For some reason, the British people are very in tune with how wretched it is to work in an office. From The Office to Kate Tempest’s debut album, the pop culture hailing from England is all too indicative of a poetic contempt for working.
The best example of this British vitriol is Lady Sovereign’s 2004 single, “9 to 5.” Bearing a far less hopeful rendering than, say, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Lady S drones, “Oh my gosh, my days are getting longer and there’s no turning back, I’m working 9 to 5/Just to keep my contract.” Expressing the laziness and lack of interest she feels in her so-called profession, Lady Sovereign signaled a strong twenty-first century shift in the generally accepted “work ethic” of the twentieth century. Four years later, this lack of giving a fuck among millennials would be solidified with the 2008 financial crisis–proving that working your life away to save results in utter futility.