She Landed Her First Job But Can’t Deal With The Demands Of A Strict Schedule And Doesn’t Understand How People Have Lives Outside Of Work
In a viral TikTok, a recent college graduate named Brielle (@brielleybelly123) expressed her frustrations with the demands of a 9-to-5 work schedule.
She noted that she was working her first 9-to-5 job after college and that it left little time for her to do anything else except eat, sleep, and shower.
Through tears, she explained how she departed from home at 7:30 each morning to board the train for her commute into New York City for her in-office job.
She also said that the commute took “forever” and that her situation would be significantly better if she could walk to work, but she couldn’t afford to move to the city.
The earliest she arrived home from work was 6:15 PM. By then, she always felt that she didn’t have the time or energy to cook dinner, much less commit to an exercise routine.
“I’m so upset,” she said in the video, adding that her problem wasn’t with the job itself but the idea of the 9-to-5 work schedule. She pointed out that a 9-to-5 doesn’t really end at five o’clock if you factor in commute time.
“How do you have friends? Like, how do you have time to meet a guy? How do you have time for dating? I don’t have time for anything, and I’m so stressed out,” she said.
Her video blew up, garnering a wide variety of responses. Some sympathized with Brielle and agreed that the current workplace structure is outdated and unhealthy. Others were less understanding and criticized her for complaining.
A handful of media outlets even took her video out of context to condemn Gen Z’ers for being the weakest, most spoiled generation.
Evgenia – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
But is Brielle making a big deal out of nothing? Or does she have a point about our lack of work-life balance?
The 40-hour workweek that we’re all familiar with began in the Industrial Revolution. The schedule was designed for assembly line workers.
A historian named Benjamin Hunnicutt told NPR that in the late 1800s, it was common for people to work as much as 70 hours.
Slowly, the hours decreased to 40, which became the norm during the Great Depression. It became law in the 1940s. Most experts believed that the workweek would continue to shrink.
In fact, John Maynard Keynes, known as the “father of macroeconomics,” predicted that the work week would be 15 hours long by 2030. Obviously, that never happened.
Brielle’s age group isn’t the only one that feels drained by the current work culture. Older generations of employees have started to push back, too.
Perhaps, with the platforms and technological advances available to us today, we will be able to work together to make changes to the system.
@brielleybelly123 im also getting sick leave me alone im emotional ok i feel 12 and im scared of not having time to live
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