Gotta love those snowflake interns

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Audi Driver P.E.

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https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/06/29/spoiled-college-grad-demands-new-dress-code-at-job-gets-the-boot/#


Spoiled College Grad Demands New Dress Code at Job, Gets the Boot


College kids have a pretty easy time getting their way on campus. Just make enough of a stink and the universities cave.

Unfortunately, these students eventually reach a little place called the real world, where things aren't so forgiving. One recently wrote in to an advice columnist because the antics he'd gotten away with elsewhere suddenly didn't work.

You see, Junior was at his internship, and he wanted the company to have a more lax dress code. Plus, they noticed one of the regular staff wearing shoes that weren't in line with the standard dress code, and that just wasn't right. So, this individual got together with his fellow interns and wrote up a proposal for an alternate dress code (hmm ... ) accompanied with a petition (whoops!) and sent it on.

Hilarity ensued:


The next day, all of us who signed the petition were called into a meeting where we thought our proposal would be discussed. Instead, we were informed that due to our “unprofessional” behavior, we were being let go from our internships. We were told to hand in our ID badges and to gather our things and leave the property ASAP.


We were shocked. The proposal was written professionally like examples I have learned about in school, and our arguments were thought out and well-reasoned. We weren’t even given a chance to discuss it. The worst part is that just before the meeting ended, one of the managers told us that the worker who was allowed to disobey the dress code was a former soldier who lost her leg and was therefore given permission to wear whatever kind of shoes she could walk in. You can’t even tell, and if we had known about this we would have factored it into our argument.





The reality is that colleges -- the educational institutions that are theoretically supposed to prepare these kids for the real world -- did these students a disservice by treating every petition or pet cause as valid, allowing the inmates to run the asylum. When the students hit the real world, WHAM!

That's what happened here. Junior decided the interns should dictate -- and make no mistake, a petition is indicative of a desire to dictate -- how the company's dress code should work. After all, they'd learned to pressure authority this way in college, right?

What Junior and his cohorts found was that they weren't in-demand assets to the corporate structure. They were a-dime-a-dozen, snot-nosed kids who had little to offer yet. The company was doing them a favor by offering them an internship, and they spit all over it.

Welcome to the real world, kid. Get used to it.

 
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So PJ Media is not a version of The Onion? I guess it's totally possible. I remember the days when you got an internship and you tried to be as quiet as possible. Times have changed and I didn't think I was that old!

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I never got an internship (never sought one) and based on the interns I have had, I still think that a more valuable summer experience for any high school or college student is working a low-wage, unpleasant job.  These jobs teach far more valuable lessons such as learning how to put up with something you don't like for 8 hours or more, how to do things you think should not be your job, what it truly takes to be on time (and what happens when you aren't), learning that most other people have it harder than you, and (usually) learning how to live with a shitty boss.  

 
I would have kept the "leader" and fired the rest. When they all leave I would hand out a new job description to the "leader" that includes cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash, give him a choice and make his life hell for a couple days. Based on his attitude /performance I might actually keep him.

I'd rather have a leader on staff that can learn a lesson the hard way than a bunch of lemmings with no guts.

 
I never got an internship (never sought one) and based on the interns I have had, I still think that a more valuable summer experience for any high school or college student is working a low-wage, unpleasant job.  These jobs teach far more valuable lessons such as learning how to put up with something you don't like for 8 hours or more, how to do things you think should not be your job, what it truly takes to be on time (and what happens when you aren't), learning that most other people have it harder than you, and (usually) learning how to live with a shitty boss.  
I told my wife that I want our children to work in construction, food service, and customer service before getting into whatever career they decide to go in.  She's on board.

 
I worked on what they called a "co-op" program with gA DOT in college- was like an extended internship, they had me do lots of character building things like mow the interstate row on I-75 in south gA when there want anything else to do...

I would also get tasked with changing the oil in all the trucks- & not taking it to jiffy lube, but actually changing the oil (myself)

I wonder if they have the same students do this today?

 
At my co-op job I worked for people who had done things like mow the interstate or change the oil in all the GDOT trucks for their "co-op" positions so while I was never made to do tasks like this I could tell that deep down they were really wishing they could assign me something like that. ;)

 
I would have kept the "leader" and fired the rest. When they all leave I would hand out a new job description to the "leader" that includes cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash, give him a choice and make his life hell for a couple days. Based on his attitude /performance I might actually keep him.I'd rather have a leader on staff that can learn a lesson the hard way than a bunch of lemmings with no guts.
I think that is recipe for a lawsuit. If the article is real, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lawsuit. But I'm with you! It would be the best teaching experiment.

I've read this thing where a couple of employers were talking about do's and don'ts. They got a few young adults who got their first professional job (I don't remember if it was an internship) have their parents come in to advocate for them. One was something about how their daily schedule was too long and they needed work-life balance. I'm worried about being old and having these people in government. We might be screwed. :/

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I read about this, and applaud the company for showing them they don't always get their way. It's crazy what people think they are entitled to have and not have to work for.

On the parents advocating for their grown adult kids...no wonder the world is the way it is. Seriously, that's what has caused the entitled attitude. 

 
I do not disagree with the general sentiment, but the company should've just said no.  Firing was an extreme.  Alternately the upstart should've floated the idea with corporate workers or their supervisors before organizing and submitting a formal proposal/grievance to mgtmt.  As far as utilizing coops to do menial tasks like changing oil or mowing lawns.....that is a clear misuse of the coop system.  University coop programs are to help students experience real world applications of their chosen major.  not only is it unfair to the kid it is a breach of trust with the university as well.  Our company is involved with several programs.  We specifically endeavor to have them actively participate in projects.  It might be menial tasks like document review or checking input, redundant calculations, or keypunching large data sets but these are some of the tasks associted with the field and not just utilizing cheap manual labor.

 
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I disagree. Operating a transportation system involves maintenance. Lots of people in our industry tend to overlook that aspect of the business . & it was mowing on a tractor ;)

At the time everyone was responsible for changing the oil in their vehicles. The State gave you the oil and the filter and every resident office was provided with a lift to make the change easier. I would call this a menial tasks, but that's just part of life.. Again I wasn't raised to shuck away from hard work.

My 2nd Co op quarter , since I wasn't a little bitch the first quarter, they let me run a small bridge construction project mostly by myself (with some guidance). It was a great learning experience.  The co ops who turned their noses up at the "menial" tasks were back to taking up asphalt tickets in South Georgia where it was 110 degrees in the shade..

We had a great intern last summer, he did anything we asked him to and oddly enough he had about 7 job offers when he graduated last spring..

 
Some of my peers wanted to give the interns all the crappy tasks no one wants to do, like updating spread sheets, gathering data, put files in order, etc. I said NO. It is hard for our company right now to find good new recruits. Am not going to scare the ones under my responsibility. They are not office administrative (formerly known as  secretaries). 

I have had two interns with me so far. Have given both of them a taste of the job I do here. It is not merely job shadowing. Whenever need to so something I show how it is done. Then I do look for the same task in another location and we do it together, with me asking questions in the process (stimulating the think before you act), and then let them do it by themselves. Whenever they are done we discuss it. So far it has worked. Problem is that they had spread the voice and I do have so many requests like; Can I job shadow you next week? Can I spend a few hours learning what you do?. Sadly I have had to say NO already. It is stressful for me to do my job and then keep the interns and co-workers busy. If they are interested in something that is a task out of my group, and I do not know how to do it, I coordinate with other engineers from other organizations.

This has given me time to come here and spam... :)

 
I think that is recipe for a lawsuit. If the article is real, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lawsuit. But I'm with you! It would be the best teaching experiment.

I've read this thing where a couple of employers were talking about do's and don'ts. They got a few young adults who got their first professional job (I don't remember if it was an internship) have their parents come in to advocate for them. One was something about how their daily schedule was too long and they needed work-life balance. I'm worried about being old and having these people in government. We might be screwed. :/

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I hired on in 2002 with another new engineering graduate. We both hated our jobs, but I kept chugging and eventually got a different job. She eventually quit her job, but not on her own. Her parents came down and her dad quit for her. 

 
If there's a lawsuit, the "interns" should be laughed out of court and ordered to pay the company's legal fees.  Just for S&G's I hit the link to the column the article is referencing.  Junior said that he talked to his manager about some leniency with the dress code.  Manager said no.  Several other interns asked their managers.  Their managers said no.  Interns decided to write the proposal and petition anyway.

 
If there's a lawsuit, the "interns" should be laughed out of court and ordered to pay the company's legal fees.  Just for S&G's I hit the link to the column the article is referencing.  Junior said that he talked to his manager about some leniency with the dress code.  Manager said no.  Several other interns asked their managers.  Their managers said no.  Interns decided to write the proposal and petition anyway.
Who wants to bet they did so on company time, to boot?

 
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