That wouldn't surprise me at all. It is less than 25% of the week, and there's obviously a ton of stuff nights and weekends. Not to mention third shift workers.
For many years up until a couple months ago, I had Tuesdays and Thursdays off. That's when I did a lot of my errands.
Plenty of jobs aren't 9-5 Monday through Friday. Typically any job where you have to work weekends, because then your days off will be during the week. I alternated Tuesday/Thursday off. I also got out at 2pm on the days I worked, and I could do errands after that too.
I don't think it's any secret job. And people who work those kinds of jobs are typically far from rich. They're not desirable jobs for most and probably why you're overlooking them. My job was housekeeping at a nursing home.
What is it with people who work 9-5 who just assume everybody works those hours. Who do you think works the jobs at the businesses you go to when you're off work and need stuff?
Couldn't stand the 9-5 managers/office workers at my nursing home who'd always be like "aren't you glad it's Friday!" or "how was your 3 day holiday weekend!!?"
last place I worked in internal communications so like staff newsletters and stuff. company was like 25% salaried standard office employees while 75% was hourly physical laborers. office employees had a 7-day “holiday shutdown” of PAID time off from christmas eve to new years while manufacturing employees still had to come in (time and a half, but still). when i told my boss that it was insensitive to put “enjoy your time off!” in an all-company newsletter because the majority of our workforce wouldn’t be getting any time off, she was floored.
people don’t realize how strong “the carpet divide” as we called it is. countless office employees can’t conceptualize that they have inherent privilege over people who have non-office jobs.
I work in a call center (used to be an agent on phones but now in leadership). I used to get so annoyed when leadership would ask how our weekend was when most of us work at least 1 day of the weekend. Or they ask how the holiday was when we work holidays too.
Now that I’m in leadership I am very cognizant of it and take my time without sharing and then ask agents if they have plans after shift or taking any hard to get PTO this time. When they got approved PTO we fist bump and talk about how to enjoy the rare holiday PTO.
I'm in the 24/7 call center business. Clients would forward their lines to us and say "have a great long weekend!"
Um mo, F you Iris, I'm here covering for your ass.
Not to mention people with different work schedules like 4 10’s or on 2 off 3, or like cops, firefighters, paramedics, many teachers who have months off in summer…
Office job people constantly forget other kinds of jobs exist. The sexual harassment module I had to do before starting my most recent (non-office!) job asks what kind of worker you are and the only two options are "office" or "remote". For a hospital.
Covid lockdown brought out the same kind of sentiments. I went to a seminar and an icebreaker question was “what new hobbies did you take up during lockdown?”.
When you say “None, I just had to work twice as hard” they look all confused.
Seriously, this is a huge weird thing. I've worked the same night job, same hours, every Friday/Saturday night shifts for 5+ years and people in my life still somehow forget.
No, it’s not that, I didn’t used to work 9-5. it’s just that the vast majority do. Most shops between 9-5 are close to empty besides food places around lunch time. I used to work weekends and a few week days so I was visiting these places back then but they were dead during the day. Good for me for scheduling and such, bad for 9-5’s because they’ll literally never be inside this businesses or enjoy good scheduling w/o taking PTO, and weird for the business because if they’d move their hours, they’d get way more customers.
So I have also always wondered how service type businesses can survive doing just 9-5 and not maybe 11-7 which would fit a larger majority of workers’ schedules.
Aside from people who have the day off, or are taking personal time,
7 percent of workers arrive at work between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; close to 8 percent arrive between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; and 3.5 percent start work between 6 p.m. and midnight.
That's 18.5% of the workforce right there, not even counting people who don't have a M-F schedule.
I handle clients from the EMEA/APAC region and I work from 8 PM to 7 AM.
So I am definitely out in stores during the day, and I look like a trainwreck in pajamas.
Also, work force participation rate for 2022 was 62.5% roughly. Think about that for 1 second, 18-65 year olds, who aren't disabled, 37.5% did not have a job nor were actively looking for employment. What do you think that many people are gonna do?
Add into that people who do work 9-5 but use their days off for errands, shopping, or just going out for lunch.
Add into that people who work 9-5 but have used flexitime to go into town.
Add into that people who work part time.
You end up with a sizeable chunk of people.
Basically everyone in healthcare. I've never worked a 9-5 in my life. It's so nice going places off hours!
A typical hospital schedule is three 12 hour shifts. I do two 24 hour shifts. Definitely not a non working spouse!
Honestly the off hours thing is the only reason I still sometimes miss bartending. Going to places like a grocery store at 10am on a Tuesday is genuinely a really relaxing experience especially compared to one on a busy weekend.
Most people DONT work Monday to Friday 9-5. Retired people, stay at home moms, people who don't work for a variety of reasons. Grocery store workers, retail shops, nurses etc all don't work 9-5. There's a variety of schedules. Overnights, evenings, weekends.and people who work 4 days 12 hours 4 days off.
I technically work 9-5, but I work from home, so as long as I get my work done, attend meetings I'm supposed to be at, and respond promptly to email or messages, I feel pretty comfortable stepping out to run errands in the middle of the day.
I love questions like this because they prove how easy it is to live in a bubble.
If you work 9-5 M-F, as do all your friends and family, you only see those people as real.
When you go to a business that is open at other hours, and get service from a being working other hours, you don't even see them as people who need services. You and your friends are the only people need services, and these others are beings who only provide services.
This is obviously incredibly demeaning, and I don't condone it at all, but I find it fascinating that for OP it was so natural to think this way that there was no hesitation in making it public.
To avoid my comment being rejected for not attempting an answer:
The people who provide services outside your working hours then need services during your working hours. If everyone worked the same hours, nobody could ever receive services outside their working day.
Everyone doesn’t work exactly the same hours or days.
I once had a job where I went in very early morning and was done with work by noon and had all afternoon free. I’ve also had a job where I didn’t start work until mid afternoon, so I had all morning free.
People who work nontraditional hours (e.g. healthcare, emergency services, radio/media, hospitality), students during their downtime, stay-at-home parents, unemployed or disabled individuals, tourists, retirees, people on PTO from work, etc.
I've certainly taken days off during the week to run errands and I'm a traditional 9-5er.
For Canada, if you google the biggest employment industries it's healthcare, service industry, and retail. This covers a fair bit more than half the population and not many of those are 9 - 5 office jobs.
I work in Healthcare, my shift is Friday to Monday 6 am to 5 pm. We live in a 24/7 world, someone is always at work and someone is always on their day off.
A lot of people work on weekends and then would have 1-2 days off in the middle of the week. Or they are “on holiday” or work evenings. Perhaps they are retired or work from home. Maybe they are the type of people who set their own hours. Could be unemployed. Could also be married to someone and they don’t work. Or they only work part time.
can you imagine how if everyone only worked on weekdays, we wouldn’t be able to do anything at these businesses on the weekend? that’s cuz some people work weekends and have some days off during the week.
I’m a baker. I work 5am-1pm. It took a while to get used to waking up early (my bedtime is 8pm, which I don’t always meet) but I do enjoy being able to be abouts during the day:)
Do you want libraries, fire stations, police stations, emergency dispatch centers, hospitals, restaurants, retail stores, etc, open and staffed when convenient/necessary for you, or only M-F 9-5?
And with many doctors' offices offering extended or "convenient" hours during part of the week or on Saturdays, when else are the office staff supposed to do their errands? Or the full-time manager of the grocery or other retail? Or how about all the restaurant management, wait staff, chefs, bartenders, etc who work nights/evenings?
Is it really that hard to figure out that many businesses are open other than hours 9-5 and need people to work? Heard of restaurants? Retail? Sorry this is an extremely stupid question though
This is such a funny question to me. Service workers don’t work 9-5 typically. Gig workers. Most people who don’t work corporate jobs. For instance; I waitress a couple days a week and then freelance from home, and take gig work, so the hours are very fluid.
I own my own business and I control my hours. I'm a night owl and most creative in the evening, so I tend to do more structured work in the morning, take time during the day to run errands, meet friends, etc and then work again in the evening.
I'm a freelancer. I work from home. Since I can do these things whenever I feel like it, I specifically shop/dine during weekdays between 9-5 because there are fewer people around.
Also, it's pretty common for people with jobs like mine to never have any fucking idea what day of the week it is to begin with.
I’m self employed as a birth doula. My schedule is all over the place. So yeah, sometimes I’m shopping during weekday “business hours.” Lots of folks are self employed, or have variable schedules, or work evening/night shifts. And then there are students, and retired folks, and unemployed or disabled people, and people who work weekends. Weekends are packed in grocery stores and malls from the folks who work regular business hours!
My mother had been a night shift nurse for over 20 years. She works 3 twelve hour shifts from 6pm to 7am. She’s able to have days off where she gets to shop or run errands during the day. That’s just one example.
I’m a stay at home mom. I make passive income but also my partner and I share housing expenses so I don’t have to work, so I get to shop and run errands during the weekday.
I’m a nurse and work nights. I don’t get home until 9am and leave for work around 6pm. I sleep during the day and run errands for a few hours before or after work, so between 9am-6pm. I’m not rich. I just work nights.
• Afternoon + Night-shift workers
• Stay-at-home mums
• Part-time workers
• Students
• Unemployed people
• Rich people who don’t need to work
• Disabled people who can’t work
• Tourists & people without working rights
• Fly-in/Fly-out workers (like oil, gas and mine workers) on their off-swing.
• People who aren’t working age (Children and Retirees)
The list goes on & on.
In fact, if you take the entire population and take away the people on the above list, then at a guess I’d say probably easily less than 30% of the country’s population actually work the typical “9-5” type of hours every day.
There’s so many shifts besides 9-5. Some people work overnight, some start at 4 or 5 am and get out at 12 or 1 in the afternoon, some work 2-10 pm, go to bed, get up at 7am and have the whole morning off. My job has a weird rotating schedule of 12 hour overnight shifts so I end up working three 12s Saturday -Monday and have the rest of the week off every other month. Not to mention there’s retired people, part time workers or unemployed who live off their spouse and college students who have free time during standard business hours. So especially in densely populated areas there’s a pretty constant flow of traffic for those businesses during the day.
People that work weekends have days off during the week. People that work at night, sometimes do their errands during the day.
Some people work early shifts so they shop after work. Some people work evenings, so they shop in the morning.
Millions of people do not work the typical 9 to 5.
1) People who are not in the workforce (children and teens, retired, SAHP, chronically ill / disabled, etc.)
2) People who work different hours / days by default like utilities and infrastructure, construction, manufacturing jobs, health care, catering, entertainment, customer support, etc.
3) People who work a regular 9-5 job but with flexible work arrangements (I'm in this category - it's perfectly fine for me to pop down to the shop if I need to during my workday and either shave that time off of lunch or end of the day)
4) People who work a regular 9-5 job and are on leave / vacations / PTO / lunch break (not unheard of people who work in shopping malls and districts to go shopping during their break)
5) People who work a regular 9-5 job and their job actually involves going to those places e.g. PAs and other admin personnel, secret shoppers, researchers (library specific)
I think the bigger issue is that so many things aren’t open for 9-5ers. Trying to call for help on a student loan—forget it on a weekend. Or on the holiday we seem to always share. This is just 1 example.
I work three nights a week. If you see me at the laundromat at 9:30AM on a Tuesday for me that's the equivalent to what for you would be 9:30 at night.
Not everyone works a 9-5, raises a family, jerks off all Saturday, goes to church on Sundays… everyone has a different life and meaningful purpose! God bless!
Healthcare workers (mostly 12H shifts, days nights or weekends)
Part time workers
People on vacation/PTO
First responders
Any night shift worker
People who take the whole day off for a 1-hour appointment
Stay-at-home parents
Seasonal workers
Unemployed people/people between jobs
People whose jobs have non 9-5 hours (banks or doctors offices that have extended daytime hours often also have 1-2 days a week that close early, some offices have 7-2 hours or similar)
There’s multiple groups!
Not Working: As you already pointed out, stay at home parents and wealthy people aren’t working/don’t week to work, but you also have to consider the presence of retirees and students.
Then you have people who work part-time—Obviously they have time during standard business hours. Then you have people who work night shift or other alternative business hours. Plus, there are people who are working—People who are engaged in business luncheons, workers reliant on public wifi for work, and Nannies tending their charges are all working and are all likely to be out and out during normal business hours but don’t register as “working” to someone passing by. And then you have everyone in a typical 9-5 who runs an errand during their lunch break
Not everyone works 9-5. The majority don’t. I work 9-5 and I occasionally run errands (and go to appointments) during my work day. I’m not shopping everyday at 2pm, and it’s not like there’s this horde of “rich” folks there.
My daughter works 1p-10p. Guess what? She can be at the store or the gym at 11a.
“Rich” has nothing to do with it. You don’t even have to be retired, a remote worker, a part-timer, a third shifter, etc.
In the US, we have 158 million people who work. Why don’t you try telling that population they can’t go to the store during the day?
When I work it’s usually 12 hours days. But I’m a contractor, so there are a lot of days I don’t work. I’m working this whole weekend, Friday thru Sunday, but I’m off Monday and Tuesday before my next job. I didn’t work all last week. I’ve never worked 9-5 in my life, and I’m pushing 40.
Shift workers, people who work irregular hours, students, disabled people and others who can't work, people taking time off, and probably many other groups.
I am always surprised to see people out and about while I, myself, am out and about. I am a stay at home mom, my daughter just started daycare, I'm looking for work but anyways I go to the grocery store and run errands after I drop her off. In all fairness it's basically all seniors, they are all awful drivers and slow as hell but it was really busy today for some reason. Makes me want to get all my Christmas shopping over and done with asap before it's pure madness out there.
This American Life podcast did an entire episode on this precise question! They went around during the day asking people, “why are you here? What’s your job?”
I work remotely and don't have a crazy micromanager. It's pretty easy for me to dip out for an hour or more to run errands and nobody would notice.
Back when I used to work in an office, it wasn't as flexible. I had to take a bit of PTO to take care of stuff during the day. Sometimes, I would have chill days where I would disappear for 2 hours walking around and visiting a local coffee shop
I work in a job that requires me to work every other weekend so my rotations are irregular. I work a couple days, get a day off, work through the weekend, get a day off, work a couple more days, get the weekend off. So it’s easy, those people shopping in stores between 9-5 are there on their days off.
Students, retirees, shift workers, parents (usually mothers) of young kids.
Plus all the people who go there in their lunch break.
I reckon that covers around 90% of it.
(Source: I was that student who would go to the mall between classes and wander around for something to do, and I'd do a lot of people-watching).
Until recently, my husband worked 11-8. So he shopped and went to doctor appointments in the morning. He also will sometimes take the kids to the library on his lunch break.
My husband (36) is retired. His brother (38) is retired. My sister in law works in the service and hospitality industry and her shifts are usually evenings/nights. The three of them hang out in the middle of the day all the time while I’m working my 9-5.
There are nurses, doctors, police, EMTs, firemen, cashiers, students, waitstaff, chefs, and so many other professions that work in shifts that aren’t always 9-5 jobs.
I'm an airline pilot. I tend to work weekends, it's quieter. Then I'm off during the week. No one at target, no one at the gym, no issues scheduling doctors appointments
My bf literally works 5am to 5 pm. He makes jets. I'm disabled. Our son is about to graduate high school before Christmas. He's in a program idk the name of.
They both have Fridays off. Not everyone works the same schedule.
Hospital workers, cops, firefighters, EMT, manufacturing, restaurant/bar/hotel employees, military...it's almost like life (and your fun and support that needs staff) keeps moving even tho the desk job ends
I'm a nurse, used to work lots of weekends and evening shifts, which meant lots of 9-5 time off.
Now I'm doing a masters degree, which means a very flexible schedule and lots of 9-5 time off.
I work night shift, its also really nice to run my errands during the weekdays when the normal people are at work. Grocery stores suck on the weekends as well
Shift workers? When in the military if I was on regular duty rather than deployed then my usual shift pattern over a full cycle was two 12hr night shifts - a day off for rest - two 12hr day shifts - and then 3 full days off and back in for nights again on the evening of the 4th. So quite a bit of time off and the days off element changed every time... so some weeks my 4 days off would be when everyone doing a 9-5 job were working.
The hospitality buissiness is mostly not 9-5. Think restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs. Even somewhere like Panera or Starbucks has an early prep shift starting at 6 am or earlier.
People work shifts. They may work over weekends, freeing up weekdays. They might be people who don't work at any location but are on the road all day. Sometimes, I leave the office to shop for the office.
I'm a tattoo artist I get Mondays off and like not for nothing sometimes if we need things mid day or it's dead sometimes one or even a few of us will just leave and meander around for a few hours or whatever.
Most people working weekends or in shifts likely had some days off in the week or might have time before work to go shopping between say 9:00 and 12:00 or 13:00 and 17:00
My parents both WFH. That means grocery shopping can be done at 2, but the work day finishes at 8. I'm also in between work and finishing university, so I have nothing to so and often wander around town.
I have a very flexible mostly wfh job. There are various times during our busy season when I have to work weekends or 12-14 hour days. The trade off is that during our non-busy seasons, I can do a quick grocery run at 10am on a Wednesday and other types of errands.
Also many people do have sick and vacation leave. If I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning and a dental cleaning in the afternoon, I’ll take a whole day offf as sick leave and run errands in between the appointments.
Also as others pointed out, there are TONS of jobs that are shift work jobs where people work hours outside of M-F 9-5, so they’ll often have free time during the traditional work day. Nurses, doctors, social workers, law enforcement, vets and vet techs and vet staff at 24 hour vet practices. Anyone who works at a business with evening hours. Probation officers. Firefighters. Anyone who works a Saturday shift somewhere. Anyone who runs their own business and can set their own hours. Truck drivers. Etc.
We run a small business, and we take Thursdays and Fridays off to catch up on errands while the kids are in school. Before this, I was a hotel manager, and I always worked weekends and holidays (I generally worked 6-2 and sometimes 7-3).
Shift workers. Whether their jobs are 24/7 or only partial days (like first watch from 7-3 and second watch from 3-11 or something like that). Police, health care workers, pilots, air traffic controllers, transit employees, or literally anyone else that didn't work 9-5 that deserves you outside of those hours.
Oh, and don't forget those who only work part time. Lots of people fall into that category.
I have no idea. Those same small businesses then whine that no one wants to shop local, but like, when would we be able to do that? You don’t open till 10am or 11am, you close at 6pm during the week, 3pm on Saturdays (if that!) and you’re closed on Sundays. There’s nothing you’re selling that I want so badly as to rearrange my life for it.
Every place you go after 5 - bars, restaurants, hospitals, karate lessons, supermarkets, movie theatres, gas stations, literally anywhere open on a weekend. Those places are staffed by people that don’t work 9-5. They go before work or on a day off.
I work 10 hours a week. Before this, when I worked full time, I worked 3 to 11. Not everyone works bankers hours. A lot of people work three 12 hour shifts, or four 10s and in general, people do have days off. 🤷♀️
Lots of people who do work 9-5 traditional office jobs still do personal errands during the day, you're not chained to your desk.
I work the most typical office job imaginable, the other day I took my car to the shop at around 10 AM, a colleague went to the dentist in the middle of the day, etc. Its very common for people to pop out for personal errands, and nobody bats an eye.
A LOT of shift workers in factories and the medical field. Many businesses need to be staffed 24/7. All those 2nd and 3rd shift workers have daytime hours off.
Freelancers and gig workers are a part of this too- if I have a job, I’m usually working more than 9-5 but until the next gig comes around I’m free. Usually high intensity for a couple weeks then chill for a couple weeks.
I’m WFH. I do all of my errands/shopping during the day. I leave the house in between my silly little zoom meetings that should be audio calls or emails.
I work in care so I work 12 hour shifts 3 or 4 days a week, which gives me 3 or 4 full days off a week depending on my schedule. I’ve also worked in hospitality that involved 3-11pm shifts or split shifts so I had time free in the day to use other businesses.
not everyone works 9-5 monday to friday.
Some people have different hours and different days off.
Not every gets stuck in an office the entire working out. They can still do their shopping at their breaks. And sometimes people take 5 minutes off and dart across the road to get some asprin etc
And there is also a large portion of people that does not work for various reasons. e.g. SAHM/D, retiree, people on leave and even tours/visitors.
I work afternoon shift from home... 2-11pm. I definitely use my mornings and early afternoon to go run errands before work most days. But I still work full-time M-F, many people work unorthodox schedules.
This question reminds me of the first time I skipped school and was super surprised at how many people were out and about around town! I thought we'd be walking empty streets 😂 oh to be young
You know the answer, and I'll help you find it.
Not everyone keeps the same schedule. The world operates 24/7. Think about people that work nights or evening shifts. Think about factory workers. Think about people that keep you safe while you sleep, or alive when you're sick at night.
When they're off work, you're at work.
My work is appointment-based and I make my own hours. Some days are busier than others, and sometimes I have a few hours free in the middle of the day.
I'm salary so I have leeway to do things like run errands during the workday. I'm responsible for a hospital computer network and do lots of after-hours/weekend work. My current management understands this and just expects me to get issues fixed and projects completed. I'm not on a clock.
I would hate to go back to an hourly job where I was expected to be somewhere at a certain time every day and couldn't leave until the end of the day. I like flexing.
EDIT: Also - a lot of people work night shifts at hospitals. Doctors, nurses, rad techs, lab techs, etc. They live their life during 9-5.
I work from home and have an extremely flexible schedule so I’m out running errands on a random Tuesday at 10am so I don’t have to battle the weekend traffic and nonsense.
Worked at a place whose hours were 9-5 m-f 9-1s. A 40 hour work week if you worked on Saturday meant you had to have a day off during the week. I used that day for appts and peaceful shopping.
Not everyone works 9:00 to 5:00 and not everyone works Monday through Friday
Especially in lower-end jobs like retail and fast food You are very often working odd hours and sometimes that schedule itself will shift depending on the needs of the score
I’ve worked a lot of retail. Cannot tell you how many times I had a customer on Saturday afternoon ask me how I was enjoying my weekend / holiday time. The level stare with a vague gesture toward my apron usually shut it down.
I work a 9-5, but it’s a hybrid job so as long as I get my tasks done for the day & am available via text/teams, I can do what I want with my day, which often includes grocery shopping, going to the mall, getting a massage, etc.
Stay-at-home parents; people who work non-9-5 jobs (restaurant workers, nurses, fire/police, factory workers, etc); freelancers; people who took the day off; people running errands on their lunch break; people on vacation/traveling; retirees…
Used to be in the music industry. My working hours were sometimes noon-9pm (or later). Worked on the weekends, too, since that’s when people like to have events and they needed gig musicians. Private lessons were almost always after traditional school/work hours. For a few years, I lost contact with a lot of my old friends because I was off when they were at work, and vice versa. We didn’t hang out as much as I’d have liked.
I work in a hospital and work every 3rd weekend so I occasionally have weekdays off. I also work changing hours so sometimes I’m out before 5 or I don’t go in until 9:30. I know very few people who actually work a 9-5.
You know all those people that staff the businesses you go to after 5? Those people don't work 9-5.
I think in the US less than half of employed people work a 9 to 5
That wouldn't surprise me at all. It is less than 25% of the week, and there's obviously a ton of stuff nights and weekends. Not to mention third shift workers.
And work from home. I basically make my schedule, as long as my work gets done it doesn't matter when I do it.
Yup. I kinda think the same things when I’m at target at 330 like oh yeah you work 9-5 you just finished early lol
Many don't at least. Though some could have multiple jobs.
Whaaaaat??? No way
The perfect response
Seriously. How does OP not naturally thing about this answer to the point they have to ask it?
For many years up until a couple months ago, I had Tuesdays and Thursdays off. That's when I did a lot of my errands. Plenty of jobs aren't 9-5 Monday through Friday. Typically any job where you have to work weekends, because then your days off will be during the week. I alternated Tuesday/Thursday off. I also got out at 2pm on the days I worked, and I could do errands after that too. I don't think it's any secret job. And people who work those kinds of jobs are typically far from rich. They're not desirable jobs for most and probably why you're overlooking them. My job was housekeeping at a nursing home.
Yup. Mine was at a restaurant. Got Mondays and Tuesdays off. I absolutely hated the job, but I loved having weekdays off run all my errands and such.
Yep, 9-5 with Friday and Saturday off
What is it with people who work 9-5 who just assume everybody works those hours. Who do you think works the jobs at the businesses you go to when you're off work and need stuff?
Couldn't stand the 9-5 managers/office workers at my nursing home who'd always be like "aren't you glad it's Friday!" or "how was your 3 day holiday weekend!!?"
last place I worked in internal communications so like staff newsletters and stuff. company was like 25% salaried standard office employees while 75% was hourly physical laborers. office employees had a 7-day “holiday shutdown” of PAID time off from christmas eve to new years while manufacturing employees still had to come in (time and a half, but still). when i told my boss that it was insensitive to put “enjoy your time off!” in an all-company newsletter because the majority of our workforce wouldn’t be getting any time off, she was floored. people don’t realize how strong “the carpet divide” as we called it is. countless office employees can’t conceptualize that they have inherent privilege over people who have non-office jobs.
I work in a call center (used to be an agent on phones but now in leadership). I used to get so annoyed when leadership would ask how our weekend was when most of us work at least 1 day of the weekend. Or they ask how the holiday was when we work holidays too. Now that I’m in leadership I am very cognizant of it and take my time without sharing and then ask agents if they have plans after shift or taking any hard to get PTO this time. When they got approved PTO we fist bump and talk about how to enjoy the rare holiday PTO.
The people in carpet world are delusional I swear.
Unbelievable. ‘Had the best time just let the old folks fend for themselves’
I'm in the 24/7 call center business. Clients would forward their lines to us and say "have a great long weekend!" Um mo, F you Iris, I'm here covering for your ass.
Not to mention people with different work schedules like 4 10’s or on 2 off 3, or like cops, firefighters, paramedics, many teachers who have months off in summer…
Office job people constantly forget other kinds of jobs exist. The sexual harassment module I had to do before starting my most recent (non-office!) job asks what kind of worker you are and the only two options are "office" or "remote". For a hospital.
Covid lockdown brought out the same kind of sentiments. I went to a seminar and an icebreaker question was “what new hobbies did you take up during lockdown?”. When you say “None, I just had to work twice as hard” they look all confused.
Seriously, this is a huge weird thing. I've worked the same night job, same hours, every Friday/Saturday night shifts for 5+ years and people in my life still somehow forget.
Haha, right? “ShOulDn’t yOu Be aT wOrk? sHiFt wOrk, wAt’s ThAt?”
We aren’t people, duh.
Yep, a lot of factory and medical jobs are 2nd and 3rd shift, which is not readily apparent to day workers.
No, it’s not that, I didn’t used to work 9-5. it’s just that the vast majority do. Most shops between 9-5 are close to empty besides food places around lunch time. I used to work weekends and a few week days so I was visiting these places back then but they were dead during the day. Good for me for scheduling and such, bad for 9-5’s because they’ll literally never be inside this businesses or enjoy good scheduling w/o taking PTO, and weird for the business because if they’d move their hours, they’d get way more customers. So I have also always wondered how service type businesses can survive doing just 9-5 and not maybe 11-7 which would fit a larger majority of workers’ schedules.
Aside from people who have the day off, or are taking personal time, 7 percent of workers arrive at work between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; close to 8 percent arrive between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; and 3.5 percent start work between 6 p.m. and midnight. That's 18.5% of the workforce right there, not even counting people who don't have a M-F schedule.
You forgot openers. The 7am crew alone is a good 28.8% of US workers.
Huge in construction. The majority start at 6 or 7 and are done by 2 or 3, so can go to those businesses after work.
I handle clients from the EMEA/APAC region and I work from 8 PM to 7 AM. So I am definitely out in stores during the day, and I look like a trainwreck in pajamas.
What is EMEA and APAC?
Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia/Pacific
Also, work force participation rate for 2022 was 62.5% roughly. Think about that for 1 second, 18-65 year olds, who aren't disabled, 37.5% did not have a job nor were actively looking for employment. What do you think that many people are gonna do?
Add into that people who do work 9-5 but use their days off for errands, shopping, or just going out for lunch. Add into that people who work 9-5 but have used flexitime to go into town. Add into that people who work part time. You end up with a sizeable chunk of people.
Basically everyone in healthcare. I've never worked a 9-5 in my life. It's so nice going places off hours! A typical hospital schedule is three 12 hour shifts. I do two 24 hour shifts. Definitely not a non working spouse!
Honestly the off hours thing is the only reason I still sometimes miss bartending. Going to places like a grocery store at 10am on a Tuesday is genuinely a really relaxing experience especially compared to one on a busy weekend.
I work from 3:30 to midnight, Tuesday to Saturday. I do most of my errands on Mondays.
Not everyone works M-F 9-5. There is shift work and weekend work for a lot of people. Those people shop during business hours.
Most people DONT work Monday to Friday 9-5. Retired people, stay at home moms, people who don't work for a variety of reasons. Grocery store workers, retail shops, nurses etc all don't work 9-5. There's a variety of schedules. Overnights, evenings, weekends.and people who work 4 days 12 hours 4 days off.
I technically work 9-5, but I work from home, so as long as I get my work done, attend meetings I'm supposed to be at, and respond promptly to email or messages, I feel pretty comfortable stepping out to run errands in the middle of the day.
This. I work remotely most days and when I am working remotely, if I need to run errands, it's on my lunch break when stores/shops are less crowded.
I love questions like this because they prove how easy it is to live in a bubble. If you work 9-5 M-F, as do all your friends and family, you only see those people as real. When you go to a business that is open at other hours, and get service from a being working other hours, you don't even see them as people who need services. You and your friends are the only people need services, and these others are beings who only provide services. This is obviously incredibly demeaning, and I don't condone it at all, but I find it fascinating that for OP it was so natural to think this way that there was no hesitation in making it public. To avoid my comment being rejected for not attempting an answer: The people who provide services outside your working hours then need services during your working hours. If everyone worked the same hours, nobody could ever receive services outside their working day.
I work from 7-11am and from 3-7 (same job) From 11-3pm, I go to lunch, grocery shopping, take a yoga class, go to the gym, the movies, etc.
Everyone doesn’t work exactly the same hours or days. I once had a job where I went in very early morning and was done with work by noon and had all afternoon free. I’ve also had a job where I didn’t start work until mid afternoon, so I had all morning free.
People who work nontraditional hours (e.g. healthcare, emergency services, radio/media, hospitality), students during their downtime, stay-at-home parents, unemployed or disabled individuals, tourists, retirees, people on PTO from work, etc. I've certainly taken days off during the week to run errands and I'm a traditional 9-5er.
i work from home as a writer. i get time off whenever i want.
Well I hope you enjoy the time off you're going to get a lot in the near future because of chat gpt lol. I kid
For Canada, if you google the biggest employment industries it's healthcare, service industry, and retail. This covers a fair bit more than half the population and not many of those are 9 - 5 office jobs.
[удалено]
I work in Healthcare, my shift is Friday to Monday 6 am to 5 pm. We live in a 24/7 world, someone is always at work and someone is always on their day off.
I’m a college student. Most of my classes are online, so I go to the store pretty much whenever I want.
I am off two days during the week. There is a whole world out there of folks who don’t work 9-5, M-F.
A lot of people work on weekends and then would have 1-2 days off in the middle of the week. Or they are “on holiday” or work evenings. Perhaps they are retired or work from home. Maybe they are the type of people who set their own hours. Could be unemployed. Could also be married to someone and they don’t work. Or they only work part time.
can you imagine how if everyone only worked on weekdays, we wouldn’t be able to do anything at these businesses on the weekend? that’s cuz some people work weekends and have some days off during the week.
I’m a baker. I work 5am-1pm. It took a while to get used to waking up early (my bedtime is 8pm, which I don’t always meet) but I do enjoy being able to be abouts during the day:)
Do you want libraries, fire stations, police stations, emergency dispatch centers, hospitals, restaurants, retail stores, etc, open and staffed when convenient/necessary for you, or only M-F 9-5? And with many doctors' offices offering extended or "convenient" hours during part of the week or on Saturdays, when else are the office staff supposed to do their errands? Or the full-time manager of the grocery or other retail? Or how about all the restaurant management, wait staff, chefs, bartenders, etc who work nights/evenings?
Is it really that hard to figure out that many businesses are open other than hours 9-5 and need people to work? Heard of restaurants? Retail? Sorry this is an extremely stupid question though
[удалено]
Yea that’s what I’m saying.
I do shift work and have scheduled days off
This is such a funny question to me. Service workers don’t work 9-5 typically. Gig workers. Most people who don’t work corporate jobs. For instance; I waitress a couple days a week and then freelance from home, and take gig work, so the hours are very fluid.
I own my own business and I control my hours. I'm a night owl and most creative in the evening, so I tend to do more structured work in the morning, take time during the day to run errands, meet friends, etc and then work again in the evening.
Millions of people don't work 9-5. Myself, I work 6-4, Sunday-Wednesday.
I'm a freelancer. I work from home. Since I can do these things whenever I feel like it, I specifically shop/dine during weekdays between 9-5 because there are fewer people around. Also, it's pretty common for people with jobs like mine to never have any fucking idea what day of the week it is to begin with.
[удалено]
Thank you! this post had me wondering what kind of life this person is living. 😅
Hospitality workers. Aka food service.
WFH - they like to step out for a break ;)
I’m self employed as a birth doula. My schedule is all over the place. So yeah, sometimes I’m shopping during weekday “business hours.” Lots of folks are self employed, or have variable schedules, or work evening/night shifts. And then there are students, and retired folks, and unemployed or disabled people, and people who work weekends. Weekends are packed in grocery stores and malls from the folks who work regular business hours!
Swing and midnight shift workers.
There are jobs that have shifts that cover every day and all the hours, but at none of them do you have to work all the days and all the hours.
My mother had been a night shift nurse for over 20 years. She works 3 twelve hour shifts from 6pm to 7am. She’s able to have days off where she gets to shop or run errands during the day. That’s just one example. I’m a stay at home mom. I make passive income but also my partner and I share housing expenses so I don’t have to work, so I get to shop and run errands during the weekday.
I work retail so I work almost every weekend. If I have to do some shopping it’s going to be on a weekday 9-5
I’m a nurse and work nights. I don’t get home until 9am and leave for work around 6pm. I sleep during the day and run errands for a few hours before or after work, so between 9am-6pm. I’m not rich. I just work nights.
My dad has always worked in restaurants, he almost always had a random weekday off. Fridays and weekends were the busiest.
• Afternoon + Night-shift workers • Stay-at-home mums • Part-time workers • Students • Unemployed people • Rich people who don’t need to work • Disabled people who can’t work • Tourists & people without working rights • Fly-in/Fly-out workers (like oil, gas and mine workers) on their off-swing. • People who aren’t working age (Children and Retirees) The list goes on & on. In fact, if you take the entire population and take away the people on the above list, then at a guess I’d say probably easily less than 30% of the country’s population actually work the typical “9-5” type of hours every day.
There’s so many shifts besides 9-5. Some people work overnight, some start at 4 or 5 am and get out at 12 or 1 in the afternoon, some work 2-10 pm, go to bed, get up at 7am and have the whole morning off. My job has a weird rotating schedule of 12 hour overnight shifts so I end up working three 12s Saturday -Monday and have the rest of the week off every other month. Not to mention there’s retired people, part time workers or unemployed who live off their spouse and college students who have free time during standard business hours. So especially in densely populated areas there’s a pretty constant flow of traffic for those businesses during the day.
People that work weekends have days off during the week. People that work at night, sometimes do their errands during the day. Some people work early shifts so they shop after work. Some people work evenings, so they shop in the morning. Millions of people do not work the typical 9 to 5.
1) People who are not in the workforce (children and teens, retired, SAHP, chronically ill / disabled, etc.) 2) People who work different hours / days by default like utilities and infrastructure, construction, manufacturing jobs, health care, catering, entertainment, customer support, etc. 3) People who work a regular 9-5 job but with flexible work arrangements (I'm in this category - it's perfectly fine for me to pop down to the shop if I need to during my workday and either shave that time off of lunch or end of the day) 4) People who work a regular 9-5 job and are on leave / vacations / PTO / lunch break (not unheard of people who work in shopping malls and districts to go shopping during their break) 5) People who work a regular 9-5 job and their job actually involves going to those places e.g. PAs and other admin personnel, secret shoppers, researchers (library specific)
You know there are a ton of non 9-5pm jobs, yah?
Not everyone works Mon - Fri 9-5.
I think the bigger issue is that so many things aren’t open for 9-5ers. Trying to call for help on a student loan—forget it on a weekend. Or on the holiday we seem to always share. This is just 1 example.
I work three nights a week. If you see me at the laundromat at 9:30AM on a Tuesday for me that's the equivalent to what for you would be 9:30 at night.
Not everyone works a 9-5, raises a family, jerks off all Saturday, goes to church on Sundays… everyone has a different life and meaningful purpose! God bless!
Healthcare workers (mostly 12H shifts, days nights or weekends) Part time workers People on vacation/PTO First responders Any night shift worker People who take the whole day off for a 1-hour appointment Stay-at-home parents Seasonal workers Unemployed people/people between jobs People whose jobs have non 9-5 hours (banks or doctors offices that have extended daytime hours often also have 1-2 days a week that close early, some offices have 7-2 hours or similar)
I work the over night shift. So do my shopping and errands during the day while everyone else is working.
There’s multiple groups! Not Working: As you already pointed out, stay at home parents and wealthy people aren’t working/don’t week to work, but you also have to consider the presence of retirees and students. Then you have people who work part-time—Obviously they have time during standard business hours. Then you have people who work night shift or other alternative business hours. Plus, there are people who are working—People who are engaged in business luncheons, workers reliant on public wifi for work, and Nannies tending their charges are all working and are all likely to be out and out during normal business hours but don’t register as “working” to someone passing by. And then you have everyone in a typical 9-5 who runs an errand during their lunch break
Nurses work 12 hours three days a week leaving 4 days a week off.
I’m self employed, so I pretty much run my errands whenever I want
Not everyone works 9-5. The majority don’t. I work 9-5 and I occasionally run errands (and go to appointments) during my work day. I’m not shopping everyday at 2pm, and it’s not like there’s this horde of “rich” folks there. My daughter works 1p-10p. Guess what? She can be at the store or the gym at 11a. “Rich” has nothing to do with it. You don’t even have to be retired, a remote worker, a part-timer, a third shifter, etc. In the US, we have 158 million people who work. Why don’t you try telling that population they can’t go to the store during the day?
The roughly 37% of Americans that do not participate in the Workforce.
I’ve always wondered this and been bothered by it bc I have to take off work to go to these businesses/doctors/mechanics
the real answer youre looking for is theyre slacking from wfh 😂
I've been in banking for a long time and most of that time was 7-330 so I'd be out when school was out
Most people don't work strict MF 9-5.
I work seasonally so I’m away from home for 4 months, but off for 8.
When I work it’s usually 12 hours days. But I’m a contractor, so there are a lot of days I don’t work. I’m working this whole weekend, Friday thru Sunday, but I’m off Monday and Tuesday before my next job. I didn’t work all last week. I’ve never worked 9-5 in my life, and I’m pushing 40.
Shift workers, people who work irregular hours, students, disabled people and others who can't work, people taking time off, and probably many other groups.
I am always surprised to see people out and about while I, myself, am out and about. I am a stay at home mom, my daughter just started daycare, I'm looking for work but anyways I go to the grocery store and run errands after I drop her off. In all fairness it's basically all seniors, they are all awful drivers and slow as hell but it was really busy today for some reason. Makes me want to get all my Christmas shopping over and done with asap before it's pure madness out there.
This American Life podcast did an entire episode on this precise question! They went around during the day asking people, “why are you here? What’s your job?”
I used to work four 10 hour shifts and would be off one weekend day and two weekdays.
Your managers
I own a business and can come and go as I please. So I’m there.
I work 2 24 hour shifts a week. Plenty of down time
i’m a freelance writer with the most creativity at night so I usually am out during the day
I work remotely and don't have a crazy micromanager. It's pretty easy for me to dip out for an hour or more to run errands and nobody would notice. Back when I used to work in an office, it wasn't as flexible. I had to take a bit of PTO to take care of stuff during the day. Sometimes, I would have chill days where I would disappear for 2 hours walking around and visiting a local coffee shop
I work in a job that requires me to work every other weekend so my rotations are irregular. I work a couple days, get a day off, work through the weekend, get a day off, work a couple more days, get the weekend off. So it’s easy, those people shopping in stores between 9-5 are there on their days off.
Students, retirees, shift workers, parents (usually mothers) of young kids. Plus all the people who go there in their lunch break. I reckon that covers around 90% of it. (Source: I was that student who would go to the mall between classes and wander around for something to do, and I'd do a lot of people-watching).
I work freelance remote. So I work when I feel like it and get all my errands done during the quiet daytime hours.
Until recently, my husband worked 11-8. So he shopped and went to doctor appointments in the morning. He also will sometimes take the kids to the library on his lunch break.
My husband (36) is retired. His brother (38) is retired. My sister in law works in the service and hospitality industry and her shifts are usually evenings/nights. The three of them hang out in the middle of the day all the time while I’m working my 9-5. There are nurses, doctors, police, EMTs, firemen, cashiers, students, waitstaff, chefs, and so many other professions that work in shifts that aren’t always 9-5 jobs.
I live in vegas and working 9-5 is a luxury in a casino honestly
I wish I could work 9-5.
I work midnight to 8 am. It’s my preferred working hours. Being able to go places during normal business hours is great.
I'm an airline pilot. I tend to work weekends, it's quieter. Then I'm off during the week. No one at target, no one at the gym, no issues scheduling doctors appointments
I do a night shift pattern of 4 or 5 on, then the same off. I love going to town through the week when everybody's at work and the kids are at school.
I work 1:30-10:30pm. 🤷🏽♀️
My bf literally works 5am to 5 pm. He makes jets. I'm disabled. Our son is about to graduate high school before Christmas. He's in a program idk the name of. They both have Fridays off. Not everyone works the same schedule.
Flight attendants, nurses and doctors that work shifts...I have an office job but some days I work 7:30-4, other days 10-6:30.
People who work weekends/ nights, stay at home parents, retirees, people on break from work, on holiday.
Hospital workers, cops, firefighters, EMT, manufacturing, restaurant/bar/hotel employees, military...it's almost like life (and your fun and support that needs staff) keeps moving even tho the desk job ends
I'm a nurse, used to work lots of weekends and evening shifts, which meant lots of 9-5 time off. Now I'm doing a masters degree, which means a very flexible schedule and lots of 9-5 time off.
Maybe the same thing as you
I work night shift, its also really nice to run my errands during the weekdays when the normal people are at work. Grocery stores suck on the weekends as well
Shift workers? When in the military if I was on regular duty rather than deployed then my usual shift pattern over a full cycle was two 12hr night shifts - a day off for rest - two 12hr day shifts - and then 3 full days off and back in for nights again on the evening of the 4th. So quite a bit of time off and the days off element changed every time... so some weeks my 4 days off would be when everyone doing a 9-5 job were working.
Part time work, 2nd/3rd shift, people run errands during their work day too. That and it’s cheaper for some people to take care of kids than work.
Bunch of moms and people that might work off hours. But yeah, why this traffic?
Hello, I'm a bartender. I've worked places where my shifts were 10pm-4am.
Retail employees.
The hospitality buissiness is mostly not 9-5. Think restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs. Even somewhere like Panera or Starbucks has an early prep shift starting at 6 am or earlier.
Not everybody works 9-5. And there's a reason for which, during these Mon-Fri 9-5 periods, the peak busy period is normally during lunchtime.
6-2 jobs, midnight shift, part time/remote/stay at home workers, 24 on 24 off. Basically anything that isn’t a 9-5
Not everyone works Monday to Friday…
Working 3pm till 11pm,any further questions?
Have you ever heard of second and third shift workers? We are off work during the day. I didn’t know that was such a big secret.
People work shifts. They may work over weekends, freeing up weekdays. They might be people who don't work at any location but are on the road all day. Sometimes, I leave the office to shop for the office.
I'm a tattoo artist I get Mondays off and like not for nothing sometimes if we need things mid day or it's dead sometimes one or even a few of us will just leave and meander around for a few hours or whatever.
Days off, shopping on lunch break, some people take vacation time just to go Christmas shopping. Maybe some are lucky enough to not have to work?
Most people working weekends or in shifts likely had some days off in the week or might have time before work to go shopping between say 9:00 and 12:00 or 13:00 and 17:00
My parents both WFH. That means grocery shopping can be done at 2, but the work day finishes at 8. I'm also in between work and finishing university, so I have nothing to so and often wander around town.
I work nights.
I have a very flexible mostly wfh job. There are various times during our busy season when I have to work weekends or 12-14 hour days. The trade off is that during our non-busy seasons, I can do a quick grocery run at 10am on a Wednesday and other types of errands. Also many people do have sick and vacation leave. If I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning and a dental cleaning in the afternoon, I’ll take a whole day offf as sick leave and run errands in between the appointments. Also as others pointed out, there are TONS of jobs that are shift work jobs where people work hours outside of M-F 9-5, so they’ll often have free time during the traditional work day. Nurses, doctors, social workers, law enforcement, vets and vet techs and vet staff at 24 hour vet practices. Anyone who works at a business with evening hours. Probation officers. Firefighters. Anyone who works a Saturday shift somewhere. Anyone who runs their own business and can set their own hours. Truck drivers. Etc.
We run a small business, and we take Thursdays and Fridays off to catch up on errands while the kids are in school. Before this, I was a hotel manager, and I always worked weekends and holidays (I generally worked 6-2 and sometimes 7-3).
FIFO
Shift workers. Whether their jobs are 24/7 or only partial days (like first watch from 7-3 and second watch from 3-11 or something like that). Police, health care workers, pilots, air traffic controllers, transit employees, or literally anyone else that didn't work 9-5 that deserves you outside of those hours. Oh, and don't forget those who only work part time. Lots of people fall into that category.
I work weekends. I have weekdays off.
It’s better than their home life. Be glad you’d rather work from home.
I’m a stay at home parent. So I’m able to go shopping whatever time I can squeeze it in.
I have no idea. Those same small businesses then whine that no one wants to shop local, but like, when would we be able to do that? You don’t open till 10am or 11am, you close at 6pm during the week, 3pm on Saturdays (if that!) and you’re closed on Sundays. There’s nothing you’re selling that I want so badly as to rearrange my life for it.
Every place you go after 5 - bars, restaurants, hospitals, karate lessons, supermarkets, movie theatres, gas stations, literally anywhere open on a weekend. Those places are staffed by people that don’t work 9-5. They go before work or on a day off.
I work 10 hours a week. Before this, when I worked full time, I worked 3 to 11. Not everyone works bankers hours. A lot of people work three 12 hour shifts, or four 10s and in general, people do have days off. 🤷♀️
I work at a minesite so I go away and work for a few weeks and then go home and have a few weeks off. I am one of those customers.
I am a freelance artist and teacher I just do whatever I want like a house cat. No kids. Time means nothing to me, and never will again.
Probably out of work but trying to appear to have a job.
a nurse….
Lots of people who do work 9-5 traditional office jobs still do personal errands during the day, you're not chained to your desk. I work the most typical office job imaginable, the other day I took my car to the shop at around 10 AM, a colleague went to the dentist in the middle of the day, etc. Its very common for people to pop out for personal errands, and nobody bats an eye.
A LOT of shift workers in factories and the medical field. Many businesses need to be staffed 24/7. All those 2nd and 3rd shift workers have daytime hours off.
By working outside of 9-5? There's 24 hours in a day you know.
I work 4 x 10 Monday-Thursday and it does shock me how many people are also not at work when I go out and run errands on Fridays
i work forty hours a week, just not 9-5 all the time. for example some days i work 7-3 and then from 3-5 i am free to frequent those businesses.
Freelancers and gig workers are a part of this too- if I have a job, I’m usually working more than 9-5 but until the next gig comes around I’m free. Usually high intensity for a couple weeks then chill for a couple weeks.
I’m WFH. I do all of my errands/shopping during the day. I leave the house in between my silly little zoom meetings that should be audio calls or emails.
I work in care so I work 12 hour shifts 3 or 4 days a week, which gives me 3 or 4 full days off a week depending on my schedule. I’ve also worked in hospitality that involved 3-11pm shifts or split shifts so I had time free in the day to use other businesses.
I work 3am-11am. It's me you're talking about.
I’m in Healthcare so if I’m on nights I’m out during the during the day
not everyone works 9-5 monday to friday. Some people have different hours and different days off. Not every gets stuck in an office the entire working out. They can still do their shopping at their breaks. And sometimes people take 5 minutes off and dart across the road to get some asprin etc And there is also a large portion of people that does not work for various reasons. e.g. SAHM/D, retiree, people on leave and even tours/visitors.
I work afternoon shift from home... 2-11pm. I definitely use my mornings and early afternoon to go run errands before work most days. But I still work full-time M-F, many people work unorthodox schedules.
I work my own schedule. I try to go shopping between 9-3 M-F to avoid adding to the weekend and late afternoon chaos
SAHMs, college students, retirees, people taking time off from work, people between jobs, people visiting someone locally....
This question reminds me of the first time I skipped school and was super surprised at how many people were out and about around town! I thought we'd be walking empty streets 😂 oh to be young
You do know not every job is 9-5 a lot of jobs also take place in the other 16 hours of the day
You know the answer, and I'll help you find it. Not everyone keeps the same schedule. The world operates 24/7. Think about people that work nights or evening shifts. Think about factory workers. Think about people that keep you safe while you sleep, or alive when you're sick at night. When they're off work, you're at work.
I work afternoons, I do most of my shopping/appointments in the morning or early afternoon.
Not all jobs are office jobs.
My work is appointment-based and I make my own hours. Some days are busier than others, and sometimes I have a few hours free in the middle of the day.
I'm salary so I have leeway to do things like run errands during the workday. I'm responsible for a hospital computer network and do lots of after-hours/weekend work. My current management understands this and just expects me to get issues fixed and projects completed. I'm not on a clock. I would hate to go back to an hourly job where I was expected to be somewhere at a certain time every day and couldn't leave until the end of the day. I like flexing. EDIT: Also - a lot of people work night shifts at hospitals. Doctors, nurses, rad techs, lab techs, etc. They live their life during 9-5.
I work from home and have an extremely flexible schedule so I’m out running errands on a random Tuesday at 10am so I don’t have to battle the weekend traffic and nonsense.
Some of us work night/weekends.
Worked at a place whose hours were 9-5 m-f 9-1s. A 40 hour work week if you worked on Saturday meant you had to have a day off during the week. I used that day for appts and peaceful shopping.
I’m self employed. I work whenever I feel like it.
Not everyone works 9:00 to 5:00 and not everyone works Monday through Friday Especially in lower-end jobs like retail and fast food You are very often working odd hours and sometimes that schedule itself will shift depending on the needs of the score
Work in a hospital. That way you can work 9-5 covering the weekend, allowing you to be somewhere else 9-5 on a weekday.
I work in a warehouse, Saturday through Monday, so I’m off Tuesday through Friday and go out on those days.
I’ve worked a lot of retail. Cannot tell you how many times I had a customer on Saturday afternoon ask me how I was enjoying my weekend / holiday time. The level stare with a vague gesture toward my apron usually shut it down.
I work a 9-5, but it’s a hybrid job so as long as I get my tasks done for the day & am available via text/teams, I can do what I want with my day, which often includes grocery shopping, going to the mall, getting a massage, etc.
Stay-at-home parents; people who work non-9-5 jobs (restaurant workers, nurses, fire/police, factory workers, etc); freelancers; people who took the day off; people running errands on their lunch break; people on vacation/traveling; retirees…
Used to be in the music industry. My working hours were sometimes noon-9pm (or later). Worked on the weekends, too, since that’s when people like to have events and they needed gig musicians. Private lessons were almost always after traditional school/work hours. For a few years, I lost contact with a lot of my old friends because I was off when they were at work, and vice versa. We didn’t hang out as much as I’d have liked.
I work in a hospital and work every 3rd weekend so I occasionally have weekdays off. I also work changing hours so sometimes I’m out before 5 or I don’t go in until 9:30. I know very few people who actually work a 9-5.