Teen needs to miss a week at her internship this summer due to family vacation ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thee must be a lot of worker bees on this thread. No vacation for that teen! No matter what !!

And they wonder why america is slipping lower and lower and lower

I agree, but not for the same reasons as you do. That we prioritize work over all else is really sad and leads to a lot of burn-out and health problems. That's a fact (google it). The kid is in HS. Yeah, she should have said so upfront but this is hardly the end of civilization. And, I doubt her position - or most people who work nonstop- is solving world peace or poverty. Jesus, even the presidents of the US take vacations (albeit they probably work). You're not that important. Neither is this kid. But, family time is.

She should talk to her employer. Frankly state that she messed up by not asking upfront. Then go from there. If they wrinkle their noses, offer to work extra the week before or after and she'll have also learned a valuable lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thee must be a lot of worker bees on this thread. No vacation for that teen! No matter what !!

And they wonder why america is slipping lower and lower and lower

I agree, but not for the same reasons as you do. That we prioritize work over all else is really sad and leads to a lot of burn-out and health problems. That's a fact (google it). The kid is in HS. Yeah, she should have said so upfront but this is hardly the end of civilization. And, I doubt her position - or most people who work nonstop- is solving world peace or poverty. Jesus, even the presidents of the US take vacations (albeit they probably work). You're not that important. Neither is this kid. But, family time is.

She should talk to her employer. Frankly state that she messed up by not asking upfront. Then go from there. If they wrinkle their noses, offer to work extra the week before or after and she'll have also learned a valuable lesson.

Do you think it's fair for this girl to apply for and compete for this internship and then AFTER she is offered the position and accepted it then mention the vacation? We are talking about a weeks long opportunity (not months, not years - WEEKS) and she is planning to miss an entire week of it. Yet, she will still expect to get full credit for that internship on future applications....

It would have been much better for her to have mentioned this family vacation at least at the time she accepted the offer.

[Anonymous]

Looks like a lot of people did not get accepted for an internship.

[Anonymous]

This girl took a WEEK off

[Anonymous]

I'm still waiting to hear what the girl's health problem is that requires a week-long vacation.

[Anonymous]

Your DD (and you, mainly you exactly) screwed up by accepting a competitive internship when you had long standing vacation plans. Those other 74 kids out there might have committed to the full time the internship requires. Why is your snowflake so special that you want to pull her out for a week or a meeting or whatever your story is now? She (and you) knew the parameters going in. To ask for special treatment now is absurd.

And her health "problem?" OP, you've conveniently failed to mention what it is -- probably out of fear that we all will laugh (don't worry, we are already laughing). If she needs time off, then she needs to rest and not go on a family vacation. If a doctor says she can't go to the internship, that's one thing. If not, she's stuck.

And she has an online following? That's super special. That enters into the equation how? I hear Kim Kardashian has a large online following. That's someone I'm sure you hope she emulates.

If she signs up for a competitive intern position, she needs to stay for the period of time she signed up for. If she develops serious medical issues and now needs time off for medical reasons, that would be one thing.

If she is well enough to go on vacation, she's well enough to go to her position.

Bad news, though. You seem to just be finding out the world does NOT revolve around your little snowflake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the harm in asking. She can offer to work some extra hours, if that woulf make any difference. After all, she is a high schooler. I just can't believe that an unpaid, high school intern is such a critical part of an org that this would really matter. Also, OP, is the internship actually in a field that she wants to enter, or is it a resume line for college? If a resume line, a reference doesn't matter.

This.

She really isn't in charge of her vacation. Her parents are. She can offer alternate arrangements.

And in terms of an important meeting she needs to be at? No, there is no important meeting that a high schooler needs to attend. She can pass off any notes or info to someone to present on her behalf if need be.

Exactly. I agree that, if she knows about the vacation plans, she should inform the organization of them before starting. But she's probably a minor, right? No organization is going to expect a minor to skip the family vacation for an unpaid internship. They can't possibly be that important. Have her offer to make up the hours or something, but don't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

This is a crazy number of responses.

Here's what's true, OP. What we think doesn't matter; whether this is "too serious" for a high school kid doesn't matter. What you can see from the responses is that not all employers will be happy about this, she should ask, and live with the response.

Here's what's also true:
* she probably wants to get a good reference from her mentor, and snowflakes, primadonnas, and the awol generally do not.

* you probably hold your daughter in higher regard than the rest of us, judging by your post.

P.S. My family did plan our vacation around our son's internship.

[Anonymous]

The initial days / meetings / on-board process can be critical to any employment. It is a big deal. Mom should have done nothing and allowed daughter to make judgement call and then also allowed her to succeed or fail. That's life.

Point is, as a hiring director myself, the I interview process would have been the proper venue for this discussion between employer and intern. You can bet that if I found out that Jane Doe had a sudden change in plan for such flippant reasons / poor planning then you bet my offer would be rescinded for the best of the remaining 74 candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY HS junior has accepted an internship this summer. Because school let out so late this year, the internship started before school even ended. It also interferes with a long planned family vacation. Is it OK for her to miss some time at an unpaid internship? I am worried that she will be exhausted to start the school year in the fall having no break. Anyone else in this situation and can give advice?

She made a commitment. She needs to skip vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DD (and you, mainly you exactly) screwed up by accepting a competitive internship when you had long standing vacation plans. Those other 74 kids out there might have committed to the full time the internship requires. Why is your snowflake so special that you want to pull her out for a week or a meeting or whatever your story is now? She (and you) knew the parameters going in. To ask for special treatment now is absurd.

And her health "problem?" OP, you've conveniently failed to mention what it is -- probably out of fear that we all will laugh (don't worry, we are already laughing). If she needs time off, then she needs to rest and not go on a family vacation. If a doctor says she can't go to the internship, that's one thing. If not, she's stuck.

And she has an online following? That's super special. That enters into the equation how? I hear Kim Kardashian has a large online following. That's someone I'm sure you hope she emulates.

If she signs up for a competitive intern position, she needs to stay for the period of time she signed up for. If she develops serious medical issues and now needs time off for medical reasons, that would be one thing.

If she is well enough to go on vacation, she's well enough to go to her position.

Bad news, though. You seem to just be finding out the world does NOT revolve around your little snowflake.

Yeah that's super special and pointless that she had an online following. What the use of that ? No wait aren't we paying Jeff steeles salary right now on that useless SoCal media crap? And that moron "Kim ". Kim Kardashian Net Worth 2016:
$95 Million ! Yeah what a dumbo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY HS junior has accepted an internship this summer. Because school let out so late this year, the internship started before school even ended. It also interferes with a long planned family vacation. Is it OK for her to miss some time at an unpaid internship? I am worried that she will be exhausted to start the school year in the fall having no break. Anyone else in this situation and can give advice?

Did she know about the 'long planned family vacation' before she accepted the internship? It seems to me that the time to mention this would have been upfront (especially if it is something that was planned so far in advance). Waiting for school to end was one thing (although she should have notified them as soon as she found that out). This is about learning to be responsible and doing what is right. As a junior in highschool, she might have made some mistakes, but use this as a learning experience to teach her to plan ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents did not tell me about my grandfather's death because I was in a high paced prestigious internship that would have led to a full time offer.

If i went to his funeral I would not have gotten an offer.

When you're an adult you make some hard choices. Just saying..in the grand scheme of things a vacation? Get real.

Wow. I'm sorry about your grandfather. I would never have forgiven my parents if they'd made that choice.

[Anonymous]

I bet if you asked the teen she would rather work at the internship and have the week home alone than go in a family vacation! I know I would have

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY HS junior has accepted an internship this summer. Because school let out so late this year, the internship started before school even ended. It also interferes with a long planned family vacation. Is it OK for her to miss some time at an unpaid internship? I am worried that she will be exhausted to start the school year in the fall having no break. Anyone else in this situation and can give advice?

Did she know about the 'long planned family vacation' before she accepted the internship? It seems to me that the time to mention this would have been upfront (especially if it is something that was planned so far in advance). Waiting for school to end was one thing (although she should have notified them as soon as she found that out). This is about learning to be responsible and doing what is right. As a junior in highschool, she might have made some mistakes, but use this as a learning experience to teach her to plan ahead.

+ 1. and unfair to the other 74 who didn't get it. Mom needs to take this more seriously. The internships are work for those of us who provide them. Often we have to create makework or set up someone in the firm to supervise. It's good for the industry and a goodwill gesture to students but I'd be really irked if someone who had a competitive internship suddenly pulled this on me. I'd say "Uh, sure, OK", so I think those of you who are advising DD to talk to her supervisor are wrong, because supervisor will feel trapped and undoubtedly say "sure" but will be left with a bad feeling towards DD, ergo no references and no further work (paid) from that company. I'm assuming also that DD can drive. Why can't DD stay home and fulfill her obligations to the internship and family can go off. My family was too poor to take nice vacations but it was clear that work always came first.