What about the stories of tenured professors being essentially managers and grant-chasers for their unit? Doesn't sound low-stress to me.

That's essentially only necessary if you want grant money or want to be seen as a team player (and get promoted, and not have your colleagues be annoyed with you, etc)

Being seen as pariah/weirdo in an environment you spend 40+ hours per week in does not like the best working arrangement...

They don't stand to lose their jobs if they don't bring in enough "customers" - which is quite different to comparable jobs outside of academia.

That would be one of my professors from grad school. At the time I was there, his teaching load was 2 courses a year, or maybe 3? The only reason 3 is sticking in my head is because he teaches the course he literally wrote the book on, during the summer.

Not a bad way to spend one's 70s, is it?