@sbc, I think you are on to something here which is really too bad. I wish I could remember the exact circumstances and details but my daughter went to an audition within the last month (and it could have been the combined Rent tour and whatever the other show was that it was paired with… blanking… Mama Mia?) and her quote was something like, “we need to figure out how to be nicer to each other.”
I thought she meant something like maybe hallway brawls in the queue but she didn’t. She meant that the process of matching the work with the people seeking the work needed to be more dignified. Instead it has become something that looks an awful lot like what I see when I drive into my local Home Depot. A large cast of very willing day workers whom I’m sure many are great at what they do, some better than others, but all have to stand there all day waving at cars in the hopes that someone actually is looking for their skills instead of picking up a 12 pack of light bulbs. And when a car actually stops, there are only seconds for the hiring manager to decide who really is a skilled worker vs. not. And… because the demand for the work far exceeds the supply, the really skilled worker may have to rely on luck of just getting picked randomly and settle for less than what they are worth until their value is recognized.
So back to your point @sbc, maybe because of the more is better that seems to be the message in the college process, people are being taught early on not to expect much and to accept anything. It’s wrong. This work is too hard and too specialized for that to be the norm.