This is a brilliant definition of professional ethos.
A further poster asks if companies pay for this. I understand that "do I get paid for it" is the question of the age, but I see that as a reflection of one of the evils of the age (every age has evils and goods).
The money you get paid is a means to an end, not an end. I feel better about myself knowing I have lived up to my standard, money cannot compensate for that.
Money gets you the respect of people who don't know you. Professionalism gets you the respect of the people who do, including the person who knows you best, yourself.
This only applies once you make enough money to be comfortable. Before that point, money directly correlates to quality of living.
Caring about quality is above capitalism or communism. Yes, it can be exploited by any political regime and it is necessary to be aware of this exploitation, but regardless of what is the environment I feel proud of doing a great work.
I think it is because we are naturally attracted to beauty and repulsed by ugliness.
For me people that don't take responsibility like that ultimately have an issue with themselves: Yeah they might be wasting my time — but more than that they are wasting their own time. If they are as good as they believe they are, why do they end up in a job where they don't care? Not caring is okay, but where is the ethos of the craft? I might not care about the particular problem of a customer, but I might care about the reliability, quality, extendability, readability and performance of the code I wrote.
Caring costs energy, sure. But not caring can cost you even more, as you are wasting your life.