# Why do highly educated people accept 100 hour a week jobs?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-highly-educated-people-accept-100-hour-a-week-jobs/938367
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 21, 2021, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-highly-educated-people-accept-100-hour-a-week-jobs/938367 "2021-03-21T20:54:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 169

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### Author: ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2021, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-highly-educated-people-accept-100-hour-a-week-jobs/938367/169 "2021-04-03T20:24:09Z")

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> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Yeah, that’s the thing that confuses me as well. Why is it so hard to imagine people aspiring to something beyond a life of mediocrity? Some people want to do thinks like run companies, work on highly complex technical problems, or just make a shit-ton of money. It’s not some sort of character flaw to actually be competitive, want nice things, or to have a high standard of living.

I think my reaction to this is its inherent _frame._

It implies purity, nobility, and superiority are accorded to the higher earners and sloth, misery, and disgrace are the providence of the middle- and lower-class … even if that wasn’t **at all** your intention.

I posted something elsewhere on SD this morning that may be relevant:

> [@What's wrong with income inequality if everyone is well off?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-income-inequality-if-everyone-is-well-off/938044/133):
>
> Totally agree. The 'temporarily embarrassed millionaire" syndrome wink I point to a thread I started as particularly on-point here: And a recent article (paywalled ?) that gives context: The richest Americans are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the Internal Revenue Service, [according to a comprehensive new estimate of tax evasion](http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/GLRRZ2021.pdf), with the top 1 percent of earners accounting for more than a third of all unpaid federal taxes. And a charming little piece from “Freak…

As a former VP of a couple different publicly-traded corporations, I’m here to tell ya’: it’s very hard to be ethical and move upward in many/most of these jobs and organizations.

No all-or-nothing aspersions cast here, but some people utterly don’t want to be in that position. There’s simply nothing material that they want badly enough to screw people over day in and day out.

Just another perspective. YMMV. Trained professional. Closed course.

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