I can understand why you'd feel that way. Venting like this is usually really bad for the kind of discussion we're hoping for here (the thoughtful kind!) but your comment interestingly makes up for it by being grounded in personal experience. That makes the feeling easier to relate to. It seems more genuine.
I think you might be under a mis-impression of what Hacker News is. It's for stories that gratify intellectual curiosity, and definitely not just about technology. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Face stickers of the 18th century French aristocracy, to mention just one recent submission, are quite on topic.
Does this story do that? Well it's complicated but yes I think it does in part. The thread is surprisingly non-horrible (edit: or was when I saw it, anyhow) and the concept of emotional labor is intellectually interesting, even if the article does hit some bruised areas and is trollishly packaged. That makes it an exception to the rule, which is also interesting in a meta sort of way.