Who ever worked 9 to 5?

[Weetabix]

I hear the phrase 9 to 5 with reference to office work, and I've always wondered when, if ever, that happened. Did they not take lunch? Did they only work 35 hrs/wk?

I've had 8-hour shifts in the past on crap jobs where you ate when you could, but never in an office.

Was it an east coast, big city thing where they took commuting into account?

Just what was it?

[HTRN]

I've worked in exactly one shop where that happened and hated it. I LIKE overtime.

[Rich]

The closer to the head office you work, the more 9-5 is likely. You see, 9-5 is for paper pushers, and not for all paper pushers. And there is the Hollywood thing, where workers always work in an office.

Now, in the real world........

[MarkD]

My very first full-time job after college was 9-5, 35 hour week. I was a programmer for the City of New York. I stayed there a year and a half, then took my first consulting gig for a 75% increase in salary.

I've mostly worked 8:30-5:00 regular hours, with a half-hour for lunch (which is why I bring my lunch). Sometimes with paid overtime, sometimes not, but with the understanding that you worked overtime if you needed to whether you got paid or not. The shittiest gig I ever had was a consulting position where (a) my project manager was also my consulting company manager, (b) the project manager decided staffing levels (c) we got paid straight-time for overtime (d) the consulting company billed the client double-time for overtime and (e) the consulting company manager got a percentage of whatever overtime we worked. He kept us intentionally short-staffed and pocketed a portion of the overtime money WE worked for. If I ever saw that man crossing a street in front of me I would make sure I hit the gas instead of the brake.

[PawPaw]

Like many of you, I don't know that I've ever had a 9-5 job. Although as a cop or a soldier for the past (my god, has it been) 37 years, I've had jobs that were close.

I had a staff job once in the Army, where after 6:00 a.m. PT, I wasn't expected back in the office till 9:00 and generally was out of the office before retreat at 1700. That lasted about a year before I went back to the companies.

As an investigator, I once had a gig where I was supposed to be in the office at 8:00 and was expected to leave at 4:00 pm, but the boss didn't mind calling me out at 3:00 a.m. if he needed me. I hate looking at corpses at 3:00 in the damned morning. you know that it's going to be a long day.

[Highspeed]

I'm 99% sure my hours at the bike dealership were 9 to 5 weekdays ( with Wednesday off in lieu of working Saturday mornings )
Saturday pay was the same as weekday pay, but getting Wednesday off effectively made it double time.

Thinking about it now, I haven't worked a regular job since 1996.

[randy]

I worked pretty much 9-5 type hours (usually more like 7-3) at different HQ staff positions. An hour or so for lunch (1.5 if you combined PT and lunch). Except for those times when we were working on special projects, deployed, participating in an exercise, preparing for a war, supporting a war, etc...

Had literally a 9-5 job when working at a small family owned computer store. We usually ate lunch at our work benches, but the boss often bought lunch and had no problems with us popping out for family situations and such.

Current job is 8-5 with an hour lunch. Unless we have meetings, activate the Emergency Operations Center, get called to support an agency on scene, have to monitor severe weather coming through the area...

Bosses attitude is that since we are on call 24/7 and can count on 18 hour days for the first couple of days of any activation, so long as we follow HR's rules he's pretty flexible on our hours.

[Jericho941]

I've been scheduled for 8-hour shifts (the assumption is that you eat while you work) but it's never worked out that way.

[Rich Jordan]

First FT salaried job with a big company on a govt. contract (1986) was 8 - 5 with one hour lunch. Second (1990 to current, scary) job started at 8:30 - 5 with one hour lunch; that stayed for about 14 years then they extended hours to 9 (gross) 8 (net) with some of us working 8 - 5 and others (me included) 9 - 6 to increase coverage to our customers. We didn't get compensated for the difference except that our vacation/sick days also became 8 hours (makes no difference on full days off but does a little if you take partials). And I never get out at 6PM anyway (though to be fair there's some flex on arrival time too, and I get to stay asleep a little later in the morning).

The crappy part about working until 6PM every day is that the weekday CE courses I'd like to take, as well as the two shooting leagues that have started up are impossible to get to when leaving that late, much less the time I usually make it out.

[blackeagle603]

An applicant once asked in an interview for our dept,
Q: "Do you work a traditional 8 hr day/40 hour week here at Company XYZ?"
A: "Oh you betcha. Pick any two 40 hour schedules you like and work 'em."

He was coming from a defense engineering company in Flintlock Tom's area that worked a 4/5/9 schedule.