I cant beleive you are trying to make the OT argument not being a choice. Do you think all the consultants, salespeople and field reps that leave their homes Monday morning and return Friday night close to 52 weeks a year view that as benefit. They are devoting over 100 hours a week to their jobs. The live in crappy hotels, breathe in crappy air on airplanes, eat alone everynight at lousy unhealthy restaurants and have very little time to get any physical exercise. Its part of the job and 40 or even 50 hr works weeks are long gone. I could care less what a salry range is or how many hours someone works. The bottomline is how much they takes home and its way WAY out of line.
As for the 50% more for fireman I just remembered I was looking at the numbers for a cushy little burg by the sea known as Encinitas. I’ll post all the w-2 earnings numbers of every single firefighter and cop when I get a chance and they can speak for themselves.