These kinds of exceptions/clauses/preferences are exactly why people need to think twice before sacrificing their life over stock options. The process is not transparent enough, and even doing some due diligence to try to ensure you're not getting shafted often results in you still getting the shaft. Unless you're dropping major coin as an investor who can dictate terms, all stock options should come with a huge bucket of complimentary salt.

It is pretty gross when founders/management try to incentivize burnout with false promises, while banking a nice payday at the end of the rainbow for themselves.