Production support anyone?

In managing a team for production support of a large finance organization, I come across the same dilemma repeatedly. Only a few people are interested in working in this job profile. As a result many who join remain perennially unhappy.

And why? Because it is rumored that the skills gained are not of use in the career, and that the work isn't challenging.
But i have personally seen, that Prod support actually gives an opportunity to learn what bad code is, and know how to design stable software.
I do agree that being 'on call' is not fun. But even other project types have crunch times, such as when one has to meet a tight deadline.
These comparisons aside, the interesting thing I've observed, is that even when people move to other roles, they remain unhappy. I wonder if this dissatisfaction has become the very nature of the IT Industry, and 'unpopular' project types only bring out more protests, while people remain unhappy across the board.