"You are paid 40 hours a week regardless if you are there for the full 40 or less."

Gee, I can't remember the last time I worked for a hi-tech employer that expected less than a 45-50 hour work week from it's salaried engineers. Start-ups usually expect even a lot more than that. It wasn't till I switched to contracting and hourly pay that I was able to ease off the hours w/o fear of recrimination from my employer.

Of course, now when my client takes a day off, so do I... without compensation. Everything is a trade-off.