Valuing to be home every night perhaps does not sound like a function of self respect, but if you ask me it is. Years ago the only future I saw for myself was in jobs that started at 5pm and after. I felt like a second class citizen. I vowed to get the same daily schedule normal society has. I got it, and find the privilege to be worth having. But part of the sweetness I perceive in it is the knowledge that if I had not responded to my inner desire for self respect and changed my occupation I would not have it.

In one of my previous lives I did missionary work. There was always a type of a manager within our organization that would misuse the devotion and commitment exhibited by underlings to get things done for free. This type would often go so far as to declare their misuse.

I see a similar thing in aviation. While there are many important functions that can only go on at night like night freight, those who do it should be well-paid for the disturbance it creates in their lives. And to accept a tradeoff is not necessarily the absense of self-respect. 727 claims to receive what I would call more than adequate compensation for his troubles. But acceptance of a disturbance for as little as a pipedream in compensation, or to supposedly one day skip to a better life without any guarantee, strikes me as folly. There are many more night freight jobs than there are adequately compensated pilots performing them.