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

It's the sort of silly pretentious nonsense that we hear from students everyday, tbh. We all just ignore them and smile smugly and wait until we are asked to write their references for boring corporate office jobs, or jobs in the pharma industry. My colleagues in the Arts and Humanities departments get even more laughs as it seems that a fair few deluded students there are convinced they are going to "be discovered" and never end up teaching....hmm...

On another note, I remember my Dad telling me that his father (who was a member of the aristocracy) calling him "terribly provincial" for becoming a History teacher (even worse, in a state school!!), whilst completely ignoring the fact that he had to earn a living because his father had gambled everything away and couldn't afford the repairs on the family estate so it ended up being sold to the dreaded nouveau riche.

Sorry...off on a tangent there a bit!

I work unsociable shifts and personally would never choose to work mon to fri 9-5, of course I would if I had no other option. However many people say to me that they couldn't work nights/earlies etc, "I'm not a morning person" for example. Are they being pretentious too?

I am definitely not a nine to five person, nor pretentious. just a lazy bugger

I think the pretentiousness comes in when it's an overall dismissal of working in a structured job with set hours. People tend to us 9-5 as a catch all phrase but they often really mean anyone who works set shifts in a structured environment with rules and procedures.
I would say a very large percentage of people find that regime quite frustrating and would like more flexibility in the way they live their lives. But some people do seem to feel that feeling that way makes them special or different or interesting. It doesn't. They're just like an awful lot of people.

I am a full time student and I am not a natural 9-5 person, I don't have a choice because of college. I have profound dyslexia, ADHD, mild Dyspraxia and Asperger's syndrome and cannot imagine working in an office everyday because of this. Everything from being inside all day to the types of lights used and the reading and communication problems I have. However I know that for what I want out of life I will have to endure until I have the ability to choose. I have two years of college then four years of university then hopefully if it all pays of a graduate police job that lasts 3 years and involves three years of practical and theoretical testing in everything from communication to maths and law. I know it will be difficult but if it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing. Communication is a skill and can always be improved and there is help available for the reading and writing part of the exams. It irritates me when other students do and say things like that because its crap if you don't think that you can handle a normal 9-5 day then try to get a job doing night shift or work from home if you cant do that suck it up get a different when you can.

Oh I am SUCH a 9-5 person! Love finishing work at a decent time, popping the shops or going out for tea, couple of hours in the garden, kids in bed then snuggle down with the tv. Had many jobs that were shifts and I could not hack going to work when other people were coming home. I love routine and order.

I am not a 9-5 person. I am an 11ish to 3 person (as in I could get all my work done in that time and have to make work for myself), who has to work in a 9-5.30 job.

I kind of thought NOBODY liked working 9-5 every week... it's just such a waste of time (depending on your job, of course :p)

It's the worst! She'll learn though. She's part of the lost generation that is likely to be lucky to even have the chance to be a nine to five person.

I wonder how many of our forefathers and mothers were saying, ooh I'm not really a working at the mill/in the field/in service kind of person.

Or down t'pit in our area.

I am seriously struggling to see how saying your not a 9-5 person is pretentious.

Me and a friend both said this to each other way back in college and both have career paths that are not the typical 9-5 role, varying from day to day. We weren't being pretentious just the paths we chose are not 9-5 typically.

I'm a 9-5 rule person, insomuch as I like regular routine.

DH could never thrive like that! He doesn't do routine, couldn't work in one place, couldn't take orders or do the corporate thing.

YABU

"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"

It was only a student and they are young and can say sneery, stupid stuff. I know I did when I was a student and I cringe about it now. It is no big deal.

I hate it even more when people use that phrase to explain their 7:30am to 7:30pm (or longer) work habit - "I'm just not a nine to fiver - I put in the hard slog unlike you slackers". Half the people doing that will genuinely be working hard (and have no time to make such comments) but the other half are just exhibiting presenteeism thinking it makes them a more effective, valuable employee (whilst they spend a lot of their time twiddling their thumbs or interfering in other people's work).

"DH could never thrive like that! He doesn't do routine, couldn't work in one place, couldn't take orders or do the corporate thing."

Does he have a job?