Trying to sort out the mess in my mind
I really am considering quitting my job, and my head is such a mess of emotions and thoughts after the past few days, that I decided I needed to sort it all out. Kinda like a "pro/con" list you make for a breakup, but not really. I'll list the considerations and then, well, consider them.
1. Money
I don't make enough now to be worth showing up, practically
There will be no raises (we're operating under a MAJOR budget shortfall)
Ian can support me, so I'm lucky that way
I could make more money temping than I do here
I like having my own paycheck, though--money that I control that I don't have to go to Ian for.
If we do this, we have to get our joint checking account stat.
2. Career Path
I like working in this field, and would like to continue to do so
But there are a lot of other things I like and that are important to me
If I did this for five more years, I couldn't get another job more advanced in this field than I could get if I left right now--there's just no more growth to be had in it.
I had more responsibility and opportunity at my last museum job even though it was part-time.
There is nowhere to go UP here. Just my boss' job.
I'm unfulfilled and unused in this job.
3. Personal Indignities (job disatisfaction)
there is a lot of favoritism and politics
Certain people get certain priveledges here and I am not one of them.
I carry a lot of the weight and someone else gets the credit. Someone who happens to be older, a male, and of a different race.
I am used a lot for job functions which were not in my job description (i.e. receptionist, etc.)
4. Life Changes
I want to go to Grad School, and if I get in I don't want to work full time anyway, so I will have to quit then.
If I don't get into Grad school, I do not want to continue in this field, which means I will quit anyway.
I am getting married, and Ian and I are thinking more like a team now. He is running his family business, and starting a new, secondary business. He could really use the help, and now that we're getting married it's our business, not just his.
I want to have kids pretty soon, and working for a family business is a much better option since we still have one of the crappiest policies for family leave out of all the developed nations in the world.
5. Uncertainty
Do I WANT to work with, live with Ian and can we do it and not kill each other?
Do I want to work in business and leave, if even temporarily, my chosen profession?
What if I'm not good at anything else?
What if I can't do the work Ian wants me to do for his family business?
Why is my fear of uncertainty keeping me somewhere I clearly don't want to be?
Why am I so afraid to just make a decision?
Strategies:
Talk to my parents, they always listen and give good advice
Figure out the best possible exit strategy, as to decide when, where and how I'm gonna do this.
Deal with all the personal loose ends at work--my partner, my friends, etc.
I'm at the point where it's a question of "when", not "if". I think I'll give my two-weeks notice on Monday.
Wish me luck.

5 Comments:
Good luck. Sounds like you're making a good decision, and that you've thought it out. Doesn't strike me as too much of a struggle should you choose another path.
Rock out!
10:38 AM
Also, tell Ian if he needs anybody to do writing work, I'm his man. I need to get the hell OUT of this cubicle hell.
12:56 PM
Thanks for the support. I was reading online and there's a few things I should take care of before tendering my resignation, so I may do it next Friday (which is, they say, the best time to do it). Shanshu, Ian needs someone who can wrangle rude, obnoxious, blowhard, low-class plastics salesmen. As soon as he needs a kick-ass creative writer, I'll campaign for you!
1:37 PM
I say listen to your calling. If you've wanted to be in the museum "biz" for 10 years, why would you stop doing it? Ian understands who you are and what you will do with your life. He wouldn't have asked you to marry him if he wasn't comfortable with the financial contribution you would be able to bring into the marriage.
1:40 PM
One thing that was useful to know when I quit my job (and may or may not be the same for you) was that if your last day was the first of a new month, you still got health coverage for the rest of that month even though you weren't working anymore.
12:54 PM
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