@freakinacage - Quite right, occasional overtime is nice and sometimes necessary. Our family's decision was meant to address constant overworking of a store's employees simply to make a profit, not to keep people from earning money they need.
@Tercha - You speak a lot of truth; please don't think I live in a dream world. Our decision is because of those realities you mentioned, not despite them.
My first two jobs were in Law Enforcement, and I know the necessity of such work. For all the necessity of a cop's work, the hours are very hard on a family and on one's emotional health. Their sacrifices should encourage us to avoid working schedules like that without great need, not to accept such things as normal.
As for being lonely, I've been there myself, and I see it at my local game store a bit. My wife and I think a better solution to meeting in a store, though, is to invite those people to our home and give them a place of rest and enjoyment - another reason to guard our days off, we wouldn't be able to do this if we were running around seven days a week, 365 days a year.