I am a professor...cushey job, right? I "teach" only a few hours a week, but I spend about 8-10 hours a day at work, particularly in the laboratory. I work with animals, so I also work all holidays, etc. (animals have to be taken care of 365 days a year!). I rarely have a day completely off- except for my time in WDW. On the other hand, I can leave to pick my kids up from school and arrange my "have to be" times around my kids schedule. I am often grading papers, reviewing articles or writing before bed.
As a town-gown event I once had a vice president of a major insurance corporation (hint: Think Bloomington, IL) "shadow" me for the day. My day started at 7 AM and finished about 10pm after a dinner meeting. I ate lunch on the run that day, and spent much of it multi-taskin. Oh, and I was 8 months pregnant. The executive was EXHAUSTED at the end...so I reminded him that I still had laundry waiting for me, probably dinner dishes since my DH had dealt with the kids all evening, papers to grade, and my first class was at 8 the next morning. He decided I was grossly underpaid!!!!
BUT- I love what I do and wouldn't change it (well, except the pay part- I make less than most high school teachers with similar years experience).
It is at this time of year as I watch my seniors and grad students graduating and starting careers of their own that I realize how fortunate I have been to see them grow and develop into really wonderful adults. They, at some point, have stopped being a "student" and become the "teacher" to the younger students in the lab. I realize I have learned as much or more from them as they (hopefully) have from me. I burst with pride and hate graduation because I am so gosh darn proud of them (even if they WILL make more than I do!). That is the biggest reward of all- and no money or hours can reinforce me more than realizing that the world is not hopeless- there are some awesome young people out there and we ARE in capable hands!!!!