I was at the office last Tuesday, wrapping up a project with my team, when my manager casually mentioned that we needed to push our deadlines. It was already past 6 PM, and I was the last person left in the room. I had been working a lot of late nights lately, and this was just another example of how long hours are expected, even when everyone else had left. The usual rhythm of my day used to be 9:00 to 5:30, but now it feels like I hardly ever get out before 7. I looked at my emails and saw that three more requests had come in after hours, pushing the workload even further. I ended up staying until nearly 8 PM, feeling pretty drained. On my way out, I ran into another colleague who said they'd been working late all week too. It just hit me that this isn't how it should be, but it's become the norm.