I seldom come here for a looksee, but couldn't resist taking a peep at this thread.
It's been over 20 years since I was in GA, but it seems not a lot has changed for most. I only had three GA jobs, two employers, since I went back to the first after a couple of years, and neither was bad, in fact one was very good and the other good.
I always had radar, and well maintained aircraft to fly. I certainly worked hard, sometimes flying 40 hours in a week, but not often. 100 a month was certainly normal though, and i think back then it may have been a 90 liomit but have forgotten.
No telemarketing, but they did ask me to fix the battery charger one Sunday; in a previous lkife I was an electronics technician. Many times I felt like telling the boss to shove it, but always resolved to give it till Monday to see if Ifelt the same way. I didn't.
I flew everything from freight, nice pax, not so nice pax, BF's, crocodiles, and a million other things right across Australia before getting the nod for bigger and better things.
All in all, I have quite fond memories of my GA days, although I realize it wasn't/isn't so good for most.
I survived for almost 5000 hours, was grateful for the experience, and without it wouldn't have graduated to where I am today. I've lived outside Australia for a long time, flying 737's, 767's and 777's.
I keep in touch with both my previous emplyers, a little loosely, butin touch nevertheless, and at times miss the excitement of GA. They were great days for me, hard work, hard won experience, but most of all, a start.