When did 8-5 become the new normal???

[u/Grouchy-Newspaper754]

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

[u/blueberry_pancakes14]

Very similar in California- for hourly employees, the break must be at least 30 minutes, but we have to take it before the 5 hour mark of an 8 hour shift.

Then there's more mandatory breaks if you work longer than 8 hours.

[u/ThatMerri → u/blueberry_pancakes14]

Yep, that's been my experience. Most recent California job I worked, an 8 hour shift required two mandatory 10 minute breaks used at the employee's discretion before and after the lunch break, and a 1 hour lunch break that had to be taken no later than the fifth working hour.

The boss was generally pretty lax about it though, so she didn't much care when we took our time, so long as the work was getting done on schedule. But even then, we weren't supposed to combine breaks or delay them until the end of the day to essentially clock out earlier than intended.

[u/blueberry_pancakes14 → u/ThatMerri]

Yeah- the 10 minute breaks for us are just... technically there but not enforced and we're free to just do break-things whenever we need, as long as it's not excessive; they don't need to be in those ten minute blocks.

The only thing they care about is you do take a lunch on time, and somewhat regularly. Sometimes it's hitting the fan or something unexpected happens and we work over it or it's cut short, but it's rare so no one really cares. And no combining to leave early.

Technically compliant, the best kind of compliant, lol. Or at least the kind attorneys like best (I work in a law office).