[cookiecaper]

I think that's a bit on the dramatic side of things. Most people with a desk job can afford all of the things you mentioned (which doesn't necessarily mean they're going to buy them, like nutritious food). You don't have to be management to be able to use the restroom at your convenience -- I've never been in management, but I've never had a desk job where I explicitly had to ask before I got up to use the bathroom. I just went to the bathroom.

You are exaggerating quite a lot here. There is some distinction between peons and management but in general it's mostly a status/mental thing, not a necessities-of-life thing. In the office, advancement and accomplishment is made by politics and promotion. It's not like a construction worker who can survey his work site and visibly see the progress he made; in an office-centric culture, people want to get into management because management equates with much-needed validation that you're actually doing something valuable. If you are made a manager, it means your managers think you're cool enough to join the manager club. And, again, in an office-centric environment, politics play a heavier role than they reasonably should.