TLDR: Found a new job that pays me $10 more per hour with better hours and actually has benefits. Will be leaving my toxic workplace that underpays me. My boss is not going to be happy to learn that I’m leaving, and I’m not sure how much notice to give.
I currently work at a local nonprofit. My job is to do all their marketing, communications, and I manage a couple of different programs there. Compared to people in my same position around the state, I should be paid significantly more. I also do the work of about 3 people. The work I do with programs requires that I frequently attend or facilitate events outside of normal business hours. It’s a lot of work but since I started there last year, I’ve given over 100% effort. My hard work shows, too – people in the community have said that I put out the best marketing content they’ve seen from the organization in years. And I still can’t make ends meet. I’m suffering and can barely make it paycheck to paycheck. Not to mention my boss is an extremely negative human behind closed doors, always looking for the worst in things. It doesn’t jive well with me, I’m generally an upbeat and happy person. She is sickeningly sweet when interacting with the public, but at work it’s like everything is a disaster. It’s wearing on me.
A couple months ago, I had a surgery that my insurance was fighting with me on whether they would cover it or not. A week before surgery, I was scheduled to attend a meeting about an hour away from the office. I was not facilitating, just attending. Insurance called on my drive there saying that they couldn’t cover the surgery. I broke down crying and pulled over. It took me a while to compose myself – insurance had been jerking me around for weeks at this point and I needed the surgery covered. If they wouldn’t cover it, the surgeon’s office would have canceled the surgery. Anyway, by the time I could drive again, the meeting was already halfway through. I called the office hosting the meeting and apologized for my absence, explaining the situation. They were more than understanding and said they would call me to catch me up the next day, and wished me to feel better. I went home and tried to relax.
The next day, my boss came to talk with me about my “unreliability” and how I was “chipping away at the organization’s credibility” as well as my own credibility, by not attending everything I was supposed to. I was confused. She cited the meeting I missed the day before, and I apologized for that. She then cited an instance earlier this year when I took a mental health day and worked from home – I had a meeting scheduled with one person and called her to reschedule, because we both prefer to meet in person. We met the next day and it was fine. Another instance she brought up was an interview I was supposed to conduct with an individual. They no-call no-showed our scheduled interview. They followed up with me to apologize and reschedule, I offered them some new time slots, and then never heard a response back. I guess all of this, to my boss, means I am unreliable, uncommitted, and tarnishing the organization’s reputation.
This was extremely frustrating for me to hear, and left me feeling unappreciated. I put in 80 extra hours finishing a project earlier this year. I’ve increased our social media stats more every month since I’ve been here.
The surgery was 2 months ago (insurance ended up covering, btw). 2 weeks ago, I came down with strep throat and had to miss a day of work. There was an event that day. Boss was not happy. Last week, just before finishing my antibiotics, I came down with a nasty viral infection and felt like death warmed over. Doctor ordered 2 days off of work to rest. I sent a photo of the doctor’s note to my boss. She was extremely cold to me over text, as I had another event to attend the second day I was taking off. I slept most of those two days. The day I returned, she made sure to let me know how much it “threw a wrench” in her day that I was sick and how it f***ed up her time management for the whole day. The entire day, she was cold and rude to me, and it seemed like I couldn’t do anything right.
If you’ve read this far, you’re awesome and I thank you. So, I’ve secured a new job that’s paying me almost $10 more per hour. I’m waiting to negotiate with them on a start date. I know the standard notice to give is 2 weeks. We just had a volunteer quit, and he was a huge help around here, so I know when I give my notice she is not going to be happy. I know if I give her only 2 weeks she’s going to be upset. She’ll want to hire someone and have me train them before I leave, but that could take up to a month or more. I need a better job and more funds ASAP. Part of me doesn’t even want to give 2 weeks because, knowing my boss, my last two weeks would be hell.
Do I just give 2 weeks? Should I give more notice? Should I just pack up my stuff and quit and start my new job (half serious)?