Teens need to learn some basics about life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP again (wow this blew up from yesterday). The intern was not required to write a handwritten letter, just put letters in the outgoing mail. And they did so with no address. They didn't get a bad reference, but we simply wouldn't be able to write/say many positive things about him (can't say he works hard, can't say he is a problem-solver, can't say he pays attention to details, etc). And for most of them, they do the internship to have it on their resume before other jobs and/or graduate school.

And there are plenty of folks supervising he could have asked for help. We have administrative staff. The quality of interns is simply going down over time. On the upside, the competent ones really stand out!

OP. Per your own words you said you wouldnt give a good reference for this mail issue. People are just responding to your own words? Are you sloppy perhaps?

I still don't understand the mail issue especially now that you said it was multiple letters. How would this person even know whom they went to? Obviously there was a lack of instruction on this task. You haven't said what industry you are in and why someone who was an intern needed to know this. Typically these are done with labels that are printed and then put on the envelope. The fact that no one in your office inspected a ton of letters as well shows lack of competency on thr company. There should have been some list, Avery labels made, inspections of what went in these letters and then inspections that all the letters were addressed correctly. This isnt some one off letter where you told the person to send one letter to someone using the address in an email. Now you are admitting it was a series of letters. You did what exactly with this task? Now you sound unbelievable because if multiple letters had to be sent out then it would have been very important to make sure they were done correctly and a good manager would have inspected these before going out. No one trained this intern and that was on the company.

Just stop. No one agrees with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP again (wow this blew up from yesterday). The intern was not required to write a handwritten letter, just put letters in the outgoing mail. And they did so with no address. They didn't get a bad reference, but we simply wouldn't be able to write/say many positive things about him (can't say he works hard, can't say he is a problem-solver, can't say he pays attention to details, etc). And for most of them, they do the internship to have it on their resume before other jobs and/or graduate school.

And there are plenty of folks supervising he could have asked for help. We have administrative staff. The quality of interns is simply going down over time. On the upside, the competent ones really stand out!

OP. Per your own words you said you wouldnt give a good reference for this mail issue. People are just responding to your own words? Are you sloppy perhaps?

I still don't understand the mail issue especially now that you said it was multiple letters. How would this person even know whom they went to? Obviously there was a lack of instruction on this task. You haven't said what industry you are in and why someone who was an intern needed to know this. Typically these are done with labels that are printed and then put on the envelope. The fact that no one in your office inspected a ton of letters as well shows lack of competency on thr company. There should have been some list, Avery labels made, inspections of what went in these letters and then inspections that all the letters were addressed correctly. This isnt some one off letter where you told the person to send one letter to someone using the address in an email. Now you are admitting it was a series of letters. You did what exactly with this task? Now you sound unbelievable because if multiple letters had to be sent out then it would have been very important to make sure they were done correctly and a good manager would have inspected these before going out. No one trained this intern and that was on the company.

Instead of nitpicking and not paying close attention to detail here, your energies would be better spent teaching your kid all the things you apparently decided don't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s strange that you would not give a good reference to a teen who couldn’t properly address a letter, despite that being something that teens these days are pretty much never required to do.

Being consistently late; sure that’s not a good thing. But my teens work and they are on time. Not all teens do this.

Maybe use this time to teach/coach them, and if they are still unable to fulfill duties THEN you withhold a good recommendation. Internships are for learning.

It's strange? These kids aren't that impressive and can barely function in the real world doing big boy and girl things. Why would they deserved a good reference? Show up, do the job, and impress. That's what is required.

So, they are interns. They are there to learn. Teach them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s strange that you would not give a good reference to a teen who couldn’t properly address a letter, despite that being something that teens these days are pretty much never required to do.

Being consistently late; sure that’s not a good thing. But my teens work and they are on time. Not all teens do this.

Maybe use this time to teach/coach them, and if they are still unable to fulfill duties THEN you withhold a good recommendation. Internships are for learning.

It's strange? These kids aren't that impressive and can barely function in the real world doing big boy and girl things. Why would they deserved a good reference? Show up, do the job, and impress. That's what is required.

So, they are interns. They are there to learn. Teach them.

What if they still can't learn? Why should OP be forced to give a glowing recommendation? Obviously these kids aren't showing a willingness to learn.

[Anonymous]

Come on people. It’s a sad day when you make excuses for something so basic. If the kid didn’t know what to do, fine. It’s the fact that he 1) didn’t ask anyone and/or 2) didn’t google what to do. Most 20 year olds are attached to their phones. Unless they are cognitively impaired, they should be able to figure out how to address mail.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was also taken aback when our interns couldn't put address labels on envelopes and didn't know to fold letters in thirds. So I taught them and do every year. And have a script for the phone. But I agree the lack of interest in figuring things out and the coming and going as they please are big problems. I am also bothered by what they consider business casual (now have a written dress code) and casual swearing...especially with customers.