At least some carriers are now tightening up their process to allow large passengers to book AND KEEP a second seat without the airline stealing it for standby's.
Now stop the back load from shoving their bags in the Plus seating in front as they pass by...
We did a project for Tesla (I used to design automated material handling vehicles) and I can confirm what you said about employee treatment is true. The amount of hours they're expected to work with ridiculous deadlines is insane. With no upside that I could tell, just stress and pressure.
Memories...saw Jaws when I was 17 living in a SoCal beach town where my friends and me were at the beach/in the water for so many months of the year. Completely messed with our heads...for a while the slightest odd current or floating bit of seaweed or other bit of driftwood or floating whatever near us could get the heart pumping very fast, very quickly.