Ridiculous interns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My intern emailed me to ask if he could go home early to beat this afternoon's storm because he forgot his umbrella. Are you kidding me?! Is it just me or does that seem ridiculous? Or did I miss a major hurricane warning? We're right at metro center, BTW, no shortage of umbrella shopping opportunities.

How would you respond to this? I'm leaning toward ignoring it since it's my day off and I'm only responding to urgent email. Too passive aggressive? Teachable moment? Smart kid otherwise, just occasionally entitled.

Anyone else field this type of requests?

what business are you in?

In banking, you have interns who refuse to leave work and work till death from exhaustion due to wanting to get that full-time offer.

I don't come across lazy or stupid interns these days - if anything it is a bit sad, they are all so dull from grinding so hard focused only on their career.

[Anonymous]

the only places where i see unpaid internships are places that everyone dies to work in but only those at the very top get paid well (i.e. even full time entry and mid level employees are paid poorly).

Industries like this are show business/entertainment, sports, 'sexy' non-profits, PR, etc.

Internships in technology and finance are way different. You get paid EXTREMELY well - as in 5-8k a month as a sophmore or junior summer intern.

The kids that get these internships bust their ass to get them and bust their ass on the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My intern emailed me to ask if he could go home early to beat this afternoon's storm because he forgot his umbrella. Are you kidding me?! Is it just me or does that seem ridiculous? Or did I miss a major hurricane warning? We're right at metro center, BTW, no shortage of umbrella shopping opportunities.

How would you respond to this? I'm leaning toward ignoring it since it's my day off and I'm only responding to urgent email. Too passive aggressive? Teachable moment? Smart kid otherwise, just occasionally entitled.

Anyone else field this type of requests?

I'd be straight with him.

hell no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op again. Yep we pay our interns pretty well and have them doing substantive work.

To give him credit, I reread the email and he did offer to work at home afterwards. We do have a casual work environment, though, and I'm worried that I'm not doing enough to teach them that this type of request will not fly in most places of business and make me question professionalism.

Does his work involve meeting with clients, working with coworkers, etc. Is there a reason he could not be at home working?

[Anonymous]

Lol, my college aged son in doing an internship this summer and I don't think he'd make such a request. I will say, however, that he loses/forgets his keys, wallet, metro pass several times a week. I honestly wonder how he manages but he does somehow. We rarely bail him out so hopefully with time he's learning consequences.

For a smart kid he can be a real airhead sometimes. I just try to remember that interns are really young. I remind myself that the frontal lobes aren't fully wired in most brains until age 25!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't unpaid internships more or less illegal now?

You want free labor to do grunt work, you get what you pay for.

No they are not "illegal." For Pete's sake people, internships allow college students to gain professional experience so that they can actually have a leg up on getting a paid job when they graduate. They may be unpaid financially but the interns are certainly gaining something valuable for their future - if you are constructing the internship in a useful way.

There are huge wage/hour issues with them.

No, there are not. Generally you have the intern sign a contract that states what will be expected of them. I have NEVER worked for an organization/company that tried to use interns like slave labor. You have a seriously bizarre hangup about this.

No, you are out of date. Please google the recent DOL changes that were made based on multiple lawsuits over the last several years. There are also numerous legal blogs that address the topic. Unless you work for a non-profit or government, unpaid internships are illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US Department of Labor does not agree that unpaid internships, as a concept, are illegal only that they must meet certain requirements. The internships I have organized met all the requirements in conjunction with college placement programs. Therefore I live in ZERO FEAR of being sued. Asshats.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm

LOL! Right...keep on dreaming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't unpaid internships more or less illegal now?

You want free labor to do grunt work, you get what you pay for.

No they are not "illegal." For Pete's sake people, internships allow college students to gain professional experience so that they can actually have a leg up on getting a paid job when they graduate. They may be unpaid financially but the interns are certainly gaining something valuable for their future - if you are constructing the internship in a useful way.

There are huge wage/hour issues with them.

No, there are not. Generally you have the intern sign a contract that states what will be expected of them. I have NEVER worked for an organization/company that tried to use interns like slave labor. You have a seriously bizarre hangup about this.

No, you are out of date. Please google the recent DOL changes that were made based on multiple lawsuits over the last several years. There are also numerous legal blogs that address the topic. Unless you work for a non-profit or government, unpaid internships are illegal.

You're a little late to the game sweet pea. I'm the one who posted the DOL link. But thanks for playin!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't unpaid internships more or less illegal now?

You want free labor to do grunt work, you get what you pay for.

No they are not "illegal." For Pete's sake people, internships allow college students to gain professional experience so that they can actually have a leg up on getting a paid job when they graduate. They may be unpaid financially but the interns are certainly gaining something valuable for their future - if you are constructing the internship in a useful way.

There are huge wage/hour issues with them.

No, there are not. Generally you have the intern sign a contract that states what will be expected of them. I have NEVER worked for an organization/company that tried to use interns like slave labor. You have a seriously bizarre hangup about this.

No, you are out of date. Please google the recent DOL changes that were made based on multiple lawsuits over the last several years. There are also numerous legal blogs that address the topic. Unless you work for a non-profit or government, unpaid internships are illegal.

You're a little late to the game sweet pea. I'm the one who posted the DOL link. But thanks for playin!

Haha. Nice comeback. But I'm glad to see after 7 pages of arguing you finally realize you're wrong.

[Anonymous]

He probably just wanted to leave early for some reason and the weather was a convenient way of doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds unenforceable to me, if the contract was stipulating something illegal in the first place.

Agreed! Why not have them sign the sexual harassment release at the same time so you can make passes at the interns too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who gives a rat's ass if she was "fearful"? She could have taken a cab.

Honestly, are you picturing your toddlers when you write this crap? These are ADULTS we're talking about.

Not riding our metro at night alone seems like a smart move on her oart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't unpaid internships more or less illegal now?

You want free labor to do grunt work, you get what you pay for.

No they are not "illegal." For Pete's sake people, internships allow college students to gain professional experience so that they can actually have a leg up on getting a paid job when they graduate. They may be unpaid financially but the interns are certainly gaining something valuable for their future - if you are constructing the internship in a useful way.

There are huge wage/hour issues with them.

No, there are not. Generally you have the intern sign a contract that states what will be expected of them. I have NEVER worked for an organization/company that tried to use interns like slave labor. You have a seriously bizarre hangup about this.

You should talk to an employment lawyer about this issue and look at case law. It is in the wheelhouse of many courts right now. And there is more than one person here who is saying the same thing.

OMG you are so uptight DC. Unclench.

Have fun getting sued! Maybe it will even be a class action!

Wow. You really ARE an asshat. I've hired interns under contracts. You sign a contract saying that you will work XX hours/week for 8 weeks for $0 but XX hours of class credit doing XYZ activities, you have NO leg to stand on in court. That's basic contract law, dipshit.

Often wrong but never in doubt!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the only places where i see unpaid internships are places that everyone dies to work in but only those at the very top get paid well (i.e. even full time entry and mid level employees are paid poorly).

Industries like this are show business/entertainment, sports, 'sexy' non-profits, PR, etc.

Internships in technology and finance are way different. You get paid EXTREMELY well - as in 5-8k a month as a sophmore or junior summer intern.

The kids that get these internships bust their ass to get them and bust their ass on the job.

I was a government intern 3x. It's unpaid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give the kid a break. At least he asked. Most would have just skipped out. You sound like a real Bitch OP. Take a breath and get a life. You shouldn't be posting something so immature on your day off.

You are ridiculous. Hooray for OP trying to teach the intern what it's like in the real world...and isn't that what he's there to learn?