This is part of the reason why I left my last position.  Database was *horrible* internally, queries were returning SELECT * from tables with dozens to near hundreds of columns and only using 7-8 of the fields on the front end, all sorts of things.

Every time I suggested getting together with someone to take a look with an eye towards improving the database, I was told "we're too busy right now," "we don't have time," or "we'll fix it later."

So, when I got a better offer elsewhere, I jumped ship (there were other, bigger reasons to leave for me, as well.)

The worst of it is in that kind of a situation, if you stick around and they consider you the "SME" for databases, when the application runs horribly slow, or returns bad data, it's not the fault of the crappy database they put together, or bad queries they don't entirely understand how they work, no, "it's the SQL Server and why aren't you fixing it, the application is just fine the way it is and works fine with my sample data of 10 rows, so it's got to be SQL, fix it and we don't have time to make these changes to the database and the code."  So now you're holding the bag-o-crap(TM) for a problem not of your making and the only tool in your toolbox that will have any impact is throwing more hardware at it...