its so fucking funny how the normal workday is 9-5 so like
if you need anyone to do work at your house e.g. a plumber
oops the time they want to come in is also the time you’re at work
there are a bunch of minor ways that society is designed around the assumption there will be someone at your house to answer the door at all times of the day
western societies shifted from having one domestic worker and one wage worker (eg male breadwinner and housewife) to having two wage workers and no domestic workers (both partners work) without really making any other changes to the structure of society, so now we have all these weird relics that don’t really make sense.
families that have good jobs, people lucky enough to still resemble “middle class” often have the flexibility to take time off work, work from home, hire help, etc. but most people aren’t that lucky. people doing retail or low-level office work etc end up stuck between a rock and a hard place. either lose a shift, and much-needed income (if even allowed to choose their shifts), or not get something necessary like court or the dmv done.
don’t get me wrong, obviously assigning roles in society based on sex wasn’t it, and many non-white families were forced to be dual-income even before women’s lib. but we don’t talk enough about how so much of society still assumes someone is free 9-5, or that there was a reason housework was a full-time job, or how effectively doubling the labour force depressed wages, etc.