There's no story, I wasn't mistreated even though the pay was meager and the benefits essentially non-existent. It was just politics. I was a reporter for a small newspaper that did fairly balanced reporting all in all but which was definitely on the right side of the political spectrum, and clearly opinionated in every other sense than the articles themselves. I did it because they didn't want to publish one of my editorials, and I'm not surprised, since my political standpoint in it was more or less the opposite of one that the lead editor took in one of his about a similar situation last year. I guess if anything I'm surprised they rejected it so blatantly. And then I realized I'd been wanting to get out of working there for a while, and had been looking for excuses and suddenly given one.
So I quit. I've gotten good enough at my side gigs that I can make a living out of them, and I have a good enough reputation as a journalist locally that I've been able to pitch and idea and get hired for a minor but more respectable freelance thing for a local public service radio station instead. For probably the first time ever in my life, I could really afford to quit a job over my personal principles, and it felt fucking fantastic. I'm no longer working for the wrong team.
Part of me feels ungrateful because being able to do some freelance stuff for the paper in the past helped me get through a period of studies, but fuck it. It's kept food on the table and paid the rent, but it's not like that was some sort of favor or charity or whatever. Employers like them treasure employees so long as they are useful and you'd still be out the door the moment they need to do cutbacks or for whatever other reason. The only basis in such a relationship is labor for monetary gain, no love or loyalty, so I don't figure there's anything wrong with a worker sticking by such an employer only as long as it's gainful and then moving on. I've been places I would have stayed for reasons of loyalty, so I know they exist, and this just wasn't one of them.
So, no story, no outrage, and I realize I'm a privileged fuck to even be able to do this. I just feel great about it, and wanted to share. If you've read this far and you want some sort of message, I guess it would be to constantly re-evaluate if the job you do is realistically the best job you could be having, and that you don't have to lift a single unpaid finger or stay even one more day working for someone you don't respect and who wouldn't hesitate to throw you out the door. It gets beaten into us that we owe them something, but we absolutely don't. Especially if the only reason you're there is so that you can keep the lights on. And if you can afford it, quitting and telling someone why you're quitting is a kick, a rush and a trip. That's all, folks.