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An incompetent kid is the result of incompetent parenting. Sorry. |
Yes! Shocking people are blaming OP. Well..I guess not. They probably have a kid like this. |
I think it's reasonable to expect the basics to come installed in new employees. How to return a basic phone call, how to deal with paper mail, how to respond to email in general (the specifics can be tailored to the company). These aren't company specific skills. These are life skills. Yes, employees should arrive at the workplace with life skills. I have two teens and getting them to check their personal email is crazy making. And, they are working on crafting appropriate responses in logical, full sentences. But, they have jobs so that's something. |
+1 It’s weird that people are getting on their high horse about their kids being know nothings. Congrats, I guess? Your kid got the benefit of the doubt that they knew basic life skills and turns out they didn’t? Yay, you. |
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Oh look, the “fool” poster is back. |
To do an internship and then have my child given a bad reference for it? Just don't give one if you have little to say. I can't believe people are supporting bad references for an internship based on an inability to do something once they've never done. I work with people who justify being sued by major companies for their work. Also what place is hiring Ivy league graduates who don't have office staff to do this? |
| OP.what job required these interns to send handwritten letters? |
Just teach your kids how to send a letter. Or teach them to ask when they don’t know how to do something. That’s the most important part. It sounds like the kids don’t know how to do it, don’t ask, and hope it goes away yet never completes the task. If an intern came to me and said “hey, it’s funny but I actually don’t know how to address an envelope. Could you show me real quick?” That’s no problem. The envelopes are just an example. It could be anything. |
Oh. So you're concerned this could actually be your kid. |
I am in full support of giving bad (accurate) references for grow adult interns that cannot be bothered to figure out or ask how to do something correctly, and take zero care or initiative. Add to take coming in late and leaving early, bad reference fully deserved. |
Wait what? You think this is normal? I’m not the OP, I’m just shocked at how low standards have gotten. An intern not understanding how to send mail is insane. |
The defensiveness is something. Hint: Instead of outsourcing your kids to Kumon and travel soccer, spend a little more time teaching basic life skills. |
These kids are living in the age of the internet. If they can’t google how to do something then initiative and common sense are not up to snuff. There is evidence that cognition has declined in gen z and after and it’s because kids are raised in smartphones by adults addicted to smartphones in schools using screens to take tests and write papers. It’s alarming AF. |
| I started doing simple things when our kids were in middle school like having them walk up to the counter at the dental office to check in for their own appointments. My name is, I have an appointment at 2, etc. They hated it but I made them do it. I called my youngest (17) out of the blue the other day. Kid was upstairs, I was downstairs, they thought it was funny I was calling from downstairs. I said dinner was ready, but what I really wanted was for them them to pick up a phone line and practice talking over a phone. I make my kids write thank-you cards and address the envelopes. Our neighbor has her teen son mowing elderly neighbor's lawns for them for free as a way to develop work and social skills. Kid is a great kid who can hold a basic conversation with these neighbors and is polite. Get creative. |