I hope this is okay to post here. I know this is a super supportive sub and I'm having a little bit of a pity party and need some clarity.
I guess the title says it all. My boss has been slowly cutting my hours over the past several months and has been undermining my decisions and taking responsibilities from me little by little. I'm a manager at a vet clinic and my boss is the practice owner. It's really looking like he's waiting for me to quit so he doesn't have to fire me.
I'm super bummed. I've had what I thought was a friendship (I know, I know) for the past almost decade with him and I helped him open this practice almost 5 years ago. I manage all the employee and patient schedules, I negotiate with vendors, I do half of the bookkeeping and inventory management, I deal with clients, but I'm the only staff member with a small kid, and due to COVID and just regular cold and flu seasons I've had to call out more often the past couple of years. Boss pointed out how unreliable I've been after I took about 4 weeks off when my dad died suddenly back in October, then he cut my hours even more. He won't ever approve more hours unless I'm having to cover for someone else (which happens pretty frequently) I'm hungry and losing weight. My kid is fine, I can still feed and clothe her and pay for her daycare, but barely.
I don't know what else I can do. I've always offered to work from home on the days I have to call in, since most of my job can be done remotely, and he almost never takes me up on it. He barely talks to me at work, and when he does it's short, almost cold interactions. It's painful and embarrassing to watch him joke with my coworkers all day long.
Do I start job hunting? Have a super uncomfortable conversation about what is happening? Wait for him to fire me once I make a slip up somewhere?
Edit to add: I am married, and my husband has a fairly well paying job. We live in a right to work state where the cost of living has skyrocketed faster than other areas but wages have not come close to keeping up.