Corky
Wow you sound like a sane person! Are you sure you're a pilot? Good call on not taking the job if it was going to make your life miserable. More people should be like you. Good luck with the dispatch gig.

The only correction I will add is that you do get per diem on day trips IF you're on duty over nine hours. Most of my day trips have had per diem. Also many of my day trips have led to me being paid according to the duty rig and not block. This is my experience in the northeast.