Well this turned a little darker than I originally thought.
I discovered a kid out in Utah on YouTube named Joshua Fluke and his story is very similar to yours, and he often says much of what you say in terms of quality of life, the corporate attitude of most companies, etc.
I've only ever worked for someone else twice in my life (I considered military service to be just that - serving the nation, not so much "working" for the American people, although I suppose one could make that argument), so many of these tales are pretty foreign to me, and since I also have "fuck you" money now, they're made all the stranger to me that anyone would tolerate such behavior. I don't accept the, "I have bills to pay," mantra - to me its more akin to, "Either you respect yourself or you don't."
EDIT: Glad to see you did come to respect yourself in a healthy way.
I appreciate that and where you are coming from. I wouldn't say it was there fault...I'd actually say it was mine and it was societal. I'm a first gen college grad, but from a very successful household. I was raised on hard work, use your brain, don't give up, always do more. I brought that mindset to work, and no one was going to really stop me. I had to push back, and I had never been taught how. I worked a full time job and a part time job while an engineering student and graduated with a 3.8. Then, it impressed people and it made me proud of myself...now I wonder what I missed out on and take a very different approach to work life balance (although I'm still a bit of a workaholic, because I really do love what I do).
I discovered a kid out in Utah on YouTube named Joshua Fluke and his story is very similar to yours, and he often says much of what you say in terms of quality of life, the corporate attitude of most companies, etc.
I've only ever worked for someone else twice in my life (I considered military service to be just that - serving the nation, not so much "working" for the American people, although I suppose one could make that argument), so many of these tales are pretty foreign to me, and since I also have "fuck you" money now, they're made all the stranger to me that anyone would tolerate such behavior. I don't accept the, "I have bills to pay," mantra - to me its more akin to, "Either you respect yourself or you don't."
EDIT: Glad to see you did come to respect yourself in a healthy way.