I work in luxury advertisement, and I have never signed a contract with my 'boss' or his company, ever, and it's been almost a year since I started working for him. He has a lot of weight in the industry, and I'm afraid asking him for paperwork will put me on his bad side. The one time I asked him about it he said it's how everyone operates, and to accept it as it is because he still pays me every month.
2 weeks after being 'hired', he completely changed the work I was supposed to do (logistics and campaign management) to managing catering (yes, food) after one of his employees, whom he had had an affair with, quit. I'm game for a challenge, and I liked cooking (not the case anymore, the forever increasing work load and his constant micro-management in the work place made me hate it), so after he asked me to consider taking the job for a few weeks, until he found someone to fill in, I told him i'd step in as manager for the catering side of his business, until he found someone with kitchen experience to solidify his business. I told him catering was not what I wanted to do with my life, and he agreed to it being temporary.
Almost a year later, I'm still working for his catering side of the business, even after telling him multiple times to hire someone else. He guilt trips me (or threatens me, as my friends have pointed out) into staying by saying he gave me a chance to enter the industry, that he wants me to help him establish a subsidiary in LA, as well as promising contacts and a good recommendation. He often says I belong to him exclusively, makes crass remarks, and has told me, in these specific words, he would 'burn me to the ground' and 'make it impossible' for me to work in luxury advertisement if I ever left his company.
The pay has not increased, and I suspect he is billing the clients much, much more for my daily rates of 'catering services' than what he pays me. The people I found and trained are 'not able to deal with running a kitchen', per his standards, and he hasn't made me work on any of the small, non-catering involving contracts, which would have enabled me to go back to my initial job title of logistics and team management.
I'm depressed, burnt out from the 70h++ work weeks, but I still do the job to the best of my abilities because I was raised with the 'if you're going to work, then do it to perfection' mentality. I've implemented new hygiene and security rules, new recipes, and new menus. I take into account every one and their allergies, regiment, etc… While he implemented a new rule : don't talk to the client, even the one you're supposed to interact with. Don't say hello, don't speak, make it as if you're not there. And I'm forbidden to step away from the kitchen.
Today, while talking about the future and ongoing projets, one of my colleagues told me my boss was unwilling to put me back in my previous position because he thought I was going after his clients and was openly talking about my communications company. On my little free time, I'm taking part as a consultant in a company that makes apps – mostly for children and fitness. I spoke once about how Nike had agreed to be a partner for the launch of one of the fitness apps, while working on an ad with him for Nike, with a client who specifically asked me what else I do in my life.
This is the last straw for me, and I'm not willing to put my mental health on the line any longer. Lying to colleagues, clients and putting my future in jeopardy for his ego and his fear of people leaving and 'stealing' his business model. I want to quit, but there is this humongous project coming, from monday until thursday, and I'm not feeling comfortable leaving my colleagues out there alone to suffer his wrath. However, my inability to sleep because of this comment and my growing anxiety makes me seriously doubt the validity of my feelings of guilt.
Should I quit now and save my mental health, or power through the last week and quit later ?