This post is partially to vent but also to ask for some advice. If you feel like giving advice but don’t feel like reading all that, just scroll to the third to last paragraph! I’m sorry in advance for the long read. TLDR at the bottom.
I’m already set on quitting my job, the issue is I don’t know when, or how.
This is my first job out of college. I work for the branch of a big company, our office is about 11 people. Everyone has a very specific role, we don’t have more than 2 people for one position. I am the ONLY one in my office that knows how to do what I do though. For the others’ positions there’s always another person that can help in some capacity, but for mine they had to outsource the work I do until I got hired a couple years ago.
My office is very laid back usually. I could arrive to work 20 minutes late and nobody notices or cares. There is no dress code. At 1 pm on fridays they start popping bottles of liquor open. If I need a day off, they’ll give it to me no questions asked.
Now, to the problems. I do NOT get paid good. My job is loosely related to my field of study but it is absolutely not what I went to school for. I graduated from a STEM major in which entry level positions typically earn $15-20k more than I did when I started, but I’m not gonna go into too much detail on why I took the job in the first place or why I deserve to get paid more just for the sake of length.The only reason I’m able to live comfortably is because me and my partner share our expenses. If I was single I’d be fucked.
I feel like the least important person in the office. I definitely make the least money. Sometimes random employees or other people come and go and don’t even acknowledge I’m here. Sometimes I’m not even included in email exchanges that pertain to my job responsibilities. It sucks.
There is no growth opportunity for me here. Nothing to get promoted to. All I can aspire to is getting a raise of a couple bucks per hour every year. Not to mention my commute is 40+ mins long, from a big city to a small town.
Now, that’s what sucks about my job. My coworkers are a different story. Like the title says, they are the typical “we are a family here” office. I’m the only under-30, brown, immigrant, non-straight person in an office full of textbook white anti-vax “COVID was a hoax” conservatives taken straight out of Facebook. Like, “I wanna see the manager,” kind of people, people that are rude to waitresses, people that spread nasty gossip about somebody that walked out, people that call the cops on a homeless person for getting shade under a tree that happens to be close to the office building during 110°F weather (true story, unfortunately). I have heard some of these people say the most heinous things about gay and trans people, poor people, non-white, and non-conservatives in general. Needless to say, I don’t fit in, and it makes me very uncomfortable. Despite all this, they are hell-bent on the “we are a family” mentality. Whenever me and my partner get invited to drinks after work, one of the supervisors won’t shut up about how this workplace is so cool and we’re all friends and have no secrets and no boundaries with each other. My partner knows how much I keep to myself and don’t like being around these people, so this makes him laugh.
Now, I’ve been wanting to quit since I started, but the homeless person incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I recently passed a test for an important certification that will help with my career, so quitting is necessary for both career growth, a better salary, and possibly a way better commute. I just don’t know how to go about this with my boss. When I got my yearly raise he knew I was studying for this test and said specifically he wouldn’t want me to get certified and quit, so if there were any other responsibilities I wanted to take on to let him know. I’m also scared of any possible repercussions with my coworkers (like any gossiping or shunning). After what I’ve explained, it’s likely they take it as a betrayal from me. Especially because they’ve been talking of hiring a second person since I got hired, but never got around to it. I don’t think they’ve even interviewed anyone, so me quitting would leave them without the only person that knows how to do my job.
I understand that we don’t owe anything to companies and that I shouldn’t stay there forever just to not upset people, and it’s definitely not my responsibility they haven’t hired somebody else after 2 years, but I’d like to know what everyone else would do in my shoes.
I guess my questions are, how do I go about this? What do I do if they ask for longer than a 2-week notice? And, would it be dumb of me to quit without another job lined up? Given that I’m not comfortable working there for the reasons I explained. TIA!
TLDR; I hate my job. I feel under appreciated and underpaid despite being extremely needed there, my coworkers are bigots, there is no growth opportunity for me. Cons outweigh the pros. I’m set on quitting. How do I quit and is it dumb to quit without a plan?