Saturday Night in Lab?

Yes, its 8:00 PM, on what is likely to be the last warm Saturday of the year, and I'm in our lab babysitting giant vacuum chambers. Emily, my officemate, calls me up and informs me that a new rule has been instated in the Lab: pump downs must be babysat by 2 lab members at all times. There are conference paper deadlines due on Monday so several people in the lab are frantically running around trying to squeeze tests in around the clock. People are in the Lab at 3-4 in the morning then starting again at 8 the next day, and, as you can see, Saturday nights as well. I explained that I thought these expectations were unreasonable. The response I got was "this is what you are paid for". Not by my advisor/boss, but by a fellow gradstudent!
The Work-Aholics of America have gone from the anomaly to being the norm and even the expectation. The sane minded, family oriented folk are acquiring reputations of slackers and undevoted employees for rejecting 60+ hour work weeks. There is more to life then work. Several people in our lab exist only at work or in the bar. Now I enjoy my work, and I enjoy a trip the bar as well, but neither are my life's purpose. "To each their own", but don't force me to drown in research just because you do. If a journal paper falls through or a test fails, my world will not end. Life is too stressful as it is. Putting all your hopes and dreams in your professional career will only make it worse. If I miss a promotion or get passed up for some grant/award because I decided not to test at 4 in the morning then so be it, life will go on. The end result will likely only be that I make a little less money. Money obsessed folk, howerver, is a topic for another post. Look at it this way, i'm using that money that I would have earned to buy back part of my life to be lived outside the laboratory.