Hey everybody, first post on Reddit after being a lurker for the past several years. Just feeling really burnt out and want to vent/ get opinions.
So last year I quit my job that I worked at for 5 years. This job was a 4/10 schedule, hard manual labor in terrible conditions. Pros were I made $27 an hour and it was 10 minutes away from my house.
I quit that job because the company often did layoffs and I honestly hated my job even though the pay was good. I couldn’t see myself doing that hard manual labor for the rest of my life.
My new job is great. I started about 6 months ago. It’s not hard manual labor, I supervise myself and plan out my own days. I don’t go home physically exhausted everyday which is a nice change. Only issue is my new job is an hour and half away and I work 5/8’s. I also took a pay cut for this job and now make $26 an hour. If I was still at my old job I would’ve been making $30 an hour (I was getting a raise before I quit.)The biggest con about this job is that I’m on call 24/7. For example last week I got home at 6pm. Was in bed at 10pm. Got an emergency call at 12am and had to get up and drive to work. I completed the job at 3:30 am and ended up sleeping at my work and waking up at 7:30am to start working again.
Being on call is taking a major toll on my mental well-being. I’m not even able to go enjoy a couple beers with my friends in fear that I might get an emergency call. My wife and I are having a child this summer and she’s going to being staying at home. Me being gone 12 hours a day 5 days a week, or leaving in the middle of the night is not what I want for my family. You may ask why don’t I move? Well I own my house where I live and housing is significantly cheaper here. The cost of my mortgage wouldn’t even get me a 1 bedroom apartment where I work.
Basically I feel stuck and it’s a shitty feeling. I want a good life for my child. If I stick out with my new job for a year or two more we will be considerable better off financially. Only downside is I will be away from home more and mentally exhaust all the time. If I quit and go back to my old job I will be home more and be paid $4 an hour more but there is unfortunately no room for growth or more pay.
I’m going on maternity leave for 3 months and I plan on looking for another job closer. I’m just scared I will blow this opportunity and look back in 5 years and wish I stuck it out.I apologize for this wall of text and I’m mainly writing this for me but if people want to share their input it would be appreciated.