why doesn't my intern know how to stfu?

The intern I've had working for me this summer (my first) has been great. She comes in, does her job, doesn't bother anyone.

But lately I've been seeing, especially at the big events, the way some of these kids have been acting. Saw a photo intern for one of the papers in the state snapping shots while a guy was putting at a PGA Tour event, and then got all indignant when the golfer lit him up after he completed the hole.

A few months later, I was at a Big 12 football game when this little prick came over (he was back in school) and told some of us who were standing around chatting at halftime to "move your asses, this is where we have to do our work" (It was a table where there was multiple ethernet connections, and college kids can't live without wireless Internet or ethernet connections). I thought one of the writers standing there, well known in the conference, was going to kill the kid. None of us would have stopped him.

 

"Settle down, Beavis."

 

Sounds like you got the same little unsufferable rat boy prick I had to endure....

 

Believe it or not... I was the intern who only spoke when spoken to and if the SE had handed me a broom and a dustpan and told me to pick up all the cigarette butts from the parking lot, I would have done so happily...

I hate interns... Actually, it's not that I hate interns, but I hate interns now as opposed to 10 years ago... They all think they know it all and they all think they're owed something and are above doing agate or answering a few phones... I don't want to make a sweeping statement, because I know there are kids like Simon or Huska who would be fantastic interns at any paper, but most of the interns my paper has seen in the last five years have been punk assholes... We had one who was incredibly talented, and we should have hired straight out of school, but my SE said, "I don't care how good he is, I wouldn't be able to stand having to see the little prick on a daily basis..."

We had an intern who told our copy chief to "stop fucking with my copy"

When he did that, I laughed so hard I almost cried...

We had an intern who was told to cover a city tennis match and said, "No, seriously..."

I could go on and on...

 

What I think most interns don't realize is that people in this business talk (obviously). And we can give really shitty references.

 

The best job I ever had was the one where I was taught how to be an employee...

 

It's a generational thing. I tell you kids these days. Wait a minute I'm only 25.

 

the sense of ENTITLEMENT inherent among today's youth is frightening. take it from a "geezer" who sees it first-hand in the work ethic of today's interns -- not all, certainly -- while trying desperately to make sure my three sons -- 16, 13, 11 -- understand that only hard work and humility get you where you'd like to be.

it ain't easy.

 

It's the sense of entitlement that pisses me off... We had one intern who actually made a list of staffers he thought he was a better writer than... We had one guy tell my SE that "I wouldn't take a prep job here... What are you kidding?" This was four years ago and he hasn't found full-time work yet, although he is stringing at a good paper.

We had another who told one of the deputy SEs that he owed it to him to let him cover a certain event since he's "practically been a slave the whole summer"

 

I guess I've been pretty fortunate with the interns.

The ones I've worked with did their job above and beyond the call of duty. They had some personality quirks, but they were solid workers.

There was a photo intern who had some issues, but the photo editor dealt with her, and she went buh-bye. Of course, that was the end of that department having an intern.

 

We've had some great ones too... Some of them serious up and comers in this business... But lately they seem to be getting worse and worse...

 

Though I know there are some sucky interns out there, I think it's crazy to play the "kids these days" card... who's to say the crop of interns from 10 or 20 years ago didn't suck as much?

I'm reminded of the scene in the Breakfast Club where Vernon is giving the "kids these days" rant to Carl the janitor, and Carl just tells him "the kids haven't changed, you have".