Man internet. Man. No one told me that the real world was such hard work.
I just got a job at Sainsbury's on the checkouts, and apparently that requires 35 hours of training before I start. 19 of those hours were induction, Thursday and Friday evening and all of today. Then next week I have the whole of Monday and half of Wednesday to be trained on the tills before I get a "till buddy" and go live on some customers.
There's not really a problem there for me, except that my teachers will be a bit cross that I'm missing college and I'll be pushed for time to get work caught up. The problem is my mother and her partner.
For the last year I've been having fairly constant pressure from them to get a job, for a variety of reasons ranging from their belief that I need responsibity to the fact that I'm nearly 18 and should probably be paying my own bus fare. So as soon as I got back from summer I applied for a bunch of stuff and took the first job that came up (which happened to be the one with the best job security and most hours).
Immediately they started complaining that I'd have to be picked up late several nights a week, and that they couldn't go out on evenings because of it. This really irked because I'd checked the hours with them before applying and specifically checked that they'd be ok to fetch me each night, and they said yes. Also I'll be paying a fuel contribution so it isn't like I'm just bumming lifts all the time.
Then they started raising concerns like "you won't get into university if you don't do your college work". A few weeks ago they were telling me that I wasn't going to be able to go to the university I wanted to go to, which was one of the main reasons I took the job. Suddenly they're in favour of university if they can use it as a tool for manipulating me.
Finally I got shouted at by both of them, but particularly my mother's partner, for not "standing up to my boss" (his words) and refusing to go to training because it clashes with college. I explained the very good reasons which were given to us for having the training outside of our contracted hours (the trainer cannot train us in the evenings due to the business of the store, and she has to do it in the first half of next week because the next new intake arrive on Thursday) but he still said that it wasn't right. He even went as far as to say that I should leave, and get another job. This is the first job I've managed to get since I moved here and I've applied for about twenty.
I am seriously being to consider my options for moving out. There's a hostel for young people in the town centre, which is excellently run and very central to work and college. I have a fairly good income and I'm quite independant (although you wouldn't think so from the way my mother and her partner talk to me). The two things which are preventing me from rushing out and doing anything impetuous are the fact that it would be even harder to try and make it on my own (although possibly less mentally draining and emotionally damaging) and the fact that the hostel has a waiting list.
But if I'm staying here I need to find a way to get through to them, and make them realise that I am old enough to make my own decisions, based on reality and in full knowledge of all the relevant information. Every single thing I've done in the past few months has demonstrated this; I worked hard for my exams last term and got extremely high grades, I spent a month working in Germany as an au pair, I travelled for five hours to visit a univeristy and stayed overnight, returning safely and in possession of a large quantity of useful information, and I did lots of research into money and available funding and calculated whether I can actually afford to go to university.
I don't know. I find it so hard because I know, I am absolutely certain, that I am not being stupid or immature and that I'm right. I can make decisions. I am mature and responsible enough to keep on top of my college work and hold down a part time job. I'm not allowing myself to be pushed around by an unscrupulous employer, I'm being smart enough to compromise. They've tried very hard to fit my training around my college timetable; only six out of the 35 hours of training actually cause me to miss any lessons. I just can't seem to make them see that, and the arguments we have about it invariably result in my crying, which hardly supports my point.
Well. That did turn into something of an essay. Sorry about that, but I needed to get it off my chest really to people who are far enough removed that I don't particularly mind whose side they take. Although I'm hard pushed to see many points on their side. Yes, it's going to be hard. Yes, it's inconvenient to miss college. Yes, they probably don't want to drive into town and pick me up late at night. But as my mum always used to tell me when I didn't want to tidy my room, we all have to do things we don't like. It's part of being an adult.
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Topic: Whatever, Let's Have A Goddamn Blog Thread, But Try And Keep It Reasonable (Read 765617 times)