I'm in a difficult position at work, I may need FU money soon. My organisation is in a big transition (merger, acquisition, that type of stuff, I don't want to go into details) and our future will be decided in a couple of weeks. I've been here for 18 months out of a 2 year contract that's supposed to result in a permanent position when this contract ends.
I've been told "through the grapevine" but not officially, that I will be expected to work fulltime after graduation (this was never discussed previously and most women in my country don't work fulltime) and also that due to the company transition it's going to be unlikely that the specialist role is still something they can offer. My contract is parttime, they can't force me to switch to fulltime but they can of course not renew my contract. In a few weeks we will know more about the details of the transition and I will request a meeting with my boss to discuss the implications formally.
Lately however there are aspects within the company culture that have become more visible that I am really starting to resent. There is very little flexibility when it comes to working hours even though this is something we discussed beforehand. There's a personality clash between me and one other person who I was told was only temping for a short period but who's contract is extended all the time. I have tried everything in my power to resolve this but it hasn't worked, and we are in a job where we need to cooperate. But most importantly the lack of diversity is starting to kill me. At first everyone in my office was on their best behaviour (me being a woman of the Millenial generation, my coworkers being mostly gen X males) but masks have dropped and I am tired of hearing racist and sexist BS. I have called out people because of this but every time this results in a backlash, as in, everyone in the room turning against me with raised voices, also the only other woman who is not sexist but is definitely racist. I don't think my coworkers would classify themselves as sexist, I mean, they're not saying stuff like "mothers should not work" like a real sexist. They just say they believe that children need their mother around 24/7 before they are of school age because otherwise they will not thrive, and this is the natural order of things. Which is just a longwinded BS way to say the same thing. (I'm totally fine with people choosing to be SAHP's, but please just say 'we have chosen for my partner to stay at home' instead of telling me what's natural and what's not).
As a young woman with a non-conventional life I stand out. Honestly I will stand out at most places, even though I try to blend in. I have tried to frame our frugality as a form of environmentalism and as a way that my artist partner can focus on his art (which is the truth, but also sounds better than saying 'I'm not a consumer sucka like you guys are') and this is also ridiculed quite often. As a result of all of this I've become more withdrawn and unfortunately the quality of my work is suffering too. Because I'm slowly withdrawing from the group process sometimes I'm not up to speed about stuff on the (work-related) office talk. I have the feeling the temp is also not always passing on messages for me as they should (but can't prove this).
All in all, I will need to have a 1 on 1 talk with my boss when the future of the company is announced. And I need to discuss why I don't feel comfortable at work anymore, in a way that the boss will understand. I'm not sure it's even possible for me to change the company culture even if my boss would agree with me. I think there's a fair chance we'll either decide to part ways or my contract will not be renewed in October. I've not got a lot of liquid cash right now, but I could sell off investments if I had to. I have a side hustle that would probably bring in just enough income for my half of the bills and I could always find a side job waiting tables or something. I'm just soooo tired of office culture and never fitting in. It's almost worse than high school.