I got a new job and they are paying for me to take a 40 hr course to get certified so I can do the job. If I leave the job in less than a year I owe them $150 for the course. I agreed to all of that. I want the job. The pay is decent and it's a job I enjoy. I also was told that I will not be paid for completing the course and need to do it on my own time, but that I have a month to do it. I was even told that one ambitious soul completed the course in a single week.
I now have been job shadowing for almost a week and a half well I complete the course. I'm getting continual pressure from my employer to hurry and complete the course, being treated as though I was putting it off and delaying what needed to be done. They told me job shopping for too long doesn't look good and they have begun to cut my training hours pending my completion of the course.
During my first week of job shadowing I was moving from one apartment to another. The apartments were an hour apart so I didn't get to work on the course at all. I am now about halfway through the course at the end of my second week and I'm getting continuous reminders and I've been warned that I will not be given any hours on Monday if I have not completed the course by then.
It is all I can do not to tell them to fuck off. I want the job, but they are not treating me properly as an employee. We have a contract that gives me a month to complete this course and I will be done with it at the rate that I'm going by the end of next week, which is well within the contractually allotted time.
It's not my fault that they don't have enough employees to cover until my training is done. It shouldn't be my problem. If they want to incentivize me to get it done sooner maybe they could offer me a bonus?
I hate to go into a small team of people like a wrecking ball. They are also used to the idea that a job says jump and you say how high that they're confused that I would be putting up any resistance. I duct want to see like a jerk to my new coworkers. But what's it going to take to shift the culture where the employers realize I am their equal and they need to keep faith with me?
I'm tempted to refuse to complete the course until the end of the month.