Also nowadays any mail is either highly important or practically irrelevant. Sometimes people want hard copies after receiving already electronically. Unimportant. Sometimes mail is a legally required activity. Highly important. Either this was highly important and no one supervised this employee or it was a very minor task and likely the intern showed other good or bad skills that had greater significance. Also I still don't understand how this person wasn't instructed on Avery labels. Its special sticky printing paper that usually only our front office secretary has. Could be different in your office but still there would be some training.

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.

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!

Why does your organization have interns? What is the point, for you?

If it's to do actual work ... stop that. That's not what interns are for. Interns can do two things, 1) made-up assignments so they can audition for a future job / get a letter of rec, and 2) real work that is fully supervised and checked by a real employee. It sounds like you are not really auditioning them with this mail-room stuff but you are also not supervising it via the admins who would usually do it.

And yes, my tween can address a letter: she was taught at home and at school. I've udt supervised a lot of interns and am fed up with people who think they're supposed to be free labor for no effort.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

All of this.

Same. Mine calls to order pizza, schedules haircuts and goes to them independently and has since 13. Having to explain how you want your hair is good practice for communication.

Disagree. There are skills specific to that internship that need to be taught but how to address an envelope isn’t one of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are things parents should be teaching their kids. It isn’t the job of companies to teach how to make a phone call, be on time, etc.

Actually, yes it is. It is the company’s job to teach their employees how to do the job the company expects of them.

Stop being lazy and train your new hires.

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.

Welcome to 2026. This isn’t a basic life skill anymore, Grandma.

I think you’re missing the point. Who cares about the mail specifically? It’s about not being resourceful, not taking any kind of initiative, and just leaving tasks undone. Those are the basic life skills.

If your kid doesn’t know how to address an envelope but knows how to pull up a YouTube video and learn real quick, they’re fine. But that’s what’s missing.

People have already mentioned that the kid may have thought it gets addressed in the mail room. You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s why your managers are supposed to train you.

You’re just as, if not more, incompetent than your interns. You just hired a bunch of kids and expect them to read your mind. Maybe take some initiative and go watch a YouTube
video on effective management.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are things parents should be teaching their kids. It isn’t the job of companies to teach how to make a phone call, be on time, etc.

Actually, yes it is. It is the company’s job to teach their employees how to do the job the company expects of them.

Stop being lazy and train your new hires.

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.

Welcome to 2026. This isn’t a basic life skill anymore, Grandma.

I think you’re missing the point. Who cares about the mail specifically? It’s about not being resourceful, not taking any kind of initiative, and just leaving tasks undone. Those are the basic life skills.

If your kid doesn’t know how to address an envelope but knows how to pull up a YouTube video and learn real quick, they’re fine. But that’s what’s missing.

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!

You're doing the Lord's work. I think the posters defending the aggressively incompetent interns are the parents of same interns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be hard to write a positive reference for an intern who put something in the mail incorrectly? You sound more ridiculous than the teens. Grow up.

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 entitlement of mediocre little snowflakes and their parents.

Being on time is absolutely a life skill. What kind of jobs do you people have???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are things parents should be teaching their kids. It isn’t the job of companies to teach how to make a phone call, be on time, etc.

Actually, yes it is. It is the company’s job to teach their employees how to do the job the company expects of them.

Stop being lazy and train your new hires.

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.

Welcome to 2026. This isn’t a basic life skill anymore, Grandma.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are things parents should be teaching their kids. It isn’t the job of companies to teach how to make a phone call, be on time, etc.

Actually, yes it is. It is the company’s job to teach their employees how to do the job the company expects of them.

Stop being lazy and train your new hires.

I should not have to train 20-somethings to arrive at the office on time, to answer their phone and talk to people who are calling them. How to access their v/m, sure. But then they need to take responsibility and do it. Not ignore the 39 voice mails because they think calling people on the phone is rude.

So stop outsourcing your hiring to AI and don’t hire the young folks that don’t meet your standards.

If these kids are so incompetent it reflects poorly on you - either through incompetent hiring or incompetent training. Sorry!

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.

An incompetent employee is the result of incompetent management. Sorry.

Anonymous wrote: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.

All of this.

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!

They hated it but I made them do it.

I told them you're going to be approaching a lot of counters when you grow up and go into a workplace, so it's good to learn how to walk up and talk to people, say who you are and what you need. I'm glad I did this with them, because now it's no sweat for them. But I see a lot of their Gen Z peers not knowing how to approach a counter, introduce themselves, and ask for what they need.