I work for a small company in a blue collar position. Over the last two years, we have seen our client base grow at least three-fold (I don't have access to numbers, so this is just an estimate). Meanwhile, our workforce has stayed the same: Five full-timers on the floor, the boss (married to the company owner), and a part-timer with no set schedule (related to the company owner)… And maybe a seasonal employee if they feel the need. Meanwhile, our product prices to our clients have increased.
What used to be a fairly chill job with maybe two periods of three crazy weeks each per year has now become a job where I can't even rely on being able to take a lunch. It's a very physical job, and I have hurt myself multiple times. And, I have to admit: I'm a slight person. I may be strong for my size, but I'll never be as strong as someone who is 6 foot tall and naturally muscled.
I started three years ago at $10/hour, no health benefits. I'm now at $15/hour, still no health benefits (doing the math on inflation alone, I am barely making more than I did in my college internship, but at least then, I was still covered by my parents' health plan; I' now paying $300/month for my own health plan)… But all but my first raise seemed to coincide with them withering hiring a new person when someone left or them putting out an ad for a new employee. We recently lost one employee who moved away due to their spouse's work and have been unable to fill the position. I am in a “near managerial” role now, so I saw the job posting. The are now starting new employees at $12.50 an hour. Or so I thought: The man who was hired after I was hired was under the impression they started everyone at $14 an hour, since he started at that. When he started, I got a raise from $11 an hour to $12.50 an hour. Only a month ago, I got a raise from $14 an hour to $15 an hour, coinciding with when they made the new job posting.
I should add: I live in a city. It is expensive here. The median house costs $600,000, along with insane property taxes. Rent is now averaging $1,500 a month in this city. I rent, and I'm only hanging on here because I'm married and my spouse makes more than I do.
A year ago, my spouse and I started thinking of leaving the state, because we can actually afford to buy a house in another state that doesn't have insane property taxes, as long as it's not in a big city. Three months ago, we committed to leaving. Now, we're close to actually buying a house elsewhere. I need to start seriously looking for employment where we're moving, plus… Today was the worst day I've ever had at work, physically. I worked for over 10 hours straight in the heat. On my feet. Lifting stuff. On very little sleep, because I've been sick and that makes it hard to sleep (plus one of my on-the-job injuries interrupts my sleep every night).
Before today, I had already planned to put in my two weeks on Thursday, but after today I feel like doing so will be fucking my coworkers, whom I all really like. And I'll be fucking over the boss and owner, who are cool, but… Can they really not afford to pay us more and give us health insurance? Can they not afford to hire two more people, especially after business has boomed?
Please tell me I'm not a horrible person for quitting this job when we're already one man down. Talk me in to going through with what I already had planned, please!