Just ranting to vent since I have no one to really talk to so thank you for reading:
I am a guy who decided to go on a wild tangent last year and took up an offer at a small company that sells and resells construction materials, by virtue of a family member, and left a well paying job to do so.
I was offered to be the assistant to the person (supervisor) making sales and the deal was that I was to gradually take on the tasks that he has been doing for years as he transitions to a more managerial position.
I had no experience in this industry prior to this as I used to work in manufacturing in a different role but had transferable skills.
I came to realize that the people working in this office are stuck 25-30 years in the past, I've even heard some super sexist comments from more than a few of the top guys.
Well here's the kicker, I am gay and I think you can hear it when I speak, mind you I'm not all in your face about it or dress flamboyantly and never ever offer much about my personal life, but conversational topics can probably fill in any doubts they had. I've been getting the feeling that this has been a problem. Both the owner and the supervisor are good old boys, they dont say anything outright but I know that this makes me an outcast.
Fast forward 2 months in and I'm stuck helping everyone and doing anything else but what I was hired for, even after asking the supervisor for work over and over. In the end this guy's higher up ended up moving me temporarily to where the billing clerks are, all female, while they hired a replacement for the revolving-door desk that my supervisor directly oversees. I learned alot from the experience and how much the billing girls struggle to meet the owners and customers' sometimes unreasonable demands.
My breaking point was when, while filling in for the billers role, I spent a large amount of time (OT weeks and on weekends) working on a large task on an outdated piece of software from 1996, without proper help or training, and took my work so the owner and supervisor could review it, which is required by them.
They ignored me when I walked in to give them my work. No big deal I drew their attention, left my work with them. They took 3 days to review it when it should take 20 mins tops. These were time sensitive items too… I worked so hard at it and for that to happen just broke something inside me. I dont usually get overly emotional or aggressive, but I'll admit I sat in the office and cried for a minute that day thinking about how I left a higher paying job for this. I put my two weeks notice today and I guess I hadnt really noticed how miserable I really was because that felt like a huge wave of relief.
I dont have a job lined up yet but I am fortunate enough to have savings until I can find somewhere I'm at least not completely uncomfortable at. I should have bailed sooner than this, lesson learned: be happy and trust your instinct If you feel like you dont fit into the culture, find another one.
TLDR: left higher paying job to spend 6 months at an office work environment stuck in 1990. Felt relief from putting 2 weeks notice. Learned to value self and ones well being over trying to fit into an environment in which you dont belong.