My Epic Game Store exclusive was hacked by scammers

I would look into the second job offer, and if you like it better than your current job I would then leverage that against the current job.

Meaning, if they want to keep you around, they better make it worth your while. Ask them if they would meet some reasonable demands and if they aren't willing, give them notice and move onto the next job.

I don't think I'm qualified to give advice on this situation... In fact, I'm pretty sure anything I suggest is likely to just make things worse. But I can't just... not say anything. So, yeah, take the following with the massive grain of salt it deserves. <.<

I would say- do whatever makes you happy the most. Since making art makes you happy (or at least I've been led to believe that over that last few years :P ), try to maximize the time you have for it while still living well enough for other things to not get in its way. If the current admin job is getting in the way of your happiness (and from your replies to other comments it sounds like they are also exploiting the heck out of you) then... screw it. Life it too short (or too long, depending on where on the depression scale you are) so try to spend it happily as much as you can!
Now, the real question is if the bin job would turn up to be any better in practice... Yeah, I have nothing on that. Sorry. :/

Working regular jobs sucks balls and fuck society for making us sell our souls to make a living.

What can I say? You need a well-paid job to finance your art and hobbies. Better than being jobless. Of course, working yourself to death or depression isn't the answer.

Keep at the job you have and just save save save until you can do what you really want to do. Good luck! :)

Can you repeat the question?

I have actually been having similar thoughts lately. I have a decent job and even enjoy doing it yet this lifestyle means that I keep spending time working to make money which (after using half of it on living expenses) serve me only to buy luxuries that I use as an excuse to keep working and to actually stay sane while doing so. I just can't imagine what people, that have to do jobs they hate, must be feeling like, if I am like this with a job I actually enjoy for the most part.

If you are at the point where you are willing to quit, then first talk to your management and demand fewer hours. Based on your post you probably wouldn't be happy if they just offered you more money; instead insist on fewer hours. UK actually has some decent overtime protection laws and you need to make sure you are not being compensated unfairly and not exceeding 48 hours per week. If the company is violating the law, talk to an employment lawyer (you may even be able to get a short consultation for free). What are they gonna do if you complain, fire you? Then you get some unemployment and perhaps some time to work on your art before taking that other job. You also have the opportunity to seek a legal case against the company for unfair dismissal as it is generally illegal to fire someone for complaining about illegal work conditions. Again, talk to an employment lawyer to figure out how it all works in your area.

If you feel you're being exploited and have an alternative, I don't see a reason to continue it.
I once were in a situation where my boss just kept promising me things, but later on was postponing those promises indefinitely. The more I tried to resolve the matter the more lies I heard. That attitude didn't change till I resigned(after which almost everything was possible as long as that would make me stay). Since that time I decided to change my attitude and be loyal to a company only as long as it deserves it. When I think of it now I only regret that it took me that long to realize that they were treating me just as another useful resource and not as a human being.
Ask yourself what are you living for? A company? Or do you have your own goals which you would like to pursue and would have to forfeit if nothing changes in the current situation. From your post it seems that you're already fed up with how thing are and unless you act decisively they won't get any better any time soon. As long as you have a backup plan stand up to such practices.
Whether you decide to talk with you boss or change your job straight away is up to you. Nobody can help you with that choice. But as long as you know that you can't go on like that, don't delay the decision needlessly. Think of the pros and cons and make up your mind. Prolonging the current state will only make you feel worse and worse, especially that you said so yourself:

I'm back in the place I was sick of

Life™ is ever-changing. Opportunities come and go, and other opportunities follow them. People need to live, and that usually requires some form of income. That, in turn, usually means working in some manner. When choosing what type of work to do in order to gain that income, be sure to remember that the goal is living, not earning money. The idea is to earn your living while still having a decent life. If you are earning the necessary money but hate your life, you are missing the point and failing to accomplish your true goal.

If you don't like your job, get another. If you can't find the job you want, try inventing your own. The only requirement is that whatever you choose to do should gain you sufficient income to live your life. (And be lawful, of course.) People have become millionaires by selling rubber bands. Find solutions, not excuses.

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I have that problem, but without the pesky degree to cement it all.
Oi?
I usually do easy jobs, then they catch me being all smart 'n stuff and they trick me into doing something else.
Before you know it you are doing way more, for only slightly better pay, with plenty of responsibilities heaped on.

I'm going with the flow right now, I don't have any creative skills to fall back on. (yet)
So my advice?
I dunno, I'm an indecisive coward.

Having options sometimes seem harder than not having them. I hope you'll be able to figure out a decision you will be happy with.

fixing the problems of ungrateful morons

Aren't we all every... single... day...?
Considering most artists were recognized post mortem, I would choose pursue the financial stability first, because every build has to be build in a solid a base. Also, money is a big booster on marketing any kinda of art, so another reason to choose financial stability first. If you think about how this works, you don't have to exactly "choose" because these aren't exactly "choices". It is simply a path, like a bridge that connects what you need with what you want... You don't have to choose a side of the bridge to st foreveray, but you need to go thru the bridge and eventually have access to both sides, because, you know, flexibility. All you know, is that you need to go thru the bridge.

I don't have a clue what I would do in your situation, but the smart thing would probably be to stay where you are (and either demand more pay or less work) and save up for a while, unless a better job comes along. If you decide to quit there at a later date, at least you should have a decent amount of money stashed away so you can take some time to find a job that still lets you do what you want to do with your hobby.

Whatever you decide to do, though, I wish you luck. =)

Could you scale back your current position? Offload some of the work and responsibilities so that you're working less hours? It's very difficult for us as humans to say "No" when placed in such a position, and it's easy for us to accumulate more responsibilities and become overwhelmed. See if you can unload some of those responsibilities. If you don't see a way to do so yourself, go talk to your boss and explain your situation. If you present it as a, "Look, I'm overwhelmed and overworked and unhappy, so I either need to off-load some of my responsibilities and cut back on how much I'm working or I'm going to go find another job. I don't want to leave, as I like it here, but I'm not happy right now, so something needs to change," scenario, I'm sure your boss will help figure something out if they're a halfway decent boss.

I did very similar work while I had a job at an Amazon warehouse, still talk to a few of the people I worked with pretty often. The pay was great and it had really good benefits (which are important to me as a diabetic who needs insulin and other medication to function). The warehouse was ridiculously massive though, I tracked how much I was walking back and forth at work on my smart watch (which I bought from Amazon, ha) and more often than not I was walking more seven miles working a regular shift! I guess you could say it's like getting paid to exercise though, and it wasn't necessarily a bad thing at all it was just part of the job. They were very strict on their rules and expected a lot from us but I think most would agree that in nineteen ninety eight the undertaker threw mankind off hеll in a cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table.

Unless you're in a position you have no choice a job isn't worth holding onto if it's making you miserable and affecting you outside of work. If you're certain that's how you'll feel going forward I'd explain to them the new position is not what you are looking for and if they don't care then give them notice.

Hey pâtisseries is always my go-to when in doubt but what do I know?
A little more seriously though, I know how you feel. When I just upped and quit my corporate job to try and make a living with my cooking, there was a lot of doubt and it was a big leap of faith. Life is too short to do something you hate just to make more money than you need.
Nowadays we got so used to being fed "success stories" that we measure our lives by how much money we make, how much we have in the bank and how impressive our job title seems to be. All we really need is enough to take care of ourselves and our loved ones, the rest is extra and sure, it's nice to be able to afford whims and travel or not have to count our money when we want something extra, but that shouldn't dictate who you are.

Follow your dream. If art makes you happy, do that. If that's not enough to make a living, find something that can provide a little more without getting in the way of your happiness. If that's being a bin man, well, no shame in doing that, and if you liked the job you were doing before, talk to someone in that office and get back to sorting parcels. Overqualified is just a word people use to dictate what you should be.
I'm the only person in my kitchen with an MBA and I get poked fun at for that and I get a good laugh out of it. Everybody I am still in contact with, who was in business school with me, is depressed, overworked or out of a job. People I work with now are not rich but they are doing what they love.

Life is not a rehearsal. This is all we get. If we're not happy now, then when?

Go to the boss. Say that you have another offer that will give you the hours you've been promised for three months (or however long they've been promising). Mention that you would prefer to stay, but that if you can't get a written agreement that your hours will go back to the original ones and stay that way, you're going to take the other offer and leave them even more short-handed.

I know some people would probably say follow your dream. But I dont really know how successful an artist you are and if you had made any money that you can live on from the artist part of your life.

I don't know how many of us truly love their job, but I can say that most us can't live without an income.
If you truly are unhappy, negotiate better hours, one of those options is to work similar hours, but into less days, so you get full days off. I know for myself, if I only take half days off, I generally don't get as much done over all.

[Thanks for the gibs]

Here is an advise from a pleb.
I respect the fact that you want to pursue your art but would it be easier if you do it while having moneys?
Sure, I cannot know how much things you have on your plate and how easy life is for you, when you are suppressing your desire for creation, but i will still go for the job with more moneys. Stay there for a couple months?/days?/years? and save money so you can go by with a lesser pay later. This way you can take a brake from worries later, while taking a break from your job today, with your art on your spare time.
I hope that even if i did not help you decide, I can nudge you to do the thing that can help you the most.
Be strong whatever the outcome. Own life choices for the heck of it!
By the way i did not understood the title of the thread... Care to explain if is relevant or the story?

Thanks for the ride. I know I've said it before but I love your art! Not that it matters really, but I felt like saying that again.
I'm also kinda stuck in a similar situation (I just don't have the "other option"), so I can kinda relate. It sucks :(

It's a matter of whether you think the extra money can help.

How much more would you make on the current job compared to the bin man job?

Will the extra money help you with the house more than the lack of time hurts?

Are you saving anything from what you earn? Is that saving good enough that you can see yourself doing something with it in, say, a year's time?

You say that you can scrape by without the job, which is a good start. So I feel that in the long run you could go back to living as an artist, the main question being whether you'd be better off with a little more money you're making now.

Now look at that. Life's providing you chances to learn a'plenty. Ain't that nice?

To me it sounds like you are really getting along well with the people at the company you're currently with. That's a precious thing, because it cannot be taken for granted. So in this regard it looks to me as if life wants you to learn how to express yourself, how to set boundaries. When getting offered more responsibility, how about saying: "No, thank you. I am just where I want to be and I'm happy with what I got. Since my priorities in life lie somewhere else. I really do appreciate my work though and would happily continue to do it."

Just a thought.

May all turn out well for you, Bryn. It is almost a dream life you're living. You'll get there eventually. Take care <3

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