SINGAPORE: A Singaporean working in IT is looking to leave his job, although he admitted that his reason for doing so isn’t the best, and while he calculated that his savings are enough for the next 10 years, other Reddit users cautioned him to think twice before he decides to quit.
In a post on the r/askSingapore subreddit on Monday (Oct 28), u/Savings_Enthusiasm60 asked commenters to weigh in as to whether or not they think his reason for quitting is lame.
First, he explained that he’s nearly 40 years old and that he’s been with the same company for a decade now. While he’s been promoted twice, he’s still not a manager, mostly because he knows he does the bare minimum at work and is “just slacking”.
This year saw a lot of changes at work, starting with colleagues who are fresh graduates and who are at least 12 to 15 years younger than him. While he’s not their manager, they treat him that way, and, as a result, do not invite him when they go out together, except for lunch.
This bothers him and makes him feel left out, and even when they have lunch together, he feels out of place.
“As a Sinkie, I’m used to seeing foreigners forming cliques. I’m fine with that, but I feel so jealous and out of place when my fellow Sinkies form cliques without me. Just because I’m a lao uncle.”
He is now asking if finding IT jobs is hard at the moment, adding, “Is it stupid to quit without a new job? I really feel unhappy every day.”
Commenters on the post endeavoured to set the post author straight, telling him to recognise that he has it good and warning him not to throw it away.
“Yes, it’s an extremely lame reason. You drop this job, and you probably cannot get another one again. If you do get one, chances are your colleagues are mostly foreigners…
“You should be grateful that you have not been pushed out of the company yet, despite having a very chill attitude (to put it nicely). The goal here is to stay in your comfortable spot. Don’t be stupid,” one wrote.
“The problem is you. With a decade more of life experience, there is so much you can talk about to them, yet you want to quit just because you feel left out. You are a Gen Z trapped in an old man’s body,” another added.
A commenter who’s been in a similar situation gave the post author a sobering message.
“I left my last IT job as Senior System Engineer, at age 46, thinking I would get another job soon but guess i was dead wrong, I landed a few worse jobs which given me so much suffering that I quit, but ended jobless for a year until i found my current contract IT job with pay cut and job level drop to junior… seeing your savings keep dropping without anything is scary and not mention the days without work and stress start building up. Are you ready for all that is coming?”
“If you go, you’ll get scrutinised by new employers over your lack of promotion. Your new workplace may not be conducive to your slacker work style, etc. You have a good thing going on here,” wrote a Reddit user.