Douglas Coupland: The nine to five is barbaric
Hyperbole like this makes it difficult to take his arguments seriously, even if he makes some good points about the changing nature of work.<p>Really, barbaric? Having set work hours in a steady job with regular pay in a safe workplace with benefits usually included, including paid vacation?<p>It&#x27;s such a dramatic leap forward from the way most humans in history--and many still today--have had to scrimp for survival, working long hours in the fields, barely achieving subsistence, sharecropping for feudal lords or tyrannical landlords.<p>Sure, work is changing, and many people are lucky to be able to detach from such schedules with exciting and unknown results for the future workplace. But those of us fortunate enough to have had access to 9-to-5 jobs would be tone deaf to act like it&#x27;s such a traumatic experience, when so many people in the world would be so grateful to have such an opportunity.