I was in a similar situation. I hated my job last year although it doesn’t sound anywhere nearly as bad as yours. I was revolted by going in to my work place, and dreading it constantly. My mother told me to quit, but my father told me to keep it. I quit to start a small business, and it was tough to finally say “I quit” since my boss was actually very nice.
I am and have been struggling financially all of this year and forced to live with my parents. While I think that I have made the right decision, I’m not sure I went about it in the right way. I can confidently say that I did not appreciate my job for what it was… a decent-paying job. It has been tough to live on less, and I am spending my savings, still struggling though I am certainly optimistic and grateful for this opportunity. With a newfound appreciation for my former job I think I definitely could have stuck it out a little longer or tried to work part-time while still starting my business to make the transition easier. I have thought what it would be like for me to return to my job, and I have a sense that I would be kicking-ass at it and giving forth my best effort this time around… due to my newfound appreciation, and perhaps this might make me enjoy it more. Although if given the opportunity, I doubtful would take it, but since you are in your situation right now, I thought I would tell you what a little appreciation can do for you. In fact I believe appreciation for what have is the key to the whole of life.
You also may want to consider going straight to the top and filing your complaints AND showing them how you might make them more profitable, save costs, etc. – how the negatives you mentioned are hurting the company. Perhaps the management/owner will be impressed with you, promote you, and now everyone is reporting to you. Just think, now you can literally control your work environment and perhaps even the people. If the people at the top don’t care about what you have to say, then I would certainly say run as fast as you can in the other direction.
I would be careful estimating how much you will need to live on from your other source of income, as life is always full of expensive surprises, and in this economy… yikes!
Best of luck.
-Paradox