Member-only story
On the Evolution of the Nine-to-Five
Is advancing your career by ‘upgrading your cubicle’ being relegated to the tomes of history?
Growing up in the 90s, I envisioned my adult self marching around some uber- cool, open-plan office — crisp white shirt and tall ‘cap’ to-go in hand. Of course, I’d have gone for my morning run, and now I was showered, hair coiffed, and of course, my unruly eyebrows would be tyrannised into whispy 90s perfection.
Perhaps I would have a big presentation that day, a chance to show my business prowess and knock the socks off the VPs, who in my young millennial imagination, were mostly middle-aged men in oversized suits. This would be a chance to prove myself — I’d learned from the movies: it was in the rows of grey cubicles, with their boxy computers and faded chairs that dreams were made, after all.
I’m happy to say, things didn’t turn out that way, and I’m glad — I was never very much good at ‘coiffing’ my hair anyway. I’m working now, in some old jeans, a cup of tea in hand, whilst my rather obese, middle-aged cat lolls in the small patch of sunlight on my desk. My eyebrows are most definitely not plucked to…
