Employment "At Will"

My last company made it very clear during the hiring process (and the termination process) that they are an "at will" employer. In other words, either party can terminate the relationship at any time for any reason without obligation to the other party. And I see more and more employers using this term now - it's a trend.

And it occurs to me that it's very much like another societal trend. It's like a couple living together for convenience sake. A boy and a girl move in together, share the rent, share the groceries, share the chores, share the bed... and if they happen to like each other a bit - that's a little something extra, but.. not all that necessary. They each get some help from the other, get some basic needs met (financial, domestic, physical), and the relationship - ehh, secondary.

Either party can walk at any time. If you stop getting as much as you give - it can end. No hard feelings, no strings... because no real lasting intimacy was built, no committments made, no true and selfless love shared.

That's what it has felt like at work over the last 7 years. No committment, no intimacy, no caring, no strings - no love. And I keep asking myself: why do I approach work like a love affair? Why do I want to love and be loved - at work?

I must not be as hip and modern as I think. Get with it, boy! Can't you see you're too sentimental? It's an arrangement of mutual convenience. It's not personal... it's just business.