I worked as a software developer for a company that provided 5500 dollars for training.

The only stipulation is you have to stay at the company for six months after your last training or else your last paychecks are deducted to cover the amount you used. So in my case – I used 4500 dollars by April.

Since I left before November, I won’t get paid for all of August. I signed a contract so there is no way out of this. I used so much of my budget because I loved the type of software I was developing and had every intention of staying at the company indefinitely.

I quit in July because of harassment. The type of development I was doing was on software from the B.C era so all my coworkers were over 60 and I am a 30-year-old woman.

After I used all of that training is when things really started to take a nose dive.

One man would comment on my body, ask me to go to his house, use homophobic slurs, told me he got jealous when I talked to other coworkers.

Another coworker accused me of having a dirty relationship with a guy in our office in front of my boss. This same coworker also was loudly yelling at a happy hour that he didn’t know how I was able to get this job.

Another coworker kissed my fingertips and my shoulder.

The janitor started hitting on me so eventually

Now, one might ask, “why not just go to HR”? Well, the company is super small. So going to HR for three men would mean going to HR for about 40% of my male coworkers. Also, my skill set includes java, python, SQL.

It does not include knowing how to handle a 65-year-old man kissing my fingertips. So I decided it was best to leave. And I argued I shouldn’t get my last paychecks deducted, therefore losing money for rent and food, because I left due to harassment.

My boss thought I was being ridiculous and didn’t understand how this was essentially reprimanding me for getting harassed.