The use of 僕 by office employees


In the famous 1952 film 生きる ( _Ikiru_ ), the government-office employees
frequently use 僕 to refer to themselves (even the female character used it).
Based on [this understanding of
僕](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/36844/could-i-
use-%e5%83%95-to-refer-to-myself), 僕 is basically a pronoun which boys use;
but that doesn't explain this frequent use in an office. [This formal
definition](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%83%95_%28%E3%81%BC%E3%81%8F%29/#jn-203330)
mentions a social status element ("対等またはそれ以下の人に対して用いる。") but isn't very clear
on exact situations.

In what situations would 僕 be used outside the context of boys? In what
professional or social situations would it be appropriate and natural for an
adult man to use, as opposed to 私?




僕 is not constrained by age, so it's perfectly fine for adult men to use it.
Using it in an office situation would be fine, too.

If you want to be very formal, you'd prefer 私, but if you know the counterpart
to some degree it'd be fine to use 僕.

Using 僕 as a substitute for "you" is definitely age constrained (can only be
used to someone maybe < 7 years old). This is however a special case (very
young children often don't recognize 君 etc. but they know 僕, so if you say
something like ぼく、どうしたの？ (what happened to you?), you imply they may not know
words like 君 yet).




僕 is not constrained by age, so it's perfectly fine for adult men to use it.
Using it in an office situation would be fine, too.

If you want to be very formal, you'd prefer 私, but if you know the counterpart
to some degree it'd be fine to use 僕.

Using 僕 as a substitute for "you" is definitely age constrained (can only be
used to someone maybe < 7 years old). This is however a special case (very
young children often don't recognize 君 etc. but they know 僕, so if you say
something like ぼく、どうしたの？ (what happened to you?), you imply they may not know
words like 君 yet).

