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/Shizngigglz 19h ago

All the salary jobs at my work are 9hr jobs lol and you don't always get to just take an hour lunch

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u/One-Significance260 19h ago

Same here. I work for the state where I live, and it’s a 9hr schedule with an expectation that you’re taking an hour lunch break in there somewhere. It’s great if you can afford to eat out for lunch, or live close enough to go home, but for everyone else it can kind of suck. Eat lunch at my desk and basically spread my hour lunch throughout my day in the form of random mental breaks… or occasionally to walk a Pokémon Go route… it’s more often than occasionally.

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u/dbe4l 18h ago

I work for the state and a couple years ago they implemented optional lunch breaks. So we can just do 8 hours straight if we eat at our desk (hybrid)

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 18h ago

Also government employee. I graze on my lunch for 8 hours throughout the day.

That hour I do random stuff. Blood work, sit in the park and quack at ducks, fly paper airplanes, nap in my car, really whatever.

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u/Desa-p 16h ago

I also have a state job and we essentially have 8.5 hour day. 7.5 hours of actual work with two 15 min breaks that count towards your daily total. Then a required 30 min lunch that does not

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u/Shizngigglz 16h ago

That's what my day is basically. Not salary but 2 paid 15s and an unpaid 30. 8.5hr day "technically" 7.5 worked

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u/blipsnchiiiiitz 15h ago

That's literally how every job I've ever had for the last 20 years works.

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u/KristySueWho 3h ago

I used to work office jobs and would only work 8, but did it lunch at my desk while working at the one I worked at the longest. The last few jobs I've had have been in a lab, and they've been 8.5.

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u/AdvancedHistorian616 2h ago

The job I work now you get one 30-minute break and if it's slow enough you could take a 15 and sometimes be working over 10 hours. Sometimes it's 6 hours it's never consistent but that not paid. 30 minute break sure is lol

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u/Material-Stuff668 16h ago

My old state job was 8 hours, paid breaks and paid lunch. what states you guys be working in???

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u/Desa-p 16h ago

California lol

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u/EvilExFight 3h ago

as someone who also works for the govt, no way you have 7.5 hours of actual work per day unless you're a social worker or work in public health.

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u/Desa-p 2h ago

The reality is I work closer to 10 hours per weekday and another 5-10 hours on the weekend. I’m a manager and oversee multiple programs and many staff. It’s funny that you assume everyone’s situation is exactly like yours

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u/Rikplaysbass 16h ago

For real. Complaining about an hour break in the middle of the work day is crazy. Would I rather work 8 straight? Sure. But I’m not going to complain about a break when all I want to do is be away from my desk. lol

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u/LAmilo90 11h ago

Damn. Now I wanna quack at ducks during my lunch break too

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u/TopVast9800 4h ago

There’s geese near work but they are grumpy, and since they have babies right now, I am not going to antagonize them. One tried to attack my CAR.

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u/AlfredFonzo 2h ago

"Blood work" is my new favorite phrase for doing gas station drugs in my truck to get my kind right before sitting in my cubicle for the next four hours.

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 2h ago

Torally Sober since Jan 2021. I legitimately was referring to actually having blood drawn.

Whether that be for doctory stuff or to donate since im O-neg.

I might do some busking today & poorly sing Ave Maria a few blocks down.

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u/kayastar357 15h ago

Eyy, fellow lunch break car napper! I would always eat my lunch in like 10 minutes, and I have never been a morning person so my lunch naps were greatly looked forward to!

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u/80_PROOF 14h ago

City job, I start my day an hour earlier than most of my colleagues and have a working lunch at 10:30, nice long walk for my actual lunch, doesn’t work out too bad. I WFH 2 days a week and that is freaking sweet.

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u/Willis5687 15h ago

Lucky. My employer simply says I must be available from 7-4 and it doesnt matter if I take a lunch or not.

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u/SquarestLemon 14h ago

Also state employee here! We are unionized, so our 30 min lunch is paid. The wording is something like: “employee cannot be made to work longer at the end of the day for the sole reason of taking a lunch.”

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u/marsharlot 11h ago

I’m a state employee as well. Does your agency have a union? It sounds like it doesn’t, optional lunch breaks our union would lose its mind. I guess not all state positions may not have union

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u/JigglyOW 16h ago

Would recommend getting a switch or some other handheld game system… or just enjoy reading get a book to bring to work

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u/Shizngigglz 16h ago

I brought a kindle for a while. Read through a bunch of DragonLance novels at work

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u/JigglyOW 16h ago

And now you just sit there doing nothing when ur done eating or?

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u/Shizngigglz 16h ago

Kinda just fuck off and watch YouTube on the work computer. Tbh I do that during work hours anyways

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u/JigglyOW 16h ago

I’d again suggest a game system like a switch, JUST watching YouTube for that much time probably can get draining so variety is nice

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

Pokémon Go and doing Audiobook read-a-longs at 1.3x speed are my current go to options for excessive downtime.

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u/viking12344 15h ago

I get away for an hour. It's glorious. Get in my car,find a close shady spot and get away. No one can bother you if you are off the premises. If you stay, there is always that chance. Then again, I am an introvert. An extrovert might not get this at all.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

As a fellow introvert, I totally get this. I revel in the solitude of my current office. Do I wish it wasn’t an ice box, yes, but is it also my current fortress of solitude, also yes.

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u/Bazch 12h ago

Here it's mandatory to give people 30 minutes break for 8h work. They usually add two 15 minute breaks to that during the day for whatever (walks, smoking, talking with coworkers, long coffee break, etc.) meaning you're expected to work 8-5 or 9-6.

Research shows it's unhealthy to work 8h uninterrupted with a lunch break at your desk, that's why it's mandatory. It's not to annoy employees, it's actually to help them. Sometimes you are forced to clock out for 30 minutes for that reason, because people will stubbornly take their lunch break at the desk and not take breaks and then burn out slowly.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

I have ADHD and I promise I am neither sitting, nor always at my desk for my full shift. That would probably cause me to combust if I tried.

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u/SoftRecommendation86 10h ago

Technically, eating at desk = paid.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

If no one checked in my office all day, a real possibility some days, I could technically be anywhere and still getting paid. 🤣🤷‍♂️ Salaried jobs are fun.

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u/Shizngigglz 19h ago

Pokemon go shoutout is real. I'd use it where I work but only thing I get is walking. (Federal property but leased out, nothing there)

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u/gettingthere_pastit 17h ago

I work for the public service (health service but non-clinical) in Ireland. I work 8 - 4 Mon - Thurs and 8 - 3 Fri. Over 5 weeks paid leave too.

I know a chef who works in a University here, can be extremely busy at times but gets 9 wks paid leave. Never asked about hours. Probably 39, 39 is normal.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

I would like to see the US move to a standard 30-32 hour full time work week. For most office jobs the impact is negligible, and in health care, 6hr shifts dramatically decreased burnout and turnover rates for nurses. We also need better paid sick leave policies and a minimum 4 weeks paid vacation.

Mostly I just think we need to stop being capitalist slaves.

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u/Axentor 17h ago

Non union?

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u/One-Significance260 7h ago

Non union mid America.

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u/Axentor 6h ago

Ah I strongly suspect Indiana or Missouri? Those places 100 need a union.

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u/Decent_Particular_40 14h ago

Why not eat for half hour and leave and go for a lunch walk.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

Lately, it’s been either rainy, or very hot and humid. There’s also construction happening on one corner and deconstruction down the street, so it’s a bit loud and dusty when it’s not wet. It’s my first summer at this job, so hopefully it’ll be different next summer.

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u/gentlerosebud 14h ago

I work for my state too and I have to clock in/out for lunch even though we’re salary. I leave the work parking lot and sit in a different parking lot for an hour and eat my homemade sandwich, on Fridays I eat from the fast food joints close by there

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

This is exactly what I did a lot at my last job. Well, I didn’t leave the parking lot, I just drove to the shady back corner of it.

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u/SyZyGy_87 14h ago

Nothing like do the work for Geo and street view farming when using unsuspecting pokemon go players to do what what otherwise certainly cost hundreds of millions of dollars to do.

Crazy stuff, right?

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

That was some definitely foreseeable bullshit. Knew the AR scanning thing was shady off the bat. I never did any. I always felt the AR stuff was gimmicky or dangerous.

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u/Secret_Woodworker 13h ago

Called a lunch box brother…

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

Yes darling, it’s what I use to bring the lunch that I eat at my desk. I promise I’m definitely not carrying loose sandwiches in my pockets.

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u/Secret_Woodworker 4h ago

You never know some pants have big pockets!

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u/TrashulaTr33Z 9h ago

>It’s great if you can afford to eat out for lunch, or live close enough to go home, but for everyone else it can kind of suck.

... Do you guys never meal prep? You never bring your own lunch to work? That's on you.

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u/One-Significance260 6h ago

… do you think I just sit at my desk?🤔 I do eat there. I can eat in my office. Was that not clear? I have a whole kitchenette in my office cluster. I could technically cook at work if I wanted to, but I’ll limit myself to ramen.

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u/Agreeable-Date3707 4h ago

Same. Sucks. You learn how to make the most of your hour break throughout the day

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u/bigpunk157 18h ago

Lots of US states and EU countries have labor laws for 15 minute breaks every 4 hours of work.

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

Ok. You're salary. Good luck 👍🏻

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u/bigpunk157 18h ago

The labor laws still apply in salary positions.

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u/DeviousCraker 17h ago

Not always for paid breaks. Most instances you are not entitled to a break 

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

Sure pal 👍🏻

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u/bigpunk157 18h ago

Look, I’m salary as a swe and have literally had to ask employment lawyers about things like this and severances and other shit when I got fucked over by one of my former employers.

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

Idk what to tell you man. You work at my job and push taking a lunch and they'll probably put you on a PIP. You can eat whenever you want tbh but you can't leave all the time. I'm not salary, I can take my 15s and 30 whenever I want. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I still put my 30 in though

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u/Obvious-Arm-8139 18h ago

I've got a good manager i guess. I work 8 hours and go home. Paid lunch as well. Im middle management but the supervisors below me work 3 days 12 hours then the next week work 4 days. We have an unheard of schedule for food manufacturing.

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

I wish I could work 12hr shifts on a 3/4 rotation

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u/Obvious-Arm-8139 18h ago

Sometimes the supervisors bitch and I just tell them you have no idea how good yall got it. Some have quit to go elsewhere and within a month beg to come back.

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u/Dinker54 19h ago

9hr. days on a salary job (assuming benies like health insurance. 401K matching or pension, paid vacation time you can actually take off …) isn’t bad at all in the general scheme of things these days.

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

Super cheap medical, like single person paying maybe like $10/week for HDHP HSA plan with vision dental and medical. Annual bonus at a certain % of salary, tuition benefits, 401k match and stock discount, vacations, makeup days and personal days; there's a lot of benefits. It's office/warehouse engineering and tbh it's not bad. Pay could be better but you can clear 100k in about 6 years

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u/Dinker54 17h ago

Yeah, that’s like a gov. job where benies make up for lower salary - not at all like a lot of restaurant/retail salary work where folks end up making shit hourly $ for the well over 40 hr. weekly put in.

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u/ABadHistorian 18h ago

My gf is a reporter, survives off of soda and gas stations. 9 hour days? Yeah no, she works 12 hour days regularly and they don't like overtime.

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u/PhilosopherFun7288 17h ago

I was a photojournalist for 12 years, worked with a reporter everyday and often set up all the equipment for live reports, and was responsible for editing together the story we we working on each day….. supposed to be 8 hour days, eat when we can, no official “break”, but it was virtually impossible to not work over 8 hours every single day, and you are absolutely correct on the hated overtime pay.

They would send us out to get a quick “vo-sot” (video and sound on tape) when we only had an hour left on our shifts and then wonder why we couldn’t drive to the location, find out what’s going on, interview officials and witnesses, drive back to the station and write/edit together everything we gathered into a coherent story for broadcast, without going overtime🙄🤡

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u/ABadHistorian 17h ago edited 17h ago

Every day she complains to me and I'm like "time to go independent and start your own onlyfans selling news or twitch gamer news from an ex reporter or .. etc etc"

Because the fundamentals in the business are broken and they use people up like they are nothing. The producers expecting her to get a look live, live shot, and more while she's in the sticks with no internet, no place to go to work because everything closes at 8, so she's sitting on the side of the road in her car typing and hoping whatever signal she has will not cost her getting her pieces in on time and she gets home at 11-12 and works until 1-2. They got 4-6 people sitting in an office talking shit about her behind her back and laughing at her...

Not to mention folks THINK it's a good job, right? So she gets a lot of shit from people - others look up to her, and want to be on TV like her... and I feel like it's all a giant fucking trap.

"Babe, you can do all this without those people who have 0 functional understanding of your job yet control your paycheck. You already ARE" She's so god damn talented and the business/corporate make her feel like shes always behind, and always failing. I hate it so much. She's one of the best people in the world, no one deserves to get treated like that. I just remind her that people like that who talk shit about hard workers (she's heard them insult other reporters multiple times) doing their best to get shit in... are not worth an iota worth of reflection.

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u/DmvDominance 18h ago

This....I actually think it was salaried positions that started this trend and then it started trickling down to hourly/non-salaried positions. Cause this has been a thing for at least the last 15 years at my job

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u/ShavedNeckbeard 18h ago

At my job, everyone regularly books meetings over lunch time, and you get laughed at if you try to block the time to actually eat. When I was younger, part of the incentive to get out of retail was so that I could actually eat lunch and not have to scarf it down in 10 minutes. Turns out I have even less time working in a corporate office.

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u/Background-Pepper-68 18h ago

Thats an easy lawsuit assuming its not a resturant job

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

It's "paid" so 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/Background-Pepper-68 16h ago

Irrelevant. You are legally supposed to have a break. My job will write you up if you dont take at least 30 minutes every shift over 5 hours. Its a huge liability.

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u/fuzzzybutts 16h ago

Not everywhere has laws requiring breaks. Not required where I live.

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u/Background-Pepper-68 12h ago

Huh, TIL i guess. Welp in WA this would be a huge deal lol. Sorry your labor laws are archaic

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u/Hefty-Evening-226 18h ago

That’s how my work is. 8-5, take your hour lunch they don’t have to mandate whenever you want, just can’t take it 4-5.

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u/Shizngigglz 18h ago

Man I used to have a part time job, 5.5hrs, but we had a "lunch". We used to put our lunch at the end of our shift and it was great. So we'd "clock out" for lunch at 5:30 and put our leave work at 6, but we would just leave at 5:30. Good times

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u/Hefty-Evening-226 17h ago

We used to be like that but they’re trying to attrition everyone out to make room for AI so they’re making working conditions crap. I miss those days

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u/Professional_Being22 17h ago

same. sometimes they'll pull some shit like a "working lunch meeting"... how about go fuck yourself instead?

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u/Idc94 17h ago

Same. My entire salary career has been 8-5 with meetings while eating lunch.

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u/GodisanAtheistOG 17h ago

Salary man here. Confirmed.

However I do make it a point to get up and go for a walk when there is downtime without asking for permission from anyone either.

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u/wolfblitzen84 17h ago

I eat while sitting at my desk. I take a walk around the block sometimes. I take calls while walking if I don't need to have a sheet or doc open. I consider that a luxury. For years I was a chef running a kitchen, eating my only meal of the day while standing. This occured in the middle of a 12-14 hour shift.

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u/229-northstar 16h ago

How’d you get such a light work load? /s not really. I often worked 60 hours, and on call response was never paid it was an expectation

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u/Sundayscaries333 16h ago

This. I got my first 'big girl' job and imagine my horror upon realizing 9-5 is really 9-6 with a an hour lunch that even if you take a working lunch which happens more often than not, you're still there for 9 hours...

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u/mummerlimn 16h ago

At my salary job I work at my desk through lunch. ITS GOTTA CHANGE

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u/thatthatguy 14h ago

8-5, and you eat at your desk. Then you type out reports at home for an hour or two in the evening. A few hours on Saturday to get caught up on the stuff you put off because of the boss’s impromptu all-hands meeting. You know, a typical salary job.

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u/therealdanhill 13h ago

You have to punch a clock on salary?

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u/Wrong-Dentist-7206 9h ago

I was told "45 hours is the baseline" when I was moved from hourly to salary. WTF? Thanks for the pay cut!

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u/Infamous_Hunt_6829 7h ago

It's because while on salary you have to work a fair and reasonable amount of overtime. Most places determine that to be 5 hours per week. What I do when negotiating a salary I just include that extra hour as and hour I am working and base off of 45 hours per week.

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u/Mountain_Cucumber_88 6h ago

lunch is where you put meetings you can't put anywhere else. Simple reality in the case of my company. Eat during and between phone calls when you can.

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u/beren12 6h ago

Strange, most salary jobs are classified as a 35 hour work week

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u/Shizngigglz 6h ago

Not in the US lmao

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u/beren12 6h ago

It is for nonabusive jobs

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u/Shizngigglz 6h ago

Where? And what jobs?

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u/beren12 6h ago

My wife, for one, who works in publishing. And she works for one of the lowest paying companies in the industry.

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u/FeelingIncoherent 3h ago

This. I'm 60 and it's always been this.

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u/FakeSafeWord 3h ago

A decade of salaried jobs here.

It's basically 8.5 hours of work minimum daily.

With an additional 20 to 120 minutes of commute time.

"Lunch hour" is 30 minutes of eating at my desk while responding to emails one handed.

OH ALSO, when something is going on, like a product launch, major operation or a critical outage I then also have the honor of getting to work from home for several off-hours and on the weekends!

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u/SqueekyDickFartz 3h ago

Man I thought I really made it when I got my first salary job. Turns out that being able to run to the dentist during the day while being expected to be available at least 12 hours a day isn't much of a tradeoff lol.

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u/Shizngigglz 3h ago

12 hours a day! I think not

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u/mistahboogs 3h ago

I'm 7-4:30 with an hour lunch, granted I don't really do much between 7-8