Should I Leave my Job to Help Them Save Money?
Dear Em and Lil,
I work as a tour guide at a museum but due to COVID-19, I have been forced to work remotely for the past month now, mainly doing research to support my tours. The museum is planning for the closure to last through June or July, and fortunately my normal wages have been guaranteed to be paid through that time. While I very much hope to be able to work at the museum once it reopens, I am worried that entering graduate school this fall will make this too difficult. Part of me thinks that I should leave my job now, as to not take money away from the organization. I would feel awful if circumstances work out where the museum opens up just in time for me to realize that I cannot balance the work with my studies. Should this even be a concern?
Sincerely,
Baffled in Buffalo
EM: I have a cynical response to your question, Buffled in Baffalo. Have you ever had a job or heard of a job where the employers tell you that the staff is all one big family? Maybe you wouldn’t do a big favor for a work colleague, but of course, you would be more than happy to do a favor for a member of your family. You may be in one of the rare and fortunate work circumstances where colleagues feel like family… but I must remind that colleagues are just that: colleagues! It is important to remember that your work at the museum is a job, and its primary purpose in your life should be to allow you the money to meet your needs.
It is lovely that you are thinking about the well being of the museum and the job security of your colleagues. But it is also important to remember that your bosses aren’t paying your salary out of their own savings accounts. In no way are you endangering the financial health of your colleagues by continuing to take your own paycheck. We don’t know how long this global crisis will continue, and it may be important for you to save some extra money. Best of luck in graduate school!
LIL: I was going through all kinds of complicated what-ifs and possibilities for you to think about . Then I read Em’s answer. She’s right. The museum hired you because you were needed, and though things look different right now, you were and are doing the agreed-upon work.
I do wonder— is there any more information you can try to get now to help you figure out what your finances, schedule, and mental space will look like once you start grad school? Can you map out your financial situation in the different possible scenarios, or talk to a current student in your program about how they balance grad school and an outside job? I ask this because even if we weren’t dealing with a pandemic, the decision you’d be making this fall, whether or not to stay at your job, would be a big one, deserving of thought and as much preparation as you can give it.
