Oh, cry me a river

I was just contemplating the Dolly Parton song "9 to 5" and I realized she's basically whining about a job that she is putting very little effort into, and blaming others for her problems. To wit:

Tumble outta bed
And stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition (Evidently the coffee machine is automatic, nice!)
Yawnin', stretchin', try to come to life
Jump in the shower
And the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the streets
The traffic starts jumpin'
And folks like me on the job from 9 to 5 (nice, that's 8 hours, and I assume you get a lunch break, so you're working at most 7.5 hours a day, maybe only 7 if you take an hour lunch break, even less than that if you are stopping to get more 'cups of ambition')

Chorus:

Workin' 9 to 5 (lucky)
What a way to make a livin'
Barely gettin' by (Perhaps you'd "get by" a little better if you showed up earlier for work and stayed longer?)
It's all takin'
And no givin' (You're admiting that you "take" at this job and "give" nothing?)
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit (right - you work SO hard)
It's enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

9 to 5, for service and devotion
You would think that I
Would deserve a fair promotion (maybe the 8 to 5 person got it?)
Want to move ahead
But the boss won't seem to let me in
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me (right, it can't possibly be YOU that has the problem, of course not)
Mmmmm...

They let you dream
Just a' watch 'em shatter
You're just a step
On the boss man's a' ladder (this is a wonderful attitude, why the heck didn't you get that aforementioened promotion?)
But you got dream he'll never take away (of getting a dream promotion while putting in minimum effort)

On the same boat
With a lot of your friends (known by the company one keeps?)
Waitin' for the day
Your ship'll come in
And the tide's gonna turn
An' it's all gonna roll you away (ok wtf? huh?)

2nd Chorus:


9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There's a better life
And you think that I would daunt you (THIS is probably why you didn't get the promotion; your boss said "Hey, can you stay late to finish this report and you said "Sorry, you dream that I would daunt you", and he went )
It's a rich man's game
No matter what they call it
And you spend your life
Puttin' money in his wallet (Actually the inverse is true. They're paying you; and well enough that you have a pretty decent coffee maker)

Don't eat Jimson Weed.

I am sure you are not remembering what they did to thier poor, generous, fair, and giving boss!

I know bosses that would (and probably do) pay good money for that kinda treatment!

dood, where I live you could fill up glad bags with Jimson weed

I will admit to collecting some when I was a teen, as I was really into hallucinations

although, the stories of 3 day mindless uncontrollable benders, blindness, hospitals, amnesia, disconnect from ones own memories, and police convinced me to let them go

thankfully, I was not among a handful of stupid people who poisoned themselves to get high

I had forgotten how emaciated Hanoi Jane was.

i didn't notice, I was too busy staring at Dolly's knockers

While I realize in the film, they did have a rather shit-heeled boss, the song seems to simply complain about what does not to seem to be a very demanding job, and seems to place the blame on others.

I used to live in West Texas, and every so often a story would hit the papers about some teen boys eating that crap and dying or being seriously injured from that stuff.

I stuck with beer and weed in those days, thank goodness, because I had a co-worker for a while (who I partied with occasionally), who was constantly trying to get us to go out in the desert to do Jimson and trip.

Mushrooms is about as close as he got me...

o, well the job she is complaining about is in fact, as a nazi era technician who is responisble for removing the gold teeth from the corpses

they did have longer shifts, but for moral reasons their hours were shifted to 7 with a paid 1 hour lunch

the caveat to the free lunch was they had to take their breaks in the corpse room

knowing this fact, I can certainly see why the singer seems bitter about her job and lack of upward mobility

Yep and I'll bet in reality, they took their angst and vented it all day long online in the sl forums instead of working.

*rimshot*

If telling everybody how I like to eat my pancakes is venting from work... then so be it!!!

Keep in mind that the song was written in 1980, at a time when most office shifts actually were 9 to 5 (they've shifted to 8 to 5 over the years, or even earlier), at a time when the economy was in the toilet even worse than now, and most workers were seriously overworked for little more than minimum wage.

ok

The eNormous Knockers Club of America is lodging a formal complaint against Taco Rubio for belittling this country's greatest set of boobs, err pipes.

Oh never mind. I'm in quite a "she-woman man hater's club" mood at the moment

There are some problems I have with your interpretation of this song:

Tumble outta bed
And stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition (I believe she means Jim Beam)
Yawnin', stretchin', try to come to life
Jump in the shower
And the blood starts pumpin' (Her showerhead is connected to a vat of blood)
Out on the streets
The traffic starts jumpin' (In her world people commute to work on giant frogs)
And folks like me on the job from 9 to 5 (She does not say that she's workin' 9-5. She is clearly stating people LIKE her are workin' 9-5. I suspect from the liquor and blood shower she is workin' at a satanic cloning lab)

Chorus:

Workin' 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin' (She clearly says "Whatta way to make THE livin' --so back to the clone lab idea)
Barely gettin' by
It's all takin'
And no givin' (She means her bosses take and do not give. Satanic Masters often being extra special strict)
And they never give you credit
It's enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it (Perhaps she should not work in a Satanic Cloning Lab)

9 to 5, for service and devotion (Worship the fallen one!)
You would think that I
Would deserve a fair promotion
Want to move ahead (Again she says --"Want to move a head". Perhaps it is in her way)
But the boss won't seem to let me
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me (Taking the Lord's name is vain probably is what got her into this fix)
Mmmmm...

They let you dream
Just a' watch 'em shatter (This sounds more like "Matrix" but Idigress)
You're just a step
On the boss man's a' ladder (TheDarkLord is clearly climbing the bodies of the damned up to his throne of skulls?)
But you got dreams he'll never take away (Her only solace while toiling in the bloodpits is her private thoughts)

On the same boat (Ferry across the Stygian river?)
With a lot of your friends
Waitin' for the day
Your ship'll come in
And the tide's gonna turn
An' it's all gonna roll you away (After Judgement Day the dead shall wake )

2nd Chorus:


9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you (The Satanic Cloning Lab again)
And you think that I would daunt you (ominous )
It's a rich man's game
No matter what they call it (Some dare call it Hell)
And you spend your life
Puttin' money in his wallet (And your death in the clone pits of Baal)


__________________

Not to mentin that the advancement possibilities for secretaries were pretty much non-existant. Not to mention (and I haven't seen the movie) the sorts of things you were expected to do on the job. Get you one of those bosses sometime (I did have one or two) and you'll understand the attitude better.

coco

Dear Taco,
I would like to kindly ask you to quit posting, as your name is once again making me crave TACO BELL. And since Taco Bell is over an hour away and the weather sucks, I will be suffering everytime I see your name. Unless you want to bring me some bean burritos with no onions.

Or I will settle for chicken enchiladas with a side of rice (no beans places) from a really nice mexican food place. Thank you.

Love always,
Creami

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!! I just flashed back to my childhood with this post!!! I miss the 80s..... somewhat.

In a way it's a good thing. Compare "office movies" from the 70's, 80s, & 90s. Like compare "9 To 5" with "Office Space" & see how they changed things. Since humor is used as a way to express something, it's interesting to see how these comedies portray the office jobs at different times in society.

'Course, my experiences working in an Office was more like Office Space, with the Managers that don't yell, they just "tell you" things nicely. Still wish I coulda killed the Photocopier myself