Everything makes sense if you go into a job with the mindset you are not a human being, but rather a tool that the company has to give cursory maintenance to, t

Everything makes sense if you go into a job with the mindset you are not a human being, but rather a tool that the company has to give cursory maintenance to, to ensure that you don't break down. HR is just the department that oversee's the tools and removes/replaces any tools that are not working or are becoming too much of a hassle. If you doubt that is true, just remember that many companies would willingly have you thrown off the top of the building to your death and replaced within a day were you to even so much as thought about time outside of work if they could do so and get away with it.