To think 'I'm not a nine to five person' is a slightly pretentious thing to say.

[Vintagejazz]

No one is a nine to five person. Yes, some people are more structured than others and can conform better to that regime, - while others will always be running in the door late, forgetting to fill in time sheets and overtime claims and work better with a deadline looming than to a paced schedule.

But there's just something a bit pretentious and 'ooh look how different I am' about someone airily stating 'oh I'm not a nine to five person. I couldn't possibly work at an office job'.
Yes you could if it was the only way to pay the bills. You mightn't be very good at it but you'd bloody do your best if your mortgage and groceries were depending on it.

Sorry, just heard a student, who looked in her early twenties, on the bus coming out with this remark in a very sneery dismissive manner and it riled me

[plantsitter]

I agree. Just like people who say 'I'm a big picture person' or 'blue sky thinker' meaning they are FAR too special and important to learn how to send a fax.

[StealthPolarBear]

Hmm ikwym. Its just a way of asserting your specialness though isn't it, which people are very keen to do.

[HayDayQueen]

That is annoying.

A reply of:

'gosh, it must be so nice to have the luxury of choice'.

usually does the trick.

[NigellasDealer]

do not worry students are well known for coming out with pure shyte from their increasingly pampered perspective - real life will slap her in the face sooner or later.

[maninawomansworld]

Well fast forward 10 years and that same girl may well KILL to be a 9-5 person once she's had a decade of working 12 hour days and never seeing her family!!
Seems to me that the young and ambitious take that slightly uppity, snarky attitude as if everyone else were some sort of lazy arse for wanting a home life but most hit their 30s and think 'why the fuck did I waste all that time at work doing unpaid overtime?'

[MaidOfStars]

I'm not a 9-5 person, I'm an 11-7 person (but more often, a whenever-I-want person, never 9 am mind). But I assume the claim is less about what actual hours you work and more about your oh-so-cool, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to working which sticks two fingers up to The Man?

[StealthPolarBear]

It's the same as "ooh I could never work in an office"
need to be out there in the real world doing real stuff

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Yep totally agree OP.

Good for them if they can afford not to be.

[MrsWinnibago]

I'm not a 9 to 5 person. I don't go around saying it but I'm not and never have been.

I've always had part time evening jobs or worked for myself so I can choose the hours...and yes, I DO have bills to pay. I've just arranged my life so that I don't "have" to work 9-5.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

So what are the shift patterns at McDonalds?

[ComeHeather]

"I really only do the strategic leadership stuff"= don't expect me to put more paper in the photocopier even when it was me that used up all the stuff in there. And I won't be making a round of tea either. I will just mainly be focussing on me. Cos I am key to the brand.

Etc etc until everyone else in the office dies of boredom or implodes with irritation.

[EduCated]

YANBU, I still struggle with 9-5 and making myself fit to that schedule, and am lucky to be in a job that gives me a degree of flexibility on it. My ideal schedule would be more like 11-7. But hey, that's life an I just have to suck it up and get over it.

The people I've come across who come out with gems like that tend to be lazy sods.

[flipchart]

If its meant sneery then YANBU. However I am happy to say Minot a 9/5 person. I have done the Monday to Friday bit and hate it. For most, but not all, of the last 30 years I have been working I have done mostly shifts which include 7.00 m starts and midnight finishes and work 3 weekends out 5.

I like having a couple of days off mid week when it's quiet and early finishes or later starts so I avoid rush hour.

I am not a 9/5 person and proud ( but not pretentious!)

[Summerbreezing]

It's the kind of rubbish you often hear zelebs coming out with as well. Most of them, if they hadn't been prepared to debase themselves on Big Brother or whatever, would have been lucky to get any kind of a job never mind a regular one with regular pay.

It's an idiotic thing to say. And yes, it's usually people trying to convince themselves they're speshul.

[HeeHiles]

Ooh - I would love the luxury of a 9 - 5 job! Mine is just 6.30 am to about 11pm I'm self employed!

[StealthPolarBear]

Id like tp point out that I think chaz x posted with mrsW :o

[DoJo]

I think it's fine to aspire to something better than what you perceive to be a boring/unfulfilling/stifling job. Circumstances may change and you may not be able to live your dream without some compromises, but if you don't try you will never manage it.
I'd be more concerned about getting this riled by an overheard remark from someone you have never met on a bus though - perhaps she had just left a soul-crushing 9-5 job for something a bit more stimulating and was glad to see the back of it.

[sezamcgregor]

Just wait to see that student in a few month's time when they can't get a job even thought they are armed with a degree working 13 hour shifts in a pub and would do anything to get a regular job with regular hours - and a Friday night off!!

They're right - they can't work 9-5 ;)

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

Hideous.

It's exactly the sort of thing I used to say.

[Summerbreezing]

I always hated working 9 to 5 and was even worse with flexi time as I was crap at keeping records, updating my clock etc. But that wasn't because I was special and different, it was because I was just crap at it. But I still had to hold down a 9-5 type office job for years, whether I liked it or not, because I needed the money. And during those years I met organised structured people, disorganised forgetful people, creative types, intellectual types, sociable types, total introverts etc etc etc

There's no typical 9-5 person, whatever the 'I'm too cool to work in an office' types like to think.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Ideally i'd be a 9.30- 1.30 with all school holidays off person but i dont think i'm alone on that one

[BeCool]

I've come to love love love the 9-5 thing. All nicely packaged up so work doesn't interfere with my non-working life. I would prefer 9.30 - 2.30 but don't fancy my chances.

The woman you overheard was being a dick in a way that only pretentious 20-somethings can be.

[BeeBlanket]

I arranged my life so I didn't have to work 9-5, going freelance because like maidofstars I'm an 11-7, or even 12-8 person. Or in fact, just a late person. Left to myself I like to sleep late, start work late, and then I really get into the swing of work around 3-4pm and work like a demon until 7/8, then eat late and go to bed late. Me and DP are similar so we used to be up at 1 or 2am doing creative stuff, chatting and pottering.

For 10 years it was lovely because I could work to my rhythm. Then I had DC and I have to fit in with the 9-5 because of school and nursery. The part of my day when I would naturally be most productive is now spent haring around doing pickups, trying to cook tea and marshal squabbles. I have to tear myself away just as I'm really getting going.

I don't at all regret having a family, but that aspect of it is really hard. I don't go around saying "I'm not a 9-5 person" but god I miss that amazing burst of productivity and the feeling of being able to work with my natural clock.

I agree we all have to suck it up but I do think different people have different natural timetables.

[HolidayArmadillo]

Having done 8 years of shift work I'd struggle doing mon-fri 9-5 these days and have indeed not gone for promotions knowing that's what it would entail. I suppose it depends how it is said, I'm lucky that due to shift work I always work less days per week than I have off, I wouldn't like to go back to having just Saturday and Sunday off again, I'm not a 9-5 person anymore, however I don't look down on anyone who is, I envy them at times going Home to their family every night and being able to plan stuff in advance, I just couldn't put those hours in anymore, doesn't make me or them a bad person, just different!

[runningonwillpower]

Anyone who defines themselves as a 'I am/not a type or person who....' tends to be a prat.