Wow, that's nuts. At least the manufacturing jobs I see around me are just 4on 4off 12hr shifts, which still sucks IMO, but isn't abusive to employee's mental well being.
Its really only the norm for certain industries. I'm just an IT drone, so I still get my 5 8s, but I've heard some of the factory floor guys say they like it so /shrug.
I wouldn't be opposed to doing 4 10s just to have an extra day off, but support gigs don't generally get that kind of leeway with staffing and coverage issues. But I get to work from home, so I'll take the extra day a week of work.
30 years ago I did 12 hour shifts at a factory, and it really wasn't too bad. It was 4 on 3 off one week, and 3 on 4 off the other week. The OT on week one made up for the lost hours on week two, and having 3 or 4 days off was pretty sweet. But it was a QC job, for a European company in the US, sitting all night inspecting small parts, and was pretty chill.
My brother in law worked at the BMW factory in SC, and they did 4 10 hour shifts, with the days off rotating each week. They only ran 6 days a week, so you'd end up with 5 days off every 4 weeks whenever the days off from two weeks lined up. He liked the 5 days off when they happened, but the rotating days off didn't line up with my sisters schedule, so that was tough.