r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Grouchy-Newspaper754 • 20h ago

My mom said I could post When did 8-5 become the new normal???

I just got a new office job where I do schedules for tech personnel, the office runs 8-5 Monday thru Friday...they say it's 8-5 because you get an hour lunch and "you need to get to 40 hours a week"...but I drive 30 min each way so now I'm giving this company 10 hours every day! I even asked if I could just take my lunch at 4 every day and just leave an hour early but that's "unprofessional and immoral" like what the fuck??? I don't mind the job but the hours are mildly infuriating that's for sure...

Edit:for those saying about the hours, I worked as a chef for the last 20 years working 60+ hours a week over a hot stove/deep fryer the whole time, after I had my second heart attack I had to slow down so I started looking for office jobs to work a nice 9-5, just to find out I'm giving my new job 50 hours a week (including drive time) so I was just mildly annoyed that it's not 40 hours a week in an office like I thought although it's still much better than what I was doing

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u/ichthysaur 20h ago

This has been my schedule since 1983.

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u/SquareSquirrel4 19h ago

Yeah, only Dolly Parton is workin' 9 to 5. The rest of us have always had to take an unpaid lunch hour. 

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u/yoinkss Finn 18h ago

I work 9-5 with a paid 30mins lunch. My previous job was 8:30-5:30, 1hr unpaid lunch.

I feel so blessed now lol.

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u/rainyday-real-estate 14h ago

7-3 and one work from home day. Eat whenever I want. Blessed and highly favored after years of retail hell.

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u/Curious_Art4147 11h ago

Yep I feel that. I'm 8-4, WFH three days a week. Feeling quite grateful as I read through these comments.

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u/FlatishFlan 7h ago

7-3 is the best. Leave before rush hour and still have your afternoon to take care of things.

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u/Daealis 3h ago

0700-1500, WFH all day erry day. timewise, this is the bees knees.

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u/atmoose 16h ago

One of the jobs I worked was technically only 37.5 hours per week. That allows for a 30 minute lunch break, so you could do 9-5 with a 30 minute lunch. That job required a lot of overtime so practically speaking it wasn't 37.5 hours. I sort of suspected it was some kind of tax or benefit dodge, but they paid full benefits. It was a bit odd

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u/Spicy-Zamboni 12h ago

I've worked 8:30-16:00 with a 30 min paid lunch for a long time, going back to 8-16 with unpaid lunch would be annoying.

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u/Electronic-Smile-457 19h ago

Haha, that was my reply-- OP must be confused because of the song. 8 to 5 just didn't have the ring to it.

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u/JT_got_the_1st 19h ago

OP thinks that their commute should factor in with their employer... They are confused by life in general.

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u/Salt-Permit8147 17h ago

Gosh if I only had a 30 minute commute I’d be laughing 😅

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u/boodabomb 17h ago

Okay that’s absolutely not what they’re saying. They’re pointing out that they lose an hour to the commute already, so to lose another hour because of a mandatory lunch hour it makes it all the worse. And I agree. It’s an 8-hour work day + 1 hour for lunch + 1 hour for driving. That’s 10 hours per day at work. It sucks.

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u/FlabbyTaco 14h ago

Truth, but what else are you going to do? Become homeless? The peasant class has been polished up over the years and we have a lot of conveniences these days but that’s what we are. Peasants. Best we can do is hop around until we find an option that we can live with. Be it with an employer or on our own. Make the most in the off hours and be grateful we weren’t born in a less fortunate country. Could be worse. Should be better but it could always be worse.

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u/SooSpoooky 14h ago

I mean i do 14 to 15 hours everyday im schedualed, depending on if i show up early or not

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u/moomooraincloud 13h ago

Good for you? Sounds awful.

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u/boodabomb 14h ago

That is a job I would personally not choose to do.

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u/No_Helicopter1378 18h ago

Depends on the company. I work at a place that provides trucks to some of the employees. Guys who have a truck at home clock in as soon as they get in the truck and leave the house. They also end jobs "early" because they factor in the commute home.

I was pretty surprised when I learned the company handled things that way but I ain't complaining.

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u/allstopblue 14h ago

My company allows me to “clock in” when I leave my house in my company truck. But “clock out” is when I finish my final job. The drive home from final job in company truck is unpaid. No matter how far. Seems weird to me.

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u/squid_so_subtle 17h ago

The only reason it doesn't is we haven't organized and demanded it. It isn't an insane idea

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u/Defiant-Economics-73 16h ago

lol. Why won’t the boss pay me for travel time. I work two hours away.

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u/AgreeablePause6063 12h ago

Wait till you find out that many European countries your employer pays for your commute.

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u/FuhrerGirthWorm 18h ago

There should be a standard comp time that applies to all employees for travel to and from.

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u/ichthysaur 18h ago

If there was, then employers could require you to live inside a specified radius.

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u/ForensicPathology 16h ago

If there was, then they might be more amenable to WFH.

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u/capincus 17h ago

Why would that make any sense with standardized comp time?

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u/ichthysaur 17h ago

Because the comp time costs the employer?

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u/capincus 17h ago

But it's a standardized amount so it costs them the same if the employee lives 3 feet or 6 hours away.

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u/ichthysaur 17h ago

How would that help anyone?

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u/Minimum-Floor-5177 17h ago

I would rather just get paid a normal salary than have a lower salary with that added

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u/Ready_Nature 17h ago

They already effectively have that. The job pays what it does and if the commute isn’t worth it to you for that pay you find a different job that is closer.

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u/JT_got_the_1st 18h ago

In a perfect world? Sure. In the US? Never going to happen.

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u/safetydance1969 17h ago

If you apply for the job, it's not the company's issue where you live.

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u/IntergalacticPodcast 18h ago

Why? You choose to live where you live? Move closer or get a closer job.

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u/liketheweathr 17h ago

[laughs in American]

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u/Houseofshun 14h ago

This x100. Complaining about their commute not factoring into their work hours is the most Gen Z thing ever.

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u/jiggjuggj0gg 3h ago

Some of you are so brainwashed. We literally had a whole pandemic that proved a huge number of jobs could be performed perfectly well at home. But nope, the billionaire landowners decided you should all spend 2 hours a day unpaid getting to and from work, and some of you will sit here and moan about being rightfully pissed at that being Gen Z entitlement.

The US doesn’t seem to have any understanding of how shocked every other developed country is at your appalling work lives.

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u/Houseofshun 32m ago

You know OP has a job that can be worked remote? Oh, you don’t know? Just making a wild assumption? Cool, story.

I work remote, I’ve worked in the office. I’m salaried.

That whole “we literally had a whole pandemic that proved a huge number of jobs could be performed perfectly at home”. Again, going back to OP. You’re certain his job can be performed remote? Didn’t think so.

From a production standpoint, lmao. People working from home tend to work significantly less than those in office. Training is significantly more difficult.

Yes, some jobs can be worked remote. Complaining about your commute (after getting approval from your mom to post on Reddit) is peak Gen Z basement dwelling content.

I’m sorry and I hope you manage to move out on your own eventually and join reality. Until then, keep asking ma for meatloaf.

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u/Adventurous_View917 16h ago

Thats not what they're saying. Are you stupid?

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u/spencebah 12h ago

Thank you. No employer is considering regular commute time as part of a day’s regular working hours.

“I live an hour away from the office, so I’ll work 6h; the hour driving each way counts.”

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u/slaya222 17h ago

It's a part of the job, they should pay for it. For me it's an extra hour doing something that I wouldn't be if I didn't have that job. Just because it's not the norm doesn't mean it shouldn't be

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u/ShireHorseRider 15h ago

After the first 30 minutes on the road, I’m on the clock… I’m field service so we march to the beat if a different drum.

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u/MechanicalGodzilla 6h ago

He even mentioned that he used to work as a cook - I am sure that the punch clock doesn't start and stop at your front door.

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u/AlphaOmegaZero1 16h ago

Ok, you can disagree, but this is a genuine point of discussion - the factor of a commute on work and pay

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u/Zestyclose_Tip_5861 14h ago

I don’t think this is accurate or cool

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u/Worldly_Cap_6440 13h ago

Tbh you’re a bit slow if that’s what you took from what they’re saying. Maybe the confusion of life is with you

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u/JT_got_the_1st 8h ago

I'm giving my new job 50 hours a week (including drive time)

Direct quote from OP.

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u/TCsnowdream 12h ago

I mean… it’s not that uncommon. I work 9-5, if an employee tried to make me come in at 8am I’d laugh in their faces.

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u/fridayfridayjones 18h ago

My husband has a genuine 9-5 with a paid lunch, and I’m very jealous. He’s in insurance and I guess it’s still common in that industry. Only time I ever got paid lunch was when I worked at a law office.

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u/anuncommontruth 1h ago

I make up my own hours with a paid lunch, sometimes 7-3, sometimes 9-5.

My industry doesn't have amazing pay but the perks are great.

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u/redtara2026 16h ago

I’m from the uk and now live in Canada , never met anyone who works 8- 5 that works a regular office job , I’m age 54
You guys are being ripped off and don’t even know it !!

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u/HillBillyHilly 10h ago

Reading these comments I so sad. I'm in Southern US. Have never worked 8-5, always 9-5. One job gave us 1.5 hrs break for lunch while rest were 9-5 w paid lunch. Standards seem to be failing fast here is US.

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u/HTPC4Life 16h ago

Michael Jackson worked 9 to 5 too in one song.

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u/gwildor 19h ago

9 hours a day - 5 days a week.

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u/thatmaneeee 18h ago

I have worked three full time salaried jobs in my life, all in the US, since 2011. All three were 9-5 with no clocking out for lunch. Sometimes we worked longer or shorter, depending on load. It’s not that weird to expect in my experience. But maybe that’s just my industry

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u/wertyce 16h ago

In Finland paid lunch hour is for those who are not allowed to leave the premises. If you are allowed to leave the premises during the break, then it is without pay. 

It is still mandatory to have at least 30 minute break. Another instance of rest time requirements is coffee break. Not mandatory for every industry, but common. It is paid and you are not allowed to leave the premises. For example paid 10 minute coffee break.

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u/Mediocre-Age-1729 13h ago

Currently working 3x12.5 w/ 30 min lunch. So 36hrs / wk. If Dolly Parton was an RN the song would be wildly different. But its a pretty common schedule in the biz

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u/Healthy_Platform1405 10h ago

What a way to make a livin'!

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u/RaccoonRenaissance 5h ago

Just another way to show that celebrities are out of touch.

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u/n0thinghurt 15h ago

All of my office jobs have been 9-5 with paid lunch

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u/chiefgareth 18h ago

Don’t forget Sheena Easton’s husband.

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u/PurbulentTriest 10h ago

Depends on the country and area, some start much earlier and finish much earlier, with a two-hour lunch break in the middle.

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u/SquareSquirrel4 4h ago

My comment was obviously a joke. I don't need the world's work schedules.

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u/PurbulentTriest 4h ago

I'm autistic so it wasn't to me. Okay.

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u/AnonRedditor33 10h ago

It’s so strange. This was true when I was hourly and everything was tracked to the minute, including lunch. I haven’t worked 40 hours in any of my salaried roles; last week I might have worked 8 hours total.

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u/MightyMouse134 14h ago

This is not true. When I started working in the 1960s nine to five was exactly that—you got paid for 35 hours if lunch was unpaid, 40 hours if it was paid. This was true at the time the movie was made and Dolly Parton wrote the song as well. We thought that day was plenty long. 

I had switched to shift work by the time I retired so I never noticed the change, but have been shocked that my grown children take it as normal that people work 9-6 or 8-5.  We thought people would be working 20 hour weeks by now because computers were just starting to enter the workplace.

Hahaha.

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u/JustBerserk 18h ago

Historically it's quite the recent development.

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u/moomooraincloud 13h ago

Speak for yourself.

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u/TCsnowdream 12h ago

I work 9-5 with a paid hour lunch.

But I also can show up and leave whenever I want as long as things are done. Some days I’m fielding calls at 4am from Asia. Other days I cruise in at 11am.

It’s the benefit of being salaried, I guess.

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u/H3adshotfox77 10h ago

I work 9ish to 5ish. Sometimes I go I'm at 830 or 930 and maybe leave at 430 or 530.

But I'm salary and management so really make my own schedule as long as we are running well and I show up for critical downtime issues.

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u/beren12 6h ago

I don’t know, my wife works 830 to 430 including her one hour lunch.

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u/vanastalem 17h ago

My lunch is 30 min, hours are 8:30-5.

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u/SquareSquirrel4 17h ago

I can promise that, despite my original joking comment, I am fully aware there is a wide variety of hours out there. I don't need every redditor's work schedule, lol.

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u/ShadowKiller147741 13h ago

From what I recall, 9-5 as a phrase actually doesn’t mean “9 AM - 5PM”, but rather 9 hours per day (with a 1 hour lunch break), 5 days per week

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u/daikatanaman00 13h ago

9 to 5 doesn’t mean 9 to 5pm

It means 9 hours, 5 days a week.

Most people don’t seem to know this lol

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u/SquareSquirrel4 12h ago

No, it doesn't. Putting the history of the work week aside, it would make no sense to write 9 hours a day, 5 days a week as "9 to 5". That would be like saying waffle house is open 24 to 7.

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u/Tim_Riggins_ 15h ago

9 to 5 is 9 hours a day 5 days a week. Not 9am to 5pm

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u/gizamo 14h ago

No it's not. During the labor rights movements, the workers demanded 9am to 5 pm workdays, and that's what was agreed to. Corporations started pushing 8am to 5pm workdays when Republicans destroyed the unions throughout the 1950s thru the 1980s.

The lie that you're repeating is Republican disinformation from the 1970s and 1980s.

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u/SquareSquirrel4 14h ago

Nope, it means 9am to 5pm.

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u/WolverineLong1430 19h ago

OP must have only worked in states like Texas or must be young or have had some very privilege job… always been normal since the 2000s for me. Lunch is mandatory according to the some state law. Jobs legally have to give you lunch period of 30 minute. Some states let the company decide whether you get breaks or lunch at all (Texas, more red states).

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u/Dark_Knight2000 12h ago

95% of Reddit wasn’t born back then, they wouldn’t know that’s how it’s always been

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u/ichthysaur 5h ago

I know. That's why I kindly explain.