He should treat a 4 hour commute as a life-threatening emergency. That is insane. Drop what you are doing and find somewhere closer to live or get a closer job.
Not even just "treat" it like that; it _IS_ a life-threatening emergency. I was forced into that exact situation for 1 month. Even paying $4 bridge-toll. It wasn't even a question if I was going to quit that job, the situation fell apart on its own. I just couldn't sustain it.
That daily 4hr commute eclipses any other issue he has, IMHO. Whatever physical or mental energy you didn't burn up in the office is destroyed in 4hrs of traffic. Nobody should live like that.