Re:this is incumbent upon the employee (Score 1)

Hah! Obviously you haven't studied history much. That period was actually very unusual in history.

Workers being treated with respect is more commonly thought of as progress. If you'd rather go back the the more "usual" parts of history, blackberries wouldn't be the least of your concerns.

If you want to change things, realize that you might have to move, get training to go into a different career field, change your income expectations, etc...

Let them eat cake! oh wait, you mean lower your income expectations.

Basically, you need to realize that it takes intelligent effort to get what you want.

Zing!

You do what it takes to keep a roof over your family's head, food in their mouths, shoes on their feet. After that, then you can work towards personal satisfaction. That's just how it is(or at least should be). That's what my grandparents did. That's what my parents did. That's what I do.

If only I had Old Glory here to wipe away my tears.. You are a very fortunate person to have parents and even grandparents that were able to live comfortably enough to take those professional leaps and educate their children for the dangerous gun-riddled world that wants to kill them and take their hard-earned money. I think if you don't fully grasp the weight of that, there's no way I can convince you.

It is not the employer's job to run their employees into the ground, and a system demanding such inhumanity is just as failed.