Oh, believe me, I know. My girlfriend works M&A for a very well known financial services company. She works 80, sometimes 100 hours per week. It’s ridiculous. She started at $85k with the best benefits package you can imagine, plus stock options that set her up for life.

The executive director of the nonprofit I work for works the same hours as my girlfriend and often takes her work home with her. She makes ~$76k with a standard nonprofit benefit package, and she’s worked there for 25 years.

You know what they both say? They worked just as hard doing 80 hours in food service/customer service/painting/contracting. Their current jobs just have bigger stakes, and a corresponding higher pressure.

Working two full-time, low-wage jobs is not unorthodox. Only, those people have the added stress of financial precarity. They’re not making $100k, or even $80k. They’re making ~$38k, which is below the poverty line in many places. They’re selling their lives and can’t even survive off what they make. That’s not to mention that a lot of places will schedule you 39 hours per week to avoid giving you bennies.

I’m not advocating for elimination of class. I’m not pressed about some random fucker working 80-hour weeks having a net worth of $50 million. There are people accumulating unfathomable wealth off of stolen money. Those people should not exist, full stop.