When and how did “eight-to-four” become the standard daily working hours over the traditional “nine-to-five” in North America?
The real question for me is where is 9 to 5 the standard. All my life it’s been 8 to 5. Is this a Texas thing?
Has it? I hadn’t noticed.
I’m another one questioning where 8 to 4 has become standard. Among govt workers (and probably some non-govt workers as well), it seems the standard is 8 AM to 6 PM and a 9-8-0 schedule (nine hours a day for 4 days of the week, and for the fifth day of the week it’s 8 hours alternating with getting the day off). BTW, 8-6 is a nine-hour work day because on a 1-hr lunch.
I think that “9 to 5” just sounded better in the song. It assumes an 8 hour day but forgets that lunch hour is not paid for. Nothing is said about the “7 to 3:30” day which blue collar workers deal with all the time. On top of that are the retail workers that sometimes have to go in as early as 5:00 AM or may not get off until 10:00 but not in the same day. Retail workers and others work on swing shifts which really test the physical and mental condition of those involved. It is like the expression 24/7, which hardly ever is appropriate to the situation, but sounds good anyway.
Much of the world does not understand what workers in the US consider routine. How many people in the US would put up with shops being closed in the afternoon and then reopening for just a couple of hours? How many Americans think they should have anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks off for vacation? How many Americans would like accepting that it is August so everything will be closed?
In big cities, most notably, New York City, work hours were staggered to relieve rush hour traffic and public transportation congestion. So, depending on the requirements of your job, you may work 8-4, 8:30-4:30, 9-5, 9:30-5:30 or 10-6, which are the most common shifts.
I wouldn’t say that any of them is more prevalent than the others and the majority of shifts still fall between a starting time of 8:30 to 9:30.
No, the phrase “9 to 5” was already in wide circulation before the song. That’s why the song worked without having to explain it - it was already understood that this means an hourly office job.
However, I’ve been in the professional world since I graduated from college 21 years ago, and have never known a person to actually work 9 to 5. The standard office job is 8 to 5 as far as I know.
And where, pray tell, is this?
Aside from the vacation issue, business hours in pretty much every major city in the industrialized world are standard. I know of none that close everything in August.
And I’ve never worked anything except 9-5 in real jobs (not counting that high school retail junk). And most of the people I know work those hours, excepting my teaching and nursing friends.
Umm… me, for one. The two-weeks of vacation a year thing is criminal. How are you supposed to be able to spend any time with your family? And then also be able to spend some time alone, too. At what point does the mindless pursuit of the Almighty Dollar override family values?
(I’ll answer that myself. In the USA, that point is at the beginning, end, and every point in between.)
As per the OP-- the “normal” working hours in the U.S are 9-6 pr 8-5 AFAIK.
Well, I seem to remember that in Germany things kind of shut down on Mondays, but I don’t remember how the hours on other days worked, and don’t recall August affecting anything. I was there in early 70s…things may not be like that now.
A large part of France is closed during August.
I work 9-5… This 8-5 everyone’s talking about is news to me… sounds like you’re getting ripped off!
Americans definitely don’t get enough vacation time. Having the month of August off sounds so civilized.
I don’t claim to be an expert, but I recall having a heck of a time conducting business in Rome. Many places were closed Sunday, one or two random other days of the week, afternoons for an hour or three, and every damn Catholic holiday.
According to my German teacher, stores in that country close at around 6pm on Saturdays and reopen on Monday.
People who work 9-5 either:
a) work less than full time (35 hours a week)
b) get paid for lunch
Most jobs I’ve had have a 1/2 or 1 full hour unpaid lunch period. Some jobs, where you’re required to be “on duty” at all times and can’t be relieved, must give paid lunch periods (since you’re eating and working). For example, when I worked at 7-11 I had no (unpaid or otherwise) lunch period, since I was there alone. My current job, swing-shift sysadmin at a 24/7 data center, has 10x4 shifts with no unpaid lunch period. If I went to day shift, I’d be scheduled 9x5 or 11x4 hours with an unpaid lunch hour.
I think if you go back to the 1880-1910 period in the US, you would not find a 40 hour work week. And no 9-5 for most of the population.
Here in Saskatchewan, Canada in the early '70s, stores that opened on Saturday usually closed on Monday to make up for it. Needless to say, everything was closed on Sunday. Those days seem pretty quaint now.
Also, my vote is for everybody who works nomal office hours, except a few oddballs, works from 8:00 to 5:00 but everybody understands the expression “9 to 5” which did indeed predate the Dolly Parton song and similarly titled movie. 8 to 4 sounds like people sneeking out early.
I think its weird that people in the US get so little time off. In Ireland, the mandatory minimum time off is 20 days a year = 4 weeks at least. Many places give more. And that doesn’t count the 9 public holidays.
Bog standard office day over here is 09:00 - 17:30 which means everyone is trying to get in/out at exactly the same time. Thank og I’m not in London any more* it’s bad enough around here. The roads are packed up until 9 o’clock and clear at 9:10. And the same thing happens at 5:30. Stupid.
*It’s been a while since I’ve had to commute in London, any Londoners wanna fill us in on what it’s like now? Has Red Ken made a difference?
I can also attest to much of Europe being shut down in August. It’s not a good month to vacation there for Americans. And I’ve never worked one of those mythical 9-5 jobs, but I’ve heerd tell of um.