Well, this suck :( I’m sorry for you especially as changing jobs in the current economy is everything but easy. But if you spend a bit of time every week looking for one (on the internet or by talking to friends) maybe a lucky opportunity will come up. Hope til then you can at least relax in your holidays.

I also find it a little exhausting being at such a work place where showing any appreciation for anthro characters is tantamount to social death

For many people everything not fitting in their “normality” is strange at best and a thread to their personal life at worst. Humans suck :/