By Sarah Grishpul
When deciding on what I wanted my special issue to be about, I knew it had to be something personal, relatable to the student body and—above all—funny as hell.
This summer, I was working practically every day at a movie theatre for 25 cents above minimum wage. The prior season, I was balancing that job on top of an office gig and two additional contract work opportunities. I even have aspirations to pursue a career in journalism where having a work-life balance isn’t much of a priority.
My friends would often accuse me of being a bit of a workaholic. I disagree. I think I’m just overly ambitious. What can I say? I wear a lot of hats (metaphorically and literally speaking).
As of late, I began to critically look at the ways I prioritized work. Why was I busting my balls to cover shifts at a job that barely paid me my worth? How come I was collecting part-time opportunities like Pokémon cards? Why was I being rewarded for such self-destructive behaviour?
But most importantly: why did I feel the incessant drive to work?
These questions—as you can imagine—left me in quite an existential rut. Who was I if I wasn’t productive or constantly advancing my employable skill set?
Like many of the flaws embedded in the roots of our society—the capitalist system by which we derive value—is to blame.
The workforce system has historically taken advantage of young people. From sending children to work in mines to corporations turning a blind eye to the needs of their employees, young workers are often ill-treated and exploited.
Over the past several years, many young folks have begun to rebel against the current system in place—addressing toxic work environments, calling out labour law violations and even organizing to advocate for better working conditions.
Now, you may be wondering, “Golly Sarah, this is quite a serious topic for a ‘fun and satire’ issue. Wouldn’t this type of theme have been better suited under biz and tech?”
The answer? Probably. Too bad I came up with the idea first. (Sorry Anthony).
Satire is an excellent medium for social critique and political commentary. For decades, it has been a tool for the people to “clap back” at those in positions of power. Besides, what better way to stick it to the man than through mockery and ridicule?
Having personally experienced my fair share of dysfunctional workplaces, poor management and the lengths at which some corporations will go to undermine their workers, I wanted to produce an issue that would expose that side of the workforce through the lens of comedy.
Many of the satirical and factual stories here are based on the shared experiences of student workers here at Toronto Metropolitan University. I hope that this issue will encapsulate all the frustrations young people have with the current state of today’s modern, capital-driven workforce as well as ways in which we are collectively redefining the “9 to 5.”
Before you begin to peruse through these pages, I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this issue possible. The wonderful masthead, all the dedicated contribs who took on these pitches and the photo and media team for their hard work. This was my first time ever managing a huge project like this and I couldn’t have done it without your support.
The 9 to 5 Issue is dedicated to my lovely co-workers at a certain run-of-the-mill movie theatre. Clocking in is such a joy only because I get to work alongside a great group of people. If they so happen to be reading this, you are what pushed me to produce something of this scale. To me, you are more than just your labour.
Leave a Reply