My experience has actually been quite different from this. I was hired into a large company straight out of college. My starting salary was lower than other people on my team, but they all had 5+ years of experience, so fair enough. Since then, I've received annual pay increases averaging about 15% for four years to get me "caught up" with my peers. I've never threatened to leave, or demanded pay increases. I guess I'm lucky...

Not all companies treat their employers that way... I'm an exempt employee for a Fortune 50 company and occasionally have to work weekends or evenings for software installs or dealing with issues. That was part of the deal I signed up for in taking the job. My boss is constantly telling everyone on my team to take care of themselves during slow times. I don't track "comp time" - I just come and go as I need and it isn't questioned unless it's egregiously obvious that someone is taking advantage of that flexibility.

Certainly a lot of this is manger discretion, but I'm constantly amazed at the horror stories of some of the posters here. I guess I'm lucky to have a manager that seems to care about her employees.

I run in Five Fingers three to four times a week. I love them. Most of my runs are on concrete or gravel paths. Like running barefoot, you definetely have to re-train yourself on how to run, though. I learned POSE running a couple of years ago and I've never looked back.