As
@Denis Law's Backheel, I. too, was a Civil Servant, being a hit man for the Revenue, with the last 22 years of my 35 year career being in Employer Compliance, and 19 of them dealing with very large employers, anywhere in the UK. This meant that I stayed away from home at least one week in three, generally working the same hours the senior management of the employer worked. When flexitime was imposed on us, I generally found that I had accumulated
1-3 days credit per month. The job played havoc with my family life, as the kids were growing up, but I had a lot of holidays to spend with them!
Why did I do it? Simply, I enjoyed the work, meeting different people almost every week and pitting my wits with very influential (and famous) "captains of industry" in negotiations to determine an acceptable figure of Tax/NIC loss, with many in 6 figures, and a few over 7 figures, none of which would have never come to light if I hadn't reviewed their records.
I took early retirement at the age of 56, but don't get a full pension due to "only" 35 years service.
Not all Civil Servants never leave their desks. I was one of many who were not desk bound, fortunately.
Would I do it again?
Not at 73.
;-)