[tacostakohashi]

To some extent - an "on call roster" or "comp time" help a bit so it's not just a 24/7 job... but even "comp time" is the kind of thing they'll not explicitly say no to (as you found), but also its not something they'd be doing as a norm, and it would make anyone asking for it seem like less of a "team player", a good candidate for the bottom of the promotion / top of the layoff list.

It just seems like a real double standard / unspoken rule of software at BigCo that it's very difficult to contain to 9-5 M-F like the other jobs, since it's salaried or exempt and they're not tracking hours. To some extent the relatively high salaries compensate for it, but it comes at a real toll over the long term compared to a true 9-5.