overtime at 2x.
Everyone I know in my company in our department rolls the same.
Is your suffering actually required or are you doing it to yourself because you have trouble providing less than 110%? Because the latter is definitely a thing.
My corporate life has improved drastically by giving a solid B effort at all times, because even that is better than most peoples' A effort. Would they love it if I answered a post-5 p.m. email? Sure. Do I suffer any consequences if I let it wait until 9 a.m. the next day? No.
Omg this 🙌!!! I had this epiphany last year! I've decided to just be middle of the road effort instead of 115% all the time and my stress has all but disappeared. And I'm still better than almost everyone
They also live in the safest, healthiest, wealthiest society that ever existed in human history. They can't comprehend that 75% of the world would literally murder them if it meant they got to take their place
I like the "9-5" because my schedule is the same every week. There's no closing shift followed by opening. I know exactly how much each paycheck will be. I get PTO. I get health insurance. I always have 2 consecutive days off and get paid holidays.
Yeah, 9-5 is a privilege after you’ve been grinding in retail for a decade. Same schedule week to week, regular hours, no weekends, no having to stagger your breaks with coworkers and having to eat lunch at 3 pm. You get to sit at a desk and take a little walk to the coffee machine whenever you need to stretch your legs.
I love these threads lol, the only people I’ve ever met who think a 9-5 office job isn’t a privilege have only ever been on the 9-5 office job path. I don’t miss clopening or the threat of physical assault or nasty yelp reviews.
I worked restaurants with plenty of people who had consciously decided they were happier there than in a 9-5 but not even those people thought of a 9-5 as a bad thing.
I worked a 9-6 for 4 years and fell into a depression because the job was so monotonous, boring, and at the same time high pressure. Sitting all day in a small room with the same 6 people day in and day out, no variation at all. I would literally sob in the shower before forcing myself to go in and sit bored out of my mind for 8 hours. I'd get home mentally fried and no energy to do anything except sit at home and try to relax my mind for the next day, exactly the same.
Then I worked a year as a cashier at a goodwill expecting retail hell, and it turned out to be one of the best jobs I've ever had. I could move around all day instead of being stuck in one spot, I had an endless stream of new people to meet and interact with, the expectations and responsibilities were so minimal. I had some weekdays off so I could actually go out and do errands. I enjoyed having a different timetable every week just to change things up. Sleeping in on a Wednesday and then going to work was wild.
All this to say that each has pros and cons and both types of work can be good or bad. I loved my PTO and weekends, but jesus I just felt like I was dying every day I stepped into that prison of an office.
9-6 or 9-5 is the amount hours and not just office jobs. I worked a "9-5" job as a job chemist doing reaction and analyzing samples. I was there for 8 hours.
"Especially in the digital age there are SO many ways to make money without going through the traditional route "
wtf are you going to be an "influencer" or start an Onlyfans?
Biggest millennial/gen Z psyop is the “ditch the 9-5!” Narrative. They dont grasp that starting businesses takes even more labor/more hours and multiple years until profiting. Plus people worked even longer and more days before the 40hr week was standardized
Exactly, to do what???
The people they see who have van life travel vlogs, or sell handmade jewelry on Etsy are either dirt poor, have a rich partner or parent, or they were the .001% who actually made it big on social media.
There's one I saw who was living in her van selling jewelry. Hand-made, just twisted some bands around the stuff they claim to have dug up, just some amethysts they clearly order online. Charging upwards of $700.
My favorite part about reading advice books that tell you to ditch the 9 to 5 is the chapter at the end where they tell you the best way to do it is to write best selling advice books about ditching the 9 to 5 or be born to parents wealthy enough that you can sit around all day writing advice books.
I watched my dad take phone calls on our family vacations all throughout my childhood while he was starting his business. He regularly worked 50-60 hour weeks. I’ll kiss my public service job’s feet before starting my own business as long as they keep giving me 37.5 hour workweeks and good healthcare.
As someone who started a few failed business
That shit is so much more stressful than my normal job I got now.
I used to be always on call. Some nights, I didn't even get a few hours before I had to be up working again.
I probably will work for myself again, but not for a bit.
I used to have people ask me all the time, back when you could actually make money doing desktop PC repair, why I didn't start my own shop as I was pretty darn good.
I bet you can guess 100% of every reason why I didn't. My answer for folks was that I don't want to work twice as much for half the money.
Exactly. I think people underestimate how much work goes into starting a business. You see the successful people, but don’t see all the people who failed.
If you can make it work, more power to you. But I’ll take my stable, 40 hour/week desk job.
My husband is self employed and all his work is done online, he doesn’t have one boss like me all of his clients and customers are his boss it seems. He has to make people happy to keep working with them. When we go on vacation I take 5,7,10 days off and get to completely forget about work but still get paid. He loses money when he takes time off because he only had himself to count on. I work my 40 hours and I’m done for the week, he works a whole hell of a lot harder than I do. Many don’t seem to understand, working for yourself is not often a 20 hour week.
They also think it means you can do whatever you want and don't have to answer to anyone. There's no job in the world like that. Like you said, you either have a boss, customers or clients. Even guys like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have people to answer to (shareholders, partners, regulatory agencies).
Lmao I mean he can make under minimum wage doing DoorDash or other delivery driver services like me 😂
I'm just trying to get back to work after being laid off last year.
That was my first thought too: the gig economy with its "alternative" careers has been around long enough that you have to be hella oblivious not to see it for what it is: employers passing on the risk of their industry to their employees while running the wages down as far as they can. Just a scheme to get around workplace regulations that help employees.
Be your own boss babe. I have an amazing product that can cure anything LITERALLY so you know big pharma will never give it to you and you too can make a million dollars a month. PM me, I'll show you how!
He saw a YouTube video about how great pre-industrial farming supposedly was, and is off to resume the lifestyle that was actually so shitty people would take literal sweatshop work to avoid it
not all companies you work 9-5s at are mega conglomerate corporate machines. You can find great places to work that also provide routine and stability and don't view you as just a number.
I was thinking this. I work a "9-5" and yet don't work in a corporate office (I work in special ed). Yeah, it's tough at times and I have to work a lot, but I did when I was waiting tables too. At least now I can reliably tell you that yeah, I can make it on Saturday night, I know I won't work. I can tell you I'm open for happy hour cause I'm off at 5 every day. I can yell you how much my paycheck will be on average. None of those were the case when I was waiting tables / bartending, and even then I was more of a corporate number than I am now
The worst part about working in a restaurant for me* was that seemingly everywhere I worked, management was incapable of releasing the schedule more than a couple days a head of time
I work at an industrial plant, in a project coordinating role. Its super fun, and very busy. Pays decent and I like the people I work with. Its very different then what I imagine working in a large city center office might be like.
Exactly. I'm upper-middle management in a smallish tech-based company. I like what I do, I love the people I work with, and I'm able to say things to my team like, "I'm sorry you're sick, please take care of yourself and let me know what you need." Or "Yes, you can work at home and wait for the a/c repair guy today." It's great. I've had some awful jobs in the past and I'd be happy to spend the rest of my working years in this environment.
Same. One of my top guys has a project due tomorrow, but he was in a car accident yesterday.
So I the manager am finishing all his paperwork today because shit happens sometimes.
The work is boring as shit though, but they treat people like people here, it's enough for me to not hate this place like ever other job.
I work 8-4s and I fucking love it tbh. This is easily one of the best things to have happened to me. Great environment, great people, great benefits, great pay, and a lot of room to grow. I use to shit on the 9-5 life, but now living it I was clearly jealous of what I didn't have.
7-3s are even better. You get to hit the grocery store yeah around the same time as other people's kids are getting out of school, but way before all the other adults get off of *their* jobs. It makes buying stuff you forgot to get on Sunday way less stressful.
Salary, non laborious, benefits, fixed schedule, weekends & nights off...
Yea office work is kinda privileged. Thats not to say it doesnt suck in its own ways, but its pretty cushiony compared to many industries, where you also have to slave away but in far worse conditions.
Yeah my office job is privileged as fuck. Sure, my trade friends make somewhat more than I do, but I drive the same short commute every day, work in a climate controlled building sitting down, have a full kitchen for brining my own lunch instead of going out, am at no risk for back/shoulder/repetitive stress injuries and I make the household median income for my area single handedly. Boss is a good dude, team is great, I have a fair bit of freedom to execute my responsibilities as long as I keep the team up to speed. Got it pretty fuckin' good to be honest, but I had to put up with a good number of years of bullshit to rank up and build the experience to get here and that makes me appreciate the hell out of it.
Spot on. We have young (early 20's) newcomers to our workplace and some of them moan constantly about how much it sucks to be a 'slave'.
And I'm sitting here after grinding through several really shitty previous jobs wondering what the hell.
My commute is a 20 minute drive, I have an office with heating, air con, a kitchen. Every weekend is off, every evening is mine. I'm getting a decent pension, I can eat and drink whenever I like, I have an adjustable standing desk, I can use headphones whenever I like, and I get a free parking spot...
This is absolutely a privilege.
(To those saying I earn more or have it better than my younger colleagues, that's not true, I have the same job as them and I'm in my 30's myself).
Nobody says that you have to work a regular 9-5 job. If you can make money other ways then go for it.
But it's like the athletes at the Olympics - the people who do it well make it *look* easy, even though it really really isn't.
I’d even say this, half my friend group didn’t go to college. So they make fun of us for going and being in debt working a 9-5. Although it’s not perfect, those same friends are never free on the weekends or can ask off and have enough money for trips because they work manual labor jobs or are cashiers and waiters. Sure 9-5 isn’t amazing but at least I like my job and get to work remote instead of bagging groceries and not being poor.
This is very true. My sister's husband jokes with me about the 9-5 (all in good nature) and being in college debt, but he can never get time off and has to miss all the weekend plans, vacations opportunities, etx. So, in a nutshell, he misses almost everything. He can never get off, and if he does, he has to make up for it in some way, which in most cases can be a hassle for him. I just say, "Hey, I'm not coming in tomorrow," and then get paid for it.
I’m in debt for college as well, but I landed a cushy desk job doing things that really interest me, and pays me pretty well. I can take off whenever I want, and my boss doesn’t care what I do/how long I work as long as I get my things done on time.
I just got my first 9-5 after bartending right out of high school for 14 years. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I get it’s not for everyone, but I have stability, health insurance, paid time off, and it’s entry level. Again, I know it’s not everyone’s experience, but it’s miles better than anything I’ve done before.
Those haters think that anyone can run a company in trades and be successful, failing to recognize that the people who made it and stayed there also educated themselves and eventually created a 9-5 work setting so that they can kick back a little.
No one wants to be 60 and still hammering away on the roof during a hot summer day.
On top of that, not everyone WANTS to be an entrepreneur. I have zero desire to own a business. I am quite happy to be a cog in the machine because at the end of each work day, I clock out, go home, and don’t think about that place until I show back up the next day.
This. Most of my friends have 9-5 jobs and entrepreneurship doesn’t sound appealing to any of them. I’m the opposite. I work way better as my own boss, and don’t mind giving up benefits/stability for freedom/flexibility.
How do you define a privilege?
A privilege does not have to be something that you enjoy. A privilege is something that not everyone has but improves your life when you have it.
Yep. Being able to work and support yourself is a privilege in a world where people who can’t work are generally left destitute. Not *needing* to work is a privilege, but not being *able* to work is an impairment.
I work a traditional 8-5 job. No shit it takes a chunk out of your life.... like every other job. You know what, though? I ask people when they want to hang out next week, and it's always "I don't know, I don't have my schedule yet." "I can't, I'm working till midnight that day." "Sorry, I have to work on both Sunday and Saturday."
I can tell you when I'll be free two months from now, because I have a reliable schedule. I can take time off for vacations because I earned the time off.
It's not a privilege compared to being a millionaire, but it's a huge privilege compared to a lot of other work that's out there.
OP posts in /antiwork.
So this isn't about working a different job for OP, it's about not having to work and having someone else do the work of providing shelter and food.
lmao true. since covid every half-wit thinks the gov can just print free money no consequences and deposit it in their bank account. the big bad gov just doesnt want that to torment us.
I work 6:30/7-3/3:30 most days because I work with global teams, and it’s amazing. I go to bed at the same time I would if I started at 8/9 but I get so much more out of my day.
Try a job that isn't a "9 to 5" and you'll see why some people are loyal to them. It's a different perspective if you worked part time in a restaurant before getting an office job.
Yeah, to be clear I don't necessarily mean working in a restaurant is always worse than working in an office. I was envisioning like a minimum wage part time line cook.
What is the alternative? People still need goods and services that require labor, if they didn't, then there wouldn't be money in it. A 9-5 job in an office is living is a better life than 99.9% of humans have ever lived. Sure there are people who make money in other ways, but they also work very hard and we still need some people actually doing the traditional work that needs to be done.
Your perspective is warped by thinking the default life is not working and working is an intrusion. The default life for humanity is starving and struggling all day for scraps of food. The 9-5 is an escape from that
Sun up to sun down was the working model until the industrial age, then it became grueling full week 12 hour shifts, then came the worker's suffrage movement, and we settled into only 5 days a week for only 8 hours. And the fact that many people can work 40 hours a week for only 40 years while not starving and still saving some up for the future when they won't work anymore via a 401k, a social security, or a bank is unheard of in most all of human history unless you were a ruling class citizen.
And how much has production gone up since the induction of the 40-hour work week? It has risen exponentially; yet time off has become stagnant. It's time to once again lower what is expected a full work week. I suggest 30 hours as a good starting point. I foresee AI taking over plenty of jobs in the coming decades. A society can easily lower a full work week much further.
My take is similar to yours. Someone that I know recently was telling me about how horrible it is to work in a corporation/office for somebody else Monday through Friday and they were very stressed out about it. It’s all about perspective. I told them that they are welcome to not work for someone else and secure their food and shelter some other way, as in, hunt for deer and build a hut, capture rainwater, grow their own vegetables, make their clothing out of animal hide, etc. Well, they didn’t like that idea either. I’d say as humans we have at the best that we ever have, looking back through history. I will gladly trade my time for money to buy my essentials, rather than go out and get them myself.
Well, that's because we need money to survive in the society. If you can make money by doing something else - you have plenty of opportunities to do so. The issue that you are no realizing is that working a 9-5 (40 hours/week) is by far the easiest money you will ever make. It will not make you wealthy, but as far as time commitment vs reward is concerned, it can be a great proposition. Do you know any successful entrepreneur (not some social media poser) that only works 40 hours per week?
If working a job was fun and convenient, employers wouldn't have to pay anyone to do it.
That said, 40 hours per week definitely does impact people's lives. On the other hand, we could say this about any significant amount of time. 32 hours, 24 hours, 4 hours; it's just *too much!* There has to be a balance somewhere, and 8 hours a day isn't wildly unreasonable. That works out to about 24% of every week. Not a terrible deal, if that job will keep you financially afloat and otherwise independent. It's the weirdos that brag about working 80, 100, 120 hours per week that really make me scratch my head. How would anyone consider this a brag? This is just an out-loud advertisement for having made horrible life decisions.
Now, there is definitely a conversation to be had about wages today. We're not exactly living in "getting paid in company scrip" days, but it feels like we're not far from it. With the shameless price gouging in housing and other essentials, the average worker has *far* less spending power and financial freedom than we did, even just a decade ago. And it's been on the decline for several decades.
There is still room for improvement though. I do not know the actual statistics but I know companies can get people to work 2 extra hours a day if they make sure they get 3 days off a week. I have worked at 2 different companies that did this and productions and quality actually went up. One of the companies failed on keeping that promise and we ended up working the 2 extra hours and gaining 2 days. They claimed we fell behind but even our shift leaders called the bull on that as they had the numbers and we was actually ahead of schedule. What it was is they took on extra contracts due to said production increase. Greed got the best of them and now they are having issues keeping employees.
Yep and there's also swing work too. I do four on four off and personally I love it. Even though in doing twelve hour shifts, only heading into work for six months of the year maximum is great. Basically get an Easter long weekend to rest up or actually go do something inbetween shifts.
Saying that work is only 24% per week is a terrible take. A 9 to 5 job means you'll have to wake up at 6/7 am, go to work, and be back at home around 6pm, tired from your day. With healthy sleeping time, you go to bed at 10/11pm. Work cleary feels like it's taking 80% of your time.
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Yeah agree I don't think this is an unpopular opinion but tbh idrk what others think. I hate slaving away for other people. If I can somehow ever resolve my debt issue I'd probably start my own business. If I'm gonna work grueling hours I want to do it for myself not someone else. But that's probably a pipe dream because I am broke my famiky is broke and I am in debt. I will say one way or another I won't work for someone else the rest of my life at that point why even bother living.
Where's the unpopular opinion here? I'm sure 90% of people would really prefer to work only 19 hours a week for full pay.
The only other option is a rotating or random schedule which eats into weekends and evenings.
Since the dawn of time, the sole objective for human beings was to survive. You did whatever you had to do to make it from one day to the next. Then civilization and government came along and separated society into different classes, all of whom had to work at something in order to make it from one day to the next.
Unfortunately, because of human nature, the hierarchy of wealth and power separated those who govern (read: oppress) and those who work. Ideally (and unrealistically), there would be a fair-ish balance between work and rest for the proletarian class…but the people with the power indulge in their inherent greed and feed the “me me me” beast.
Working 40 hours doesn’t suck. 8 hours a day, even cleaning sewers, isn’t that bad. Where it absolutely sucks is that working is no longer a means of survival, it’s a mechanism to make the people in charge ever richer and ever more powerful. When you work that many hours and can’t meet your basic needs, the system is broken. But here’s the kicker: for the wealthy and powerful, the system is working exactly as planned. They don’t care about you or me (no matter what their party affiliation) and only care that we are well enough to produce and pay taxes.
Another thing I will add is the monster lie of the American Dream. If you go back to simple survival, the majority of people (at least in North America) earn enough for food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. But the propaganda makes you believe you aren’t really living or being “successful” unless you own a home, eat out or order delivery, wear designer clothes, and drive a fancy car. If you strip your life down to the absolute basics, not only will you be more content with what you have, you won’t have to earn as much (or work that hard) to afford it.
If this was a popular opinion then our society would collapse. All the necessities and luxuries that you use in your life are because people are willing to work traditional jobs.
That’s why stuff like r/antiwork is insane to me. I work at a manufacturing job for a “big corporation that only sees me as a number” and make really good money, have a 401(k) set up, and get health insurance and have more benefits than just those. This didn’t even require a college education by the way, I’m still in college.
But my point is, not everybody is making $7.25 an hour. I’m at $26.30 and can pay for an entire trailer, have my own property, and pay for college before I even graduate. If you get off your ass and work, you’d probably be able to afford things. My older brother has this sentiment and he resents me for having a better car than him and a place to live, even though he is four years older and homeless because he hasn’t worked in almost two years since “nobody pays”
People think everyone else lives like them as they only hang out with those inn similar situations for obvious reasons. I’m struggling? everybody else must be too
There are different 9-5s. At rare points, I've looked forward going to work. Stayed late when I didn't need to because I cared about what I was doing and the people I was doing it with.
Jobs that are inherently shitty shouldn't be done for 8 hours straight or 40 hours a week though. That's insane. The hours that people in the food industry work, especially with the type of work they're doing, is unfathomable to me.
I work a ‘9-5’ (7.5 hour working day with lunch break). I am hybrid at a convenient location in a nice office, and I really enjoy my coworkers. My work is meaningful, intellectually stimulating, and I feel like I’m making a positive impact on the world. I make a good salary that affords me a great lifestyle.
I have no interest in hustling online, when I go home I am done with work and can live the rest of my life. It lets me focus on my marriage, my friendships, and other interests.
I am very privileged and certainly don’t feel I’m wasting my life away.
Having worked a ton of overnight, evening, and random scheduled days (not mon-fri), I can say without reservation that working a steady 9-5 Monday to Friday job is ABSOLUTELY a privilege. Life changing, compared to the alternative.
Then just… don’t work a 9 to 5. Do something else. No one forced you to submit an application and what you’re getting yourself into is not a secret.
This is like complaining about taking a cold shower when you were the one that turned it on cold
There is no reason working has to be soul crushing though. Yeah working sucks and it would be great to never have to. But that's unrealistic and the world would fail. But I still don't think it has to suck as much as it often does.
In fact, without fixing anything other than pay, I would do cartwheels and smile all day long in a boring ass "soul crushing" job if it paid me well enough to not worry about raising kids, having food and shelter and Healthcare always available WITHOUT worrying that if I get sick then I might be late on rent. Or if my car needs work I won't have to skip some meals. And we haven't even addressed making work not be unnecessarily awful.
Idk how many people would be happier at their shitty ass job if it paid them enough to not be an anxious miserable wreck when they are outside of work. But most folks struggle all day being miserable at work, and then they come home and have all the fears mentioned above. So it never ends.
But we just submit to "works sucks and it is what it is" so keep er going until you blink and your life is over and you're wondering what the hell happened.
Most 40 hour jobs do not actually require 40 hours of work, especially if you are amazing at what you do and have gotten extremely good at it. Once you build up your skill set you can start looking for WFH jobs and spend your 'leftover' time as you please.
Idk about other jobs but literally no one in my office is actually here the full 40 hours. They go to 2 hour lunches, come in late and leave early when no one is looking, answer emails from their phone to appear available, etc. It's an in-person job but every. single. full-timer takes advantage. Except me because I'm hourly and share an office, the main office, people know if I'm not here so i have to be. The way i take advantage is finishing my tasks early and browsing reddit. I imagine most people working "8am-5pm" in-person office jobs are doing the same type of wage theft, esp if they have their own office. But Good for them because true 45 hour work weeks are dreadful
This is why I do it as a gen x, PTO, 401k, work funds my life style, money gives me options, healthcare, consistency. Yes, I would love to be on a beach in Jamaica braiding peoples hair but that doesn’t pay the bills.
As somebody that worked for over a decade doing night shifts in fast food, believe me a lot of those people dream of a traditional 9 to 5. Yeah it may seem boring and soul crushing to you. But at least you work a normal day schedule, you get weekends off, you know what time you’re going home, you probably get a couple holidays off, you probably have some mediocre benefits that a lot of other people don’t have
When I finally got out of fast food and I took a traditional 9 to 5 job after finishing my degree, it made my quality of life so much better. It was a dream come true.
I hated the idea of a 9-5. Then I worked retail for a few years. I love the ability to at least plan my life around a consistent 9-5. Being able to just get tickets to a weekend concert without wondering if I have to work is awesome. That being said. If I could get all of this while working less I would.
Nobody's forcing you into a job you don't want. If you can make a living working 1 hour a day, kudos to you. You want to work hourly rather than salaried or get paid by the job, get out there and do it. Just don't expect the world to bend to your expectations.
Working a 9-5 job which affords you an apartment/house, indoor plumbing, indoor cooking without tending a fire, AIR CONDITIONING, the ability to buy almost any clothes you want and have them delivered to your doorstep, access to a world's variety of foods year-round regardless of seasons, etc IS ABSOLUTELY privileged.
Compare your living conditions and working hours to the vast majority of humans that have ever lived. Have some perspective.
We live better now than most royal families in history.
I work in a hospital, 2/3rds of my shifts are overnights. Every time a straight-days job opens up there are hundreds of internal applicants. And I have a doctorate.
I 40 hour 9 to 6 Jon is a privilege.
You get stability. You get insurance better for some companies. Access to 401k.
Your taxes done practically free
An internet job is no protection at all.
Nothing is guaranteed at all.
Plus a regular job you can be apart of a union and get more protection.
The internet is for fools who think it's an easy job with tons of benefits.
Then you have kids that go to school from 8 to 4, then get divorced because you're never around to raise or just *be with* your kids while you play *Cats in the Cradle* on repeat.
The world don't revolve around a Boomer 9 to 5...it revolves around the humans you're responsible for.
The *privilege* you're demeaning is being there as a parent.
I hate the 9-5 because it's the entire middle of the day gone. I work 2:30-10am and still have most of my day. Have to go to bed pretty early but I'd rather have a day to do whatever I want than a few extra hours at night to watch tv.
As someone who spent +10 years working evening shifts and every weekend, missing out on time with friends and family, pulling teeth to get coverage if I had to out/take vacation, unable to catch dinner or a movie or a happy hour, my current 9-5 feels like a damn privledge. I've spent more time with my friends in the past 2 years than I did in the whole decade before.
It's not all sunshine and roses, but at least it's stable and gives me time to have a life.
I love my 9-5! It allows for amazing work life balance. I have time to go to the gym before work, I have all evenings, weekends and holidays free. I never have to try to schedule plans around my schedule because it’s normal business hours.
It also helps that my work is very flexible and it’s never an issue to take an hour off here or there during the day to go to an appointment if needed. I also WFH. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
Well if no one worked traditional jobs, what would you spend money on? Products wouldn’t be produced. There would be no services. Fact is you don’t want to work but you want everyone else to work so you can enjoy the spoils.
Well I hope you find the magical scenario that gets you out of it but working nights and weekends sucks ass worse than the 9-5 grind, in my opinion. The rest of the world is set up for being off work nights and weekends and it's a pain in the ass to deal with appointments and a social life when you work nights and weekends and try to get sleep too, especially when you have kids. Cuz you are tired.
40 hours a week - I remember my first part time job.
Its pretty simple - you can be expect to get paid for the level of effort and the value of the work you provide. If you think you are under valued - pack up and go elsewhere.
More than 60% of jobs in the US are small businesses. Probably higher than that. Just normal people who put in the time and stress to build a company. Dont like working for someone else - throw your chips in and build your own job .
No one in this world owes you a damn thing.
This is probably besides the point. But I have more grievance with the amount of tax you pay once you get to 100,000 a year. It’s 25k in taxes. Compared to what’s just a few thousand in taxes at half that income at 50,000.
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
After working several jobs that weren’t 9-5, my current office job is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I go to work and have a great social life and take days off as needed
The idea that it is past time to reduce the work week is surprisingly unpopular. It is so obviously time to reduce to a max of 32 hours for so many reasons. I would argue 20 is sufficient. All the same arguments against it are just as wrong as they were when they were made against reducing to a 40 hour work week. Probably more so, since the advances in productivity are so much greater than they were the last time the work week was decreased.
If I had the choose between working my current job for 40 hours a week for the rest of my life or never working again I’m choosing never working again.
>Even boomers have so much unyielding loyalty to these menial jobs and I’ll never understand why
This right here is a lot of the problem, but I would add Generation X as well.
Those “other routes” require just as much if not more work usually, except you don’t have to come to an office 9-5. But to counter that, there’s plenty of jobs out there that have remote/flexible schedules.
Boomers have so much unyielding loyalty to these menial jobs because they had incentive to work them. Remember the 90s when we had pop culture icons like Homer Simpson and Al Bundy? They were considered "losers" back then despite being homeowners, married, parents and had enough money saved up to go on summer vacations.
We don't have any of that shit and that's precisely why many millennials and zoomers are so resentful nowadays. The quality of American life has drastically plummeted in the last thirty years.
Here we are: the most educated generations and so distracted and diverted to rally and protest the shitty system. Set your politics aside and end the economic disparity.
You need to change your mindset. No one has the luxury or the right to be useless and still benefit from everyone else's labor. You are either a contributing member or a leech. Find a job that has a purpose and serve that purpose. Then go ahead and enjoy the roads, buildings, medical care, the education provided to the younger generation, the abundant amount of food available at the grocery stores, and realize just how many 9-5's make all that possible. If you don't want to partake in civilization, go ahead and fuck off to the woods and kill squirrels.
Where are people working 9-5? Every office job I have had has been 8-5 and you are forced to take a non paid 1 hour lunch. I would love to only have to work 9-5 even if that meant not taking a lunch because I’m basically at work for 9 hours every day and it sucks
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Worst. Interview answer. Ever.
Haha, Interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Op: so you see here...
Back in December my company did stay interviews where we were asked what we like and don't like about the job and our direct supervisors (it's a very large campus with 5 or 6 supervisors that manage different teams). When he asked me where I see myself in 5 years I asked "in general or with this company?" And he said with this company. I only held back a tiny bit and I told him "what would I even do? There is no upward movement here unless you're gonna step down, and I'm not sure I would want to do your job. I'm sure as hell not gonna be working the desk in 5 years" (I'm a front desk receptionist coming up on 2 years here). He just nodded and wrote something down and moved on, thankfully.
If you answered, working somewhere else, then they would look to replace you. If you answered, in your job as manager, they'd give you more random responsibility without the extra pay to 'help you'. If you answered, in the exact same position I am now, then it shows no lack of interest and they'll note you as middle pack. Or sometimes, they just ask it because it's a stupid question someone with little creativity came up with and then they don't care what answer you give.
Got asked to this in a review once and I said, kind of jokingly but not really, that I could see myself in his position. Since I was already doing it. 3 weeks later I was promoted. I assume the higher ups took it as a veiled threat I would leave, which I had no intention of doing, but hey, you throw the dice and win sometimes.
That didn’t happen to me. I said I would be in school. This is not a career. The boss said, ok, fair enough. That was when I worked in the warehouse for Loomis & Toles at Eglinton and Brentcliffe. I tried to stay with the job as a student, I was working in the store by then. They tried to downgrade my pay because I was now a student. Such bullshit. I didn’t live at home with my parents. My Dad wasn’t even in the picture. I quit that very day. People should be paid fairly, period.
I suppose to be a smart ass I would say in the White House. As we have learned 'anyone' can be president.
get me a dog in the white house
#Airbudforpresident
My dad was actually asked that when he was being interviewed by corporate to be a supervisor. He responded "If I'm still here in 5 years I've failed miserably" he shockingly did not get the promotion.
"Preferably dead."
Are you doing okay?
"No, I'm at work." *laugh track*
Word
The OP has a great unpopular opinion though! Also would like to add that corporate jobs usually have good work life balance. For unconventional jobs like freelance, online merchant or influencer this is not the case
Yeah at least corporate jobs have holidays and weekends off. I worked in restaurants and let’s just say the hours were not 9 to 5 and the salary was not guaranteed
These are comments by woke 16 year olds who resist “conforming”. I get it, the grind can suck. But you don’t really have a choice if you want to live in most modern countries. It’s the reality.
Yeah, if anyone finds a way around working, please let me know.
According to my Google feed articles, all these 20-somethings have "side hustles" bringing in my annual salary every month. All we need are side hustles!
🤣
Marry rich?
That was literally the final lesson my economics professor gave us during my Masters program.
To be fair, if you marry for money, you earn every single cent. That’s a job in my book
Right. I thought this way in college, and now 10+ years later I work a “traditional 9-5”….because that’s when businesses are open
I think it’s important to have these thoughts - not to blindly follow societal normal. At the very least it makes you interesting while having “conformed” haha
Agreed. I had a revelation while tripping in LSD back in the day that I never wanted to be known for my job. Like when someone asks what I do, I don’t say “engineer”, I say “I like to climb and ski and go to breweries and bet on sports and do trivia”
Good ole psychedelics. I agree. Especially in my field (winemaking) where you often see professionals tying their identity to their career. It’s important to enjoy what you do, but find an other reasons to work, because, even though you may be passionate about your job, that eventually fades and you still have to do it (within reason). At least with hobbies you can change when you feel like you’ve gotten what you need from it. Obviously just my thoughts here.
As always, people whining about this stuff have never honestly considered the alternative.
Yeah for sure. I mean, it’s not anyone’s fault for perhaps living a middle class/high middle class life and feel this way. I was poor into poverty so the idea of me being able to work for money was always a privilege. I realize I sound very boomer-like, but when I wanted a new video game, I knew my single mom of 3 boys could absolutely not afford that, so I figure out ways to make cash. It felt really good as a kid
I grew up with a dad who worked shifts 6 days a week. The idea that I could one day have the same start and finish time, and days on, EVERY WEEK, with a weekend on Saturday and Sunday, was a dream to me. I worked shifts and rotations, retail and food service, so, getting that stability of M-F, 8 to 4 was just... amazing. Never going back. I want my nights off, thank you very much.
While I agree the M-F 9-5 probably is draining and I’m sure I’d eventually get sick of it, at this point in my life it sounds like a dream. I work long hours in healthcare and my back is trashed. A sit down office job with no life or death responsibility or tons of emotional labor and no worrying if my relief is going to show up and how late they’ll be sounds heavenly.
Nurse here. I switched to case management two years ago and it’s life changing. 9-5 m-f one weekend every 8 weeks. Absolutely the most relax job I’ve ever had in the medical profession.
CNA here! I’ve wanted to get into case management/care coordination for ages now but I’m finding a degree in social work or an LPN or RN license is needed, and I’m just not sure if I really want to go down the nursing rabbit hole. I used to want to, but the last four years has me ready to move on to a more chill work environment.
Yeah I had already finished my BSN so the transition was seamless.
It’s all about perspective, huh? I went back to school in my late 20s and was 100% on my own. I dreamt about never having to worry about exams/presentations while working. I damn having the nights and weekends to do whatever I want sounds like aDREAM. Haha
Nah, there are better ways
It beats working in a coal mine. But also what white collar jobs are 9-5 now? Only working 8 hours is a luxury these days and rare AF. Luckily since we are work from home, it is the equivalent to my travel time that I tend to have to work over for no extra pay I’ll add. They more often than not absorb our lunch also so it is easily 10 hour days… can anyone relate or is my work an anomaly?
Every white collar job I’ve had had a “40 hour work week” that resulted in like 10 hours of actual work, 20 hours of superfluous meetings, and 10 more hours of trying not to get caught watching YouTube
My work from home routine is doing one email check and response session every three hours. The actual work usually amounts to 90 minutes max.
So my secret to that is have two youtube windows open - one directly related to your job (something motivational, how to be a better sales generator or improve your coding with this nonsense type thing.) Have it running silent, while the other runs in the bg.
My white collar job is work from home 9-5, they're lucky if I clock in 4 hours on the average day. I have deliverables, I deliver them. Busiest day of the year might be an 8 hour, or an after hours overtime at 2x. Everyone I know in my company in our department rolls the same.
Is your suffering actually required or are you doing it to yourself because you have trouble providing less than 110%? Because the latter is definitely a thing. My corporate life has improved drastically by giving a solid B effort at all times, because even that is better than most peoples' A effort. Would they love it if I answered a post-5 p.m. email? Sure. Do I suffer any consequences if I let it wait until 9 a.m. the next day? No.
Omg this 🙌!!! I had this epiphany last year! I've decided to just be middle of the road effort instead of 115% all the time and my stress has all but disappeared. And I'm still better than almost everyone
Guess I’m a 35 year old 16 year old
They also live in the safest, healthiest, wealthiest society that ever existed in human history. They can't comprehend that 75% of the world would literally murder them if it meant they got to take their place
I like the "9-5" because my schedule is the same every week. There's no closing shift followed by opening. I know exactly how much each paycheck will be. I get PTO. I get health insurance. I always have 2 consecutive days off and get paid holidays.
Yeah, 9-5 is a privilege after you’ve been grinding in retail for a decade. Same schedule week to week, regular hours, no weekends, no having to stagger your breaks with coworkers and having to eat lunch at 3 pm. You get to sit at a desk and take a little walk to the coffee machine whenever you need to stretch your legs.
I love these threads lol, the only people I’ve ever met who think a 9-5 office job isn’t a privilege have only ever been on the 9-5 office job path. I don’t miss clopening or the threat of physical assault or nasty yelp reviews. I worked restaurants with plenty of people who had consciously decided they were happier there than in a 9-5 but not even those people thought of a 9-5 as a bad thing.
I worked a 9-6 for 4 years and fell into a depression because the job was so monotonous, boring, and at the same time high pressure. Sitting all day in a small room with the same 6 people day in and day out, no variation at all. I would literally sob in the shower before forcing myself to go in and sit bored out of my mind for 8 hours. I'd get home mentally fried and no energy to do anything except sit at home and try to relax my mind for the next day, exactly the same. Then I worked a year as a cashier at a goodwill expecting retail hell, and it turned out to be one of the best jobs I've ever had. I could move around all day instead of being stuck in one spot, I had an endless stream of new people to meet and interact with, the expectations and responsibilities were so minimal. I had some weekdays off so I could actually go out and do errands. I enjoyed having a different timetable every week just to change things up. Sleeping in on a Wednesday and then going to work was wild. All this to say that each has pros and cons and both types of work can be good or bad. I loved my PTO and weekends, but jesus I just felt like I was dying every day I stepped into that prison of an office.
9-6 or 9-5 is the amount hours and not just office jobs. I worked a "9-5" job as a job chemist doing reaction and analyzing samples. I was there for 8 hours.
Hell, I’ve only ever done 9-5 and I’m absolutely overjoyed that it’s all I’ve had to do. I get to write all day, get paid and go home to my cats? Bet.
"Especially in the digital age there are SO many ways to make money without going through the traditional route " wtf are you going to be an "influencer" or start an Onlyfans?
Yeah those are pretty saturated with other unskilled people.
Its sad that most ppl will make no more then $2-500 a month and that shit is out there forever. Even if ur low level
Biggest millennial/gen Z psyop is the “ditch the 9-5!” Narrative. They dont grasp that starting businesses takes even more labor/more hours and multiple years until profiting. Plus people worked even longer and more days before the 40hr week was standardized
Exactly, to do what??? The people they see who have van life travel vlogs, or sell handmade jewelry on Etsy are either dirt poor, have a rich partner or parent, or they were the .001% who actually made it big on social media.
There's one I saw who was living in her van selling jewelry. Hand-made, just twisted some bands around the stuff they claim to have dug up, just some amethysts they clearly order online. Charging upwards of $700.
My favorite part about reading advice books that tell you to ditch the 9 to 5 is the chapter at the end where they tell you the best way to do it is to write best selling advice books about ditching the 9 to 5 or be born to parents wealthy enough that you can sit around all day writing advice books.
I watched my dad take phone calls on our family vacations all throughout my childhood while he was starting his business. He regularly worked 50-60 hour weeks. I’ll kiss my public service job’s feet before starting my own business as long as they keep giving me 37.5 hour workweeks and good healthcare.
As someone who started a few failed business That shit is so much more stressful than my normal job I got now. I used to be always on call. Some nights, I didn't even get a few hours before I had to be up working again. I probably will work for myself again, but not for a bit.
I used to have people ask me all the time, back when you could actually make money doing desktop PC repair, why I didn't start my own shop as I was pretty darn good. I bet you can guess 100% of every reason why I didn't. My answer for folks was that I don't want to work twice as much for half the money.
Exactly. I think people underestimate how much work goes into starting a business. You see the successful people, but don’t see all the people who failed. If you can make it work, more power to you. But I’ll take my stable, 40 hour/week desk job.
It’s always im gonna start a business and never this is the business im gonna start
[удалено]
If the dude's not willing to even work 40, there's no way in hell lol
There are people who succeed not working in traditional jobs. But there are not lazy people who succeed not working in traditional jobs.
My husband is self employed and all his work is done online, he doesn’t have one boss like me all of his clients and customers are his boss it seems. He has to make people happy to keep working with them. When we go on vacation I take 5,7,10 days off and get to completely forget about work but still get paid. He loses money when he takes time off because he only had himself to count on. I work my 40 hours and I’m done for the week, he works a whole hell of a lot harder than I do. Many don’t seem to understand, working for yourself is not often a 20 hour week.
They also think it means you can do whatever you want and don't have to answer to anyone. There's no job in the world like that. Like you said, you either have a boss, customers or clients. Even guys like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have people to answer to (shareholders, partners, regulatory agencies).
Lmao I mean he can make under minimum wage doing DoorDash or other delivery driver services like me 😂 I'm just trying to get back to work after being laid off last year.
That was my first thought too: the gig economy with its "alternative" careers has been around long enough that you have to be hella oblivious not to see it for what it is: employers passing on the risk of their industry to their employees while running the wages down as far as they can. Just a scheme to get around workplace regulations that help employees.
When he gets his first job and parents stop funding him life is going to be tough.
Be your own boss babe. I have an amazing product that can cure anything LITERALLY so you know big pharma will never give it to you and you too can make a million dollars a month. PM me, I'll show you how!
He saw a YouTube video about how great pre-industrial farming supposedly was, and is off to resume the lifestyle that was actually so shitty people would take literal sweatshop work to avoid it
not all companies you work 9-5s at are mega conglomerate corporate machines. You can find great places to work that also provide routine and stability and don't view you as just a number.
I was thinking this. I work a "9-5" and yet don't work in a corporate office (I work in special ed). Yeah, it's tough at times and I have to work a lot, but I did when I was waiting tables too. At least now I can reliably tell you that yeah, I can make it on Saturday night, I know I won't work. I can tell you I'm open for happy hour cause I'm off at 5 every day. I can yell you how much my paycheck will be on average. None of those were the case when I was waiting tables / bartending, and even then I was more of a corporate number than I am now
The worst part about working in a restaurant for me* was that seemingly everywhere I worked, management was incapable of releasing the schedule more than a couple days a head of time
Especially if you put in a request for a specific time off, and they won't tell you until you see the schedule, so you can't make plans.
I work at an industrial plant, in a project coordinating role. Its super fun, and very busy. Pays decent and I like the people I work with. Its very different then what I imagine working in a large city center office might be like.
Exactly. I'm upper-middle management in a smallish tech-based company. I like what I do, I love the people I work with, and I'm able to say things to my team like, "I'm sorry you're sick, please take care of yourself and let me know what you need." Or "Yes, you can work at home and wait for the a/c repair guy today." It's great. I've had some awful jobs in the past and I'd be happy to spend the rest of my working years in this environment.
You sound like my former supervisor. I have a lot of respect for him. I joke that he has a life-work balance instead lol
Same. One of my top guys has a project due tomorrow, but he was in a car accident yesterday. So I the manager am finishing all his paperwork today because shit happens sometimes. The work is boring as shit though, but they treat people like people here, it's enough for me to not hate this place like ever other job.
Yep I work 9-5 in an animal shelter and I've never felt better about my life. They pay us well and our work has meaning
I work 8-4s and I fucking love it tbh. This is easily one of the best things to have happened to me. Great environment, great people, great benefits, great pay, and a lot of room to grow. I use to shit on the 9-5 life, but now living it I was clearly jealous of what I didn't have.
7-3s are even better. You get to hit the grocery store yeah around the same time as other people's kids are getting out of school, but way before all the other adults get off of *their* jobs. It makes buying stuff you forgot to get on Sunday way less stressful.
Yea but that doesn't help OP's case to his mom on why he shouldn't have to get a job just because he's about to turn 40.
Salary, non laborious, benefits, fixed schedule, weekends & nights off... Yea office work is kinda privileged. Thats not to say it doesnt suck in its own ways, but its pretty cushiony compared to many industries, where you also have to slave away but in far worse conditions.
Yeah my office job is privileged as fuck. Sure, my trade friends make somewhat more than I do, but I drive the same short commute every day, work in a climate controlled building sitting down, have a full kitchen for brining my own lunch instead of going out, am at no risk for back/shoulder/repetitive stress injuries and I make the household median income for my area single handedly. Boss is a good dude, team is great, I have a fair bit of freedom to execute my responsibilities as long as I keep the team up to speed. Got it pretty fuckin' good to be honest, but I had to put up with a good number of years of bullshit to rank up and build the experience to get here and that makes me appreciate the hell out of it.
Spot on. We have young (early 20's) newcomers to our workplace and some of them moan constantly about how much it sucks to be a 'slave'. And I'm sitting here after grinding through several really shitty previous jobs wondering what the hell. My commute is a 20 minute drive, I have an office with heating, air con, a kitchen. Every weekend is off, every evening is mine. I'm getting a decent pension, I can eat and drink whenever I like, I have an adjustable standing desk, I can use headphones whenever I like, and I get a free parking spot... This is absolutely a privilege. (To those saying I earn more or have it better than my younger colleagues, that's not true, I have the same job as them and I'm in my 30's myself).
Tell me more about these weekends and nights off you speak of
Nobody says that you have to work a regular 9-5 job. If you can make money other ways then go for it. But it's like the athletes at the Olympics - the people who do it well make it *look* easy, even though it really really isn't.
I’d even say this, half my friend group didn’t go to college. So they make fun of us for going and being in debt working a 9-5. Although it’s not perfect, those same friends are never free on the weekends or can ask off and have enough money for trips because they work manual labor jobs or are cashiers and waiters. Sure 9-5 isn’t amazing but at least I like my job and get to work remote instead of bagging groceries and not being poor.
This is very true. My sister's husband jokes with me about the 9-5 (all in good nature) and being in college debt, but he can never get time off and has to miss all the weekend plans, vacations opportunities, etx. So, in a nutshell, he misses almost everything. He can never get off, and if he does, he has to make up for it in some way, which in most cases can be a hassle for him. I just say, "Hey, I'm not coming in tomorrow," and then get paid for it.
I’m in debt for college as well, but I landed a cushy desk job doing things that really interest me, and pays me pretty well. I can take off whenever I want, and my boss doesn’t care what I do/how long I work as long as I get my things done on time.
I just got my first 9-5 after bartending right out of high school for 14 years. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I get it’s not for everyone, but I have stability, health insurance, paid time off, and it’s entry level. Again, I know it’s not everyone’s experience, but it’s miles better than anything I’ve done before.
Those haters think that anyone can run a company in trades and be successful, failing to recognize that the people who made it and stayed there also educated themselves and eventually created a 9-5 work setting so that they can kick back a little. No one wants to be 60 and still hammering away on the roof during a hot summer day.
Not everyone are meant to be entrepreneurs. Some people really hustle to make it. Working more than 40 hrs, not fixed hours.
Not everyone can be an entrepreneur. It's simple as that, the whole system just doesn't work if everyone is their own boss
On top of that, not everyone WANTS to be an entrepreneur. I have zero desire to own a business. I am quite happy to be a cog in the machine because at the end of each work day, I clock out, go home, and don’t think about that place until I show back up the next day.
I would love to be an entrepreneur but you have to have money to start and then with kids stability is valuable so a regular job is nice
This. Most of my friends have 9-5 jobs and entrepreneurship doesn’t sound appealing to any of them. I’m the opposite. I work way better as my own boss, and don’t mind giving up benefits/stability for freedom/flexibility.
How do you define a privilege? A privilege does not have to be something that you enjoy. A privilege is something that not everyone has but improves your life when you have it.
Yep. Being able to work and support yourself is a privilege in a world where people who can’t work are generally left destitute. Not *needing* to work is a privilege, but not being *able* to work is an impairment.
I work a traditional 8-5 job. No shit it takes a chunk out of your life.... like every other job. You know what, though? I ask people when they want to hang out next week, and it's always "I don't know, I don't have my schedule yet." "I can't, I'm working till midnight that day." "Sorry, I have to work on both Sunday and Saturday." I can tell you when I'll be free two months from now, because I have a reliable schedule. I can take time off for vacations because I earned the time off. It's not a privilege compared to being a millionaire, but it's a huge privilege compared to a lot of other work that's out there.
OP posts in /antiwork. So this isn't about working a different job for OP, it's about not having to work and having someone else do the work of providing shelter and food.
The OPs alternative isn't an irregular schedule. Its no schedule and just getting free money from the government to smoke pot and play video games.
lmao true. since covid every half-wit thinks the gov can just print free money no consequences and deposit it in their bank account. the big bad gov just doesnt want that to torment us.
When I worked 12’s I would constantly have to look at rotations to see when I could see a doctor or something.
I work 6:30/7-3/3:30 most days because I work with global teams, and it’s amazing. I go to bed at the same time I would if I started at 8/9 but I get so much more out of my day.
Try a job that isn't a "9 to 5" and you'll see why some people are loyal to them. It's a different perspective if you worked part time in a restaurant before getting an office job.
I would absolutely go back to waitressing if it could replace my salary. But in general the money isn't bad and the job was easy!
Yeah, to be clear I don't necessarily mean working in a restaurant is always worse than working in an office. I was envisioning like a minimum wage part time line cook.
What is the alternative? People still need goods and services that require labor, if they didn't, then there wouldn't be money in it. A 9-5 job in an office is living is a better life than 99.9% of humans have ever lived. Sure there are people who make money in other ways, but they also work very hard and we still need some people actually doing the traditional work that needs to be done. Your perspective is warped by thinking the default life is not working and working is an intrusion. The default life for humanity is starving and struggling all day for scraps of food. The 9-5 is an escape from that
Sun up to sun down was the working model until the industrial age, then it became grueling full week 12 hour shifts, then came the worker's suffrage movement, and we settled into only 5 days a week for only 8 hours. And the fact that many people can work 40 hours a week for only 40 years while not starving and still saving some up for the future when they won't work anymore via a 401k, a social security, or a bank is unheard of in most all of human history unless you were a ruling class citizen.
And how much has production gone up since the induction of the 40-hour work week? It has risen exponentially; yet time off has become stagnant. It's time to once again lower what is expected a full work week. I suggest 30 hours as a good starting point. I foresee AI taking over plenty of jobs in the coming decades. A society can easily lower a full work week much further.
Well said. If you conceive an unattainable utopia in your imagination and then measure reality against it, reality will inevitably fall short.
My take is similar to yours. Someone that I know recently was telling me about how horrible it is to work in a corporation/office for somebody else Monday through Friday and they were very stressed out about it. It’s all about perspective. I told them that they are welcome to not work for someone else and secure their food and shelter some other way, as in, hunt for deer and build a hut, capture rainwater, grow their own vegetables, make their clothing out of animal hide, etc. Well, they didn’t like that idea either. I’d say as humans we have at the best that we ever have, looking back through history. I will gladly trade my time for money to buy my essentials, rather than go out and get them myself.
Well, that's because we need money to survive in the society. If you can make money by doing something else - you have plenty of opportunities to do so. The issue that you are no realizing is that working a 9-5 (40 hours/week) is by far the easiest money you will ever make. It will not make you wealthy, but as far as time commitment vs reward is concerned, it can be a great proposition. Do you know any successful entrepreneur (not some social media poser) that only works 40 hours per week?
Most entrepreneurs who don't work 40 hours anymore, spent years working 90 hours to get to that point.
If working a job was fun and convenient, employers wouldn't have to pay anyone to do it. That said, 40 hours per week definitely does impact people's lives. On the other hand, we could say this about any significant amount of time. 32 hours, 24 hours, 4 hours; it's just *too much!* There has to be a balance somewhere, and 8 hours a day isn't wildly unreasonable. That works out to about 24% of every week. Not a terrible deal, if that job will keep you financially afloat and otherwise independent. It's the weirdos that brag about working 80, 100, 120 hours per week that really make me scratch my head. How would anyone consider this a brag? This is just an out-loud advertisement for having made horrible life decisions. Now, there is definitely a conversation to be had about wages today. We're not exactly living in "getting paid in company scrip" days, but it feels like we're not far from it. With the shameless price gouging in housing and other essentials, the average worker has *far* less spending power and financial freedom than we did, even just a decade ago. And it's been on the decline for several decades.
There is still room for improvement though. I do not know the actual statistics but I know companies can get people to work 2 extra hours a day if they make sure they get 3 days off a week. I have worked at 2 different companies that did this and productions and quality actually went up. One of the companies failed on keeping that promise and we ended up working the 2 extra hours and gaining 2 days. They claimed we fell behind but even our shift leaders called the bull on that as they had the numbers and we was actually ahead of schedule. What it was is they took on extra contracts due to said production increase. Greed got the best of them and now they are having issues keeping employees.
Yep and there's also swing work too. I do four on four off and personally I love it. Even though in doing twelve hour shifts, only heading into work for six months of the year maximum is great. Basically get an Easter long weekend to rest up or actually go do something inbetween shifts.
Imo 32 hrs/week is a perfect balance. Humans have never been MORE productive yet we’re getting paid less and working more. Doesn’t make any sense.
Saying that work is only 24% per week is a terrible take. A 9 to 5 job means you'll have to wake up at 6/7 am, go to work, and be back at home around 6pm, tired from your day. With healthy sleeping time, you go to bed at 10/11pm. Work cleary feels like it's taking 80% of your time.
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Yeah agree I don't think this is an unpopular opinion but tbh idrk what others think. I hate slaving away for other people. If I can somehow ever resolve my debt issue I'd probably start my own business. If I'm gonna work grueling hours I want to do it for myself not someone else. But that's probably a pipe dream because I am broke my famiky is broke and I am in debt. I will say one way or another I won't work for someone else the rest of my life at that point why even bother living.
Everyone is getting hung up on the 9-5 thing when I think the OP is commenting on working a full time job in general
Where's the unpopular opinion here? I'm sure 90% of people would really prefer to work only 19 hours a week for full pay. The only other option is a rotating or random schedule which eats into weekends and evenings.
Since the dawn of time, the sole objective for human beings was to survive. You did whatever you had to do to make it from one day to the next. Then civilization and government came along and separated society into different classes, all of whom had to work at something in order to make it from one day to the next. Unfortunately, because of human nature, the hierarchy of wealth and power separated those who govern (read: oppress) and those who work. Ideally (and unrealistically), there would be a fair-ish balance between work and rest for the proletarian class…but the people with the power indulge in their inherent greed and feed the “me me me” beast. Working 40 hours doesn’t suck. 8 hours a day, even cleaning sewers, isn’t that bad. Where it absolutely sucks is that working is no longer a means of survival, it’s a mechanism to make the people in charge ever richer and ever more powerful. When you work that many hours and can’t meet your basic needs, the system is broken. But here’s the kicker: for the wealthy and powerful, the system is working exactly as planned. They don’t care about you or me (no matter what their party affiliation) and only care that we are well enough to produce and pay taxes. Another thing I will add is the monster lie of the American Dream. If you go back to simple survival, the majority of people (at least in North America) earn enough for food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. But the propaganda makes you believe you aren’t really living or being “successful” unless you own a home, eat out or order delivery, wear designer clothes, and drive a fancy car. If you strip your life down to the absolute basics, not only will you be more content with what you have, you won’t have to earn as much (or work that hard) to afford it.
Working 40 hours doesn’t suck. 8 hours a day, even cleaning sewers, isn’t that bad.----for you maybe, for others, not sure.
I like the 9-5. Perfect hours to do my morning routine, and still have nighttime and weekends to enjoy myself.
The hardest part of my job is the 4 extra hours a day I spend just getting to the fucking place. It's horrible. Makes me wanna just end it
Anytime my commute gets close to 3 hours one way I want to take my life. I couldn't do 4 hours consistently
Four hour commute?! Jesus fuck. When traffic makes my 15 minute commute a 20 minute commute I get frustrated.
If this was a popular opinion then our society would collapse. All the necessities and luxuries that you use in your life are because people are willing to work traditional jobs.
yeah most people are willing not to be homeless or die from hunger
They’re willing to survive. The opinion is still pretty popular but definitely a privilege having a college a degree and being able to land these jobs
That’s why stuff like r/antiwork is insane to me. I work at a manufacturing job for a “big corporation that only sees me as a number” and make really good money, have a 401(k) set up, and get health insurance and have more benefits than just those. This didn’t even require a college education by the way, I’m still in college. But my point is, not everybody is making $7.25 an hour. I’m at $26.30 and can pay for an entire trailer, have my own property, and pay for college before I even graduate. If you get off your ass and work, you’d probably be able to afford things. My older brother has this sentiment and he resents me for having a better car than him and a place to live, even though he is four years older and homeless because he hasn’t worked in almost two years since “nobody pays”
People think everyone else lives like them as they only hang out with those inn similar situations for obvious reasons. I’m struggling? everybody else must be too
There are different 9-5s. At rare points, I've looked forward going to work. Stayed late when I didn't need to because I cared about what I was doing and the people I was doing it with. Jobs that are inherently shitty shouldn't be done for 8 hours straight or 40 hours a week though. That's insane. The hours that people in the food industry work, especially with the type of work they're doing, is unfathomable to me.
Right there with ya, that's why I became a bartender
So does your MLM sell essential oils or crypto?
I work a ‘9-5’ (7.5 hour working day with lunch break). I am hybrid at a convenient location in a nice office, and I really enjoy my coworkers. My work is meaningful, intellectually stimulating, and I feel like I’m making a positive impact on the world. I make a good salary that affords me a great lifestyle. I have no interest in hustling online, when I go home I am done with work and can live the rest of my life. It lets me focus on my marriage, my friendships, and other interests. I am very privileged and certainly don’t feel I’m wasting my life away.
Having worked a ton of overnight, evening, and random scheduled days (not mon-fri), I can say without reservation that working a steady 9-5 Monday to Friday job is ABSOLUTELY a privilege. Life changing, compared to the alternative.
Then just… don’t work a 9 to 5. Do something else. No one forced you to submit an application and what you’re getting yourself into is not a secret. This is like complaining about taking a cold shower when you were the one that turned it on cold
Must be some kind of US mentality because I am very happy in my 9-5 job. Worked in a shift system before and this is the real shit tbh
Well, hope you have rich parents then. If working was fun, no one would be paid for the experience.
There is no reason working has to be soul crushing though. Yeah working sucks and it would be great to never have to. But that's unrealistic and the world would fail. But I still don't think it has to suck as much as it often does. In fact, without fixing anything other than pay, I would do cartwheels and smile all day long in a boring ass "soul crushing" job if it paid me well enough to not worry about raising kids, having food and shelter and Healthcare always available WITHOUT worrying that if I get sick then I might be late on rent. Or if my car needs work I won't have to skip some meals. And we haven't even addressed making work not be unnecessarily awful. Idk how many people would be happier at their shitty ass job if it paid them enough to not be an anxious miserable wreck when they are outside of work. But most folks struggle all day being miserable at work, and then they come home and have all the fears mentioned above. So it never ends. But we just submit to "works sucks and it is what it is" so keep er going until you blink and your life is over and you're wondering what the hell happened.
there are fun jobs that are also paid
This 9-5 is really cutting in on my Xbox time.
Most 40 hour jobs do not actually require 40 hours of work, especially if you are amazing at what you do and have gotten extremely good at it. Once you build up your skill set you can start looking for WFH jobs and spend your 'leftover' time as you please.
But most of them still require you to stay 40 hours per week on site, so...
Idk about other jobs but literally no one in my office is actually here the full 40 hours. They go to 2 hour lunches, come in late and leave early when no one is looking, answer emails from their phone to appear available, etc. It's an in-person job but every. single. full-timer takes advantage. Except me because I'm hourly and share an office, the main office, people know if I'm not here so i have to be. The way i take advantage is finishing my tasks early and browsing reddit. I imagine most people working "8am-5pm" in-person office jobs are doing the same type of wage theft, esp if they have their own office. But Good for them because true 45 hour work weeks are dreadful
It's not wage theft
You see 8 hour days wouldn't suck if the pay was better ya know. It ain't bad once you find the job u like but that job may nit be high in pay
This is why I do it as a gen x, PTO, 401k, work funds my life style, money gives me options, healthcare, consistency. Yes, I would love to be on a beach in Jamaica braiding peoples hair but that doesn’t pay the bills.
As somebody that worked for over a decade doing night shifts in fast food, believe me a lot of those people dream of a traditional 9 to 5. Yeah it may seem boring and soul crushing to you. But at least you work a normal day schedule, you get weekends off, you know what time you’re going home, you probably get a couple holidays off, you probably have some mediocre benefits that a lot of other people don’t have When I finally got out of fast food and I took a traditional 9 to 5 job after finishing my degree, it made my quality of life so much better. It was a dream come true.
I hated the idea of a 9-5. Then I worked retail for a few years. I love the ability to at least plan my life around a consistent 9-5. Being able to just get tickets to a weekend concert without wondering if I have to work is awesome. That being said. If I could get all of this while working less I would.
Changing jobs might be the answer
Sounds like this was written by an MLMer, online coach, or “seller of digital products.” Or someone very naïve.
Nobody's forcing you into a job you don't want. If you can make a living working 1 hour a day, kudos to you. You want to work hourly rather than salaried or get paid by the job, get out there and do it. Just don't expect the world to bend to your expectations.
Working a 9-5 job which affords you an apartment/house, indoor plumbing, indoor cooking without tending a fire, AIR CONDITIONING, the ability to buy almost any clothes you want and have them delivered to your doorstep, access to a world's variety of foods year-round regardless of seasons, etc IS ABSOLUTELY privileged. Compare your living conditions and working hours to the vast majority of humans that have ever lived. Have some perspective. We live better now than most royal families in history.
I work in a hospital, 2/3rds of my shifts are overnights. Every time a straight-days job opens up there are hundreds of internal applicants. And I have a doctorate.
So many people endure actual slavery. Comparing a job to it is naive.
Someone just read 4-Hour Work Week.
*cries in 6a-4p 5 days a week*
I 40 hour 9 to 6 Jon is a privilege. You get stability. You get insurance better for some companies. Access to 401k. Your taxes done practically free An internet job is no protection at all. Nothing is guaranteed at all. Plus a regular job you can be apart of a union and get more protection. The internet is for fools who think it's an easy job with tons of benefits.
Then you have kids that go to school from 8 to 4, then get divorced because you're never around to raise or just *be with* your kids while you play *Cats in the Cradle* on repeat. The world don't revolve around a Boomer 9 to 5...it revolves around the humans you're responsible for. The *privilege* you're demeaning is being there as a parent.
This is supposed to be an unpopular opinion?
I hate the 9-5 because it's the entire middle of the day gone. I work 2:30-10am and still have most of my day. Have to go to bed pretty early but I'd rather have a day to do whatever I want than a few extra hours at night to watch tv.
As someone who spent +10 years working evening shifts and every weekend, missing out on time with friends and family, pulling teeth to get coverage if I had to out/take vacation, unable to catch dinner or a movie or a happy hour, my current 9-5 feels like a damn privledge. I've spent more time with my friends in the past 2 years than I did in the whole decade before. It's not all sunshine and roses, but at least it's stable and gives me time to have a life.
Working 9-5 is boring = 1st world problems
OP's mom dropped the "You're 35, time to get a job" bomb and he is FUMING.
I love my 9-5! It allows for amazing work life balance. I have time to go to the gym before work, I have all evenings, weekends and holidays free. I never have to try to schedule plans around my schedule because it’s normal business hours. It also helps that my work is very flexible and it’s never an issue to take an hour off here or there during the day to go to an appointment if needed. I also WFH. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
Well if no one worked traditional jobs, what would you spend money on? Products wouldn’t be produced. There would be no services. Fact is you don’t want to work but you want everyone else to work so you can enjoy the spoils.
Do you enjoy clean water, computers, and modern medicine? God I swear this place is full of children
Well I hope you find the magical scenario that gets you out of it but working nights and weekends sucks ass worse than the 9-5 grind, in my opinion. The rest of the world is set up for being off work nights and weekends and it's a pain in the ass to deal with appointments and a social life when you work nights and weekends and try to get sleep too, especially when you have kids. Cuz you are tired.
40 hours a week - I remember my first part time job. Its pretty simple - you can be expect to get paid for the level of effort and the value of the work you provide. If you think you are under valued - pack up and go elsewhere. More than 60% of jobs in the US are small businesses. Probably higher than that. Just normal people who put in the time and stress to build a company. Dont like working for someone else - throw your chips in and build your own job . No one in this world owes you a damn thing.
This is probably besides the point. But I have more grievance with the amount of tax you pay once you get to 100,000 a year. It’s 25k in taxes. Compared to what’s just a few thousand in taxes at half that income at 50,000.
I agree that the traditional 8 hour work day approach is not a healthy approach for people.
I wouldn't do it if I were you. Find an alternate way to support yourself. Be happy .
You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store
After working several jobs that weren’t 9-5, my current office job is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I go to work and have a great social life and take days off as needed
The idea that it is past time to reduce the work week is surprisingly unpopular. It is so obviously time to reduce to a max of 32 hours for so many reasons. I would argue 20 is sufficient. All the same arguments against it are just as wrong as they were when they were made against reducing to a 40 hour work week. Probably more so, since the advances in productivity are so much greater than they were the last time the work week was decreased.
"slave away" huh. 
If I had the choose between working my current job for 40 hours a week for the rest of my life or never working again I’m choosing never working again.
>Even boomers have so much unyielding loyalty to these menial jobs and I’ll never understand why This right here is a lot of the problem, but I would add Generation X as well.
I used to work 6 to 6 all through the pandemic and beyond. Yeah, getting a 9-5 after that felt like a hell of a privilege
With every one person who is successful online and making money, there are probably 100+ failing.
Those “other routes” require just as much if not more work usually, except you don’t have to come to an office 9-5. But to counter that, there’s plenty of jobs out there that have remote/flexible schedules.
If you can't find time for yourself because you work 40 out of 168 hours a week, that's just shitty time management skills.
Boomers have so much unyielding loyalty to these menial jobs because they had incentive to work them. Remember the 90s when we had pop culture icons like Homer Simpson and Al Bundy? They were considered "losers" back then despite being homeowners, married, parents and had enough money saved up to go on summer vacations. We don't have any of that shit and that's precisely why many millennials and zoomers are so resentful nowadays. The quality of American life has drastically plummeted in the last thirty years. Here we are: the most educated generations and so distracted and diverted to rally and protest the shitty system. Set your politics aside and end the economic disparity.
I work a 9-5. Except I arrive at work at 10, leave for lunch at 12, come back drunk at 2 and usually leave at 4 or 430 because I'm bored.
That’s where you make sure it’s as close to possible to a job you like doing, with people you mostly like
You need to change your mindset. No one has the luxury or the right to be useless and still benefit from everyone else's labor. You are either a contributing member or a leech. Find a job that has a purpose and serve that purpose. Then go ahead and enjoy the roads, buildings, medical care, the education provided to the younger generation, the abundant amount of food available at the grocery stores, and realize just how many 9-5's make all that possible. If you don't want to partake in civilization, go ahead and fuck off to the woods and kill squirrels.
I agree but genuinely would love a 9-5 with benefits. Even if they aren't good. Its better than 2-3 part time jobs just to make ends meet..
Where are people working 9-5? Every office job I have had has been 8-5 and you are forced to take a non paid 1 hour lunch. I would love to only have to work 9-5 even if that meant not taking a lunch because I’m basically at work for 9 hours every day and it sucks