Divemasters: the last legal indentured servants in the Western world.
I think at some point we've all been you...
That said, I'm going to get picky with you. Using the term "indentured servitude" isn't accurate. Indentured servitude implies a debt that cannot easily (if ever) be paid in full. In India, for example, such debt can be passed down through generations, essentially leading to a situation whereby a baby is born into an unpardonable debt..... It is a sort of modern day slavery, and I'm using the word slavery correctly here.... ownership of people.
Divemasters DO have a hierarchically submissive position in a lot of shops. In others, they have a particular "role" (albeit sometimes not a SEXY role) that helps the team function better as a whole. At the shop where I work, DM's have a role to fulfill with respect to logistics -- like hanging up and recovering a buoy -- but they are most certainly not "submissive" when it comes to training divers. Our DM's are very experienced divers and experienced DM's and they are full and fully respected members of the educational team.... I literally couldn't function some of the time without a good DM and they know it.
At the shop where I work nobody gets paid a lot. Of course we are compensated in kind. For example, I probably fill for 1200-1500 Euros a year on Nitrox alone..... but none of us are in this for the money.
The fact is that most of the money that DM's and instructors would normally earn at a normal shop goes into a pot and we enjoy lavish meals at Chinese restaurants together as a team or we all have a barbecue on the beach where a professional chef is hired to do the cooking.... Everyone treated equally because while the roles of DM, Instructor, or CD may differ, the team can only function adequately as a whole. This way we all equally enjoy the benefits of the work we do together.
I know this sounds very foreign to an American but it does wonders for team morale and lowers barriers to helping one another. I haven't been a DM for a long time but I still "DM" (assist) for my colleagues from time to time when it is needed and they do the same for me. This is what we gain by this. Team spirit, willingness to help each other, focus on results.....
As for indentured servitude, if someone decides to walk away we don't (literally) kill them, or their wife, or their child.... that's what happens in *real* cases of indentured servitude.... If someone walks away from our particular "tribe" (and some do) then we hug them, wish them well and hope we will see them again.
R..