You've never been on-call have you? At most places it's not all at all like you describe... it's usually reserved for genuine emergencies, emergencies that would impact revenues; otherwise, it wouldn't be cost effective to wake someone up at 3 AM. It can be quite rewarding.
Just take a look around. How many things do you depend on running 24/7? Your cable TV? Phone service? Ambulances? Medical services (surgeons, vets)? Plumbing? (Your broken shower may wait till Monday, but not the hospital's.) Towing? Or, how about just about every large website in existence? Databases? Ad nauseum.
All these industries you depend on running 24/7, that you take for granted, require on-call support.
Are these people on call 24x7x365?
I've been on call 24x7 before, but only for short windows, say 2 days out of the week. My sister used to be a nurse @ a hospital and it was the same for her, maybe on call 2 or 3 days of the week. The other days of the week she was not on call and didn't have to be prepared for "the call" or "the page".
Now don't go getting all self-important.
And it's incredibly condescending for you to point out how the world works to me: "Just take a look around. How many things do you depend on running 24/7? Your cable TV? Phone service? Ambulances? Medical services (surgeons, vets)? Plumbing? (Your broken shower may wait till Monday, but not the hospital's.) Towing? Or, how about just about every large website in existence? Databases? Ad nauseum."
Well, you got the nauseum part right.
How about this: Not one network you mentioned depends on ONE person to keep going. If you or the Supreme Glenn happen to drive off a bridge on your way to saving the rest of us, I am reasonably convinced that a backup will appear.