Low pay. However, the FM area is cheap to live in, so I found it manageable. My biggest concern was the clique atmosphere in the Reaearch Grade lab, ESPECIALLY downstream. Of course there were friendly and supportive coworkers to help offset that, but some days it was just too much. The bitter and clique-y attitudes of two of the guys in downstream eventually affected me to where I was filled with anxiety just walking into work every day. Management was aware of the horrible, demeaning attitude of one of those male coworkers, but did nothing, even though his attitude brought morale down a lot. I was always terrified to ask questions because sometimes, the guy with the worst attitude of the two of them, would overhear my question and inject his own input in, most of the time very rudely and sarcastically. He always took his horrible mood to work with him and had no problem bringing other people down that weren’t in his clique. I am shy and quiet so was ALWAYS perfectly nice to him and desperate to please him so he wouldn’t be so demeaning to me anymore and make me feel like an idiot for asking justified questions. In the end, this one male coworker was a BIG reason as to why I quit.
