Wage Cage

About

Wage Cage, also known as Wagecage and Wagie Cagie, is a slang term used to describe an office or cubicle, though it is sometimes more broadly defined to encompass an occupation or the act of working itself. Often, memes represent wage cages with artistic representations such as the famous "Amazon wage cage" and reimaginations of the design, like the "Wage Cage 9000." It is a frequently used term on 4chan and Reddit, first beginning around 2018 and seeing a resurgence in 2021.

Origin

The term "wage cage" emerged online sometime in September 2018. Many online users refer to a wage cage in conjunction with the term wagie (used to describe people in employment). The origin of the phrase, though used in a slightly different manner, comes from a February 29th, 2016, thread on 4chan’s^[2] /r9k/, where an anonymous user commented the following (seen below) in response to a user bragging about his self-employed status.

As a slang term, "wage cage" was first added to Urban Dictionary ^[1] on June 24th, 2018, by user Zonal K, receiving 54 likes in roughly four years (definition below).

The establishment where a person is forced to attend during working hours.

Spread

Amazon Wage Cage

On September 7th, 2018, the Seattle Times^[3] published an article about Amazon’s cage-style cubicles for workers that allows them to be transported safely in and out of robot-only production zones. Patented in 2016, Amazon has not yet decided to use the technology, but screenshots of this article became famous nonetheless, and numerous memes were created using the design. For example, this meme posted to /r/Buttcoin^[4] by u/theredditsoyboy in 2019 shows a detailed diagram of Amazon’s wage cage.

On 4chan, two separate threads on /pol/^[6] and /biz/^[7] were created on September 10th, 2018, discussing the Amazon wage cage, where the term was frequently used alongside the phrase "Wagie get in your cagie."

Resurgence in 2021

There was an increase in wage cage memes in 2021 during the return to in-person work in the latter parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. One example of a wage cage meme from the era was posted in May 2021 by u/Narchoid in /r/GenZommunist,^[5] where it received 87 upvotes and seven comments. The text poem seen here is also one that has been frequently quoted in wage cage memes and 4chan threads.

Related Memes

Wagie

Wagie is a term also popularized by 4chan that indicates a worker, often one in a less than desirable job that pays a low wage for menial tasks. In most cases, "wagies" are treated poorly by managers and dislike their job, hence referring to their place of employment as a wage cage.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References