Indentured Servitude
I have long been conflicted about a professional career, even though I've been in one for two decades. It's criminal, how the equitable and fair transaction of "hourly pay" is ripped away when one transitions from "hourly" to "salaried."
What detail, what particular tidbit differentiates work that is eligible FOR overtime from work that is NOT eligible for overtime? Oh, I know what the laws in the States are. It's exempt vs. non-exempt status, and what usually separates an employee away from their overtime and into "exempt" status is the supervision of employees. However, I can name dozens of instances where my professional coworkers, who have no direct reports, are salaried. They receive no overtime. They are exempt. Why, because they are considered "professional?" As if the para-professionals in our workplace, and the administrative support staff, are NOT professionals?
Then the finer line of "determining their own workload" is trotted out as a defining element. I don't know about you, but no boss of mine has EVER fully allowed me to determine my own workload, "professional"/exempt or not! My work, and what is important, is always dictated to me by those above me. So really, that's just hogwash, too.
I am reminded of the excellent documentary, "The Corporation." It neutrally presents the history of the American corporation and depicts what an unholy idea it was to give unfeeling, without-conscience entities the same benefits of individuals, without also allocating the responsibilities of an individual. That seems a gross oversight, and it seems to drive, in an almost root-case way, the indentured servitude that is so pervasive in the workforce today.
More! Better! Faster! There is no interest by the corporation in work-life balance for its employees, or what must be sacrificed to get promoted. It is assumed that if you are working for pay, without overtime, then you are wedded to career advancement, that you worship your job and all it "provides" you.
Not me. I wax and wan on how much I want to be an indentured servant again, but for now I love the unfettered mindset of the freelancer. I don't have to marry my job. I can be a corporate whore, and a well-paid one. Because let's call a spade a spade .... we are all indentured servants to our jobs. And that's a contract that runs out only upon death.