I don't know what the hell you mean by the term unreasonable. Are you under the impression that investment banking analysts do not think they will have to work late before they take the role?

I've been at startups where there's sometimes late night food served.

I've never been at a startup where there was an epidemic about lying about stolen hardware.

Staying just late enough to order dinner on the company, and theft by the employee of computer hardware plus lying about it, are not in the same category and do not happen with equal frequency. I cannot believe the parent comment presented these as the same, and is being taken seriously.

You can steal $2000 by lying about a stolen laptop or lying about working late. The latter method just takes a few months.

> people started staying just late enough for the food delivery to arrive while scrolling on their phones and then walking out the door with their meal.

That doesn't sound like actually working late?

(I still agree with you, though, that this isn't the equivalent of stealing a laptop, even if you do it enough to take home $2,000 worth of dinner.)

Well, it was stolen. The only lie is by whom.

Negotiate for better conditions. If agreement cannot be reached, find another job.

none of it is good lol

gp was talking about salaried employees which is legally exempt from overtime pay. There is no rigid 40-hour ceiling for salary pay.

Salary compensation is typical for white-collar employees such as analysts in investment banking and private equity, associates at law firms, developers at tech startups, etc.

> legally required maximum working hours

Neither of these apply in the context of full-time salaried US investment banking jobs that the parent comment is referring to.

People work these jobs and hours because the compensation and career advancement can be extremely lucrative.

People who worry about things like limiting their work hours do not take these jobs.