I was listening to an NPR story today on internships: unpaid vs. paid, job responsibilities, and all that. The lady being interviewed said interns should be able to deal with “grunt work” like stapling, photocopying, and bringing coffee. As soon as I head that, I went, “NO THEY DON’T!”
Let me explain…
I’ve been an intern for over a year in two agencies and been working in general for nearly three years total. The first agency I worked at (where I had a sweet office) considered me more of an assistant, but even then, I was never asked to bring any of my coworkers water, coffee, lunch, etc. If anything, they always asked if they could bring ME anything! And at the agency where I currently work, I had the president/founder once say to me, “you’re a Marketing professional and we respect you as such. We’ll never ask you to bring us our sandwiches, or our coffee because we can get them ourselves.”
So in a way, I may have been spoiled by my employers (I used to also be a Writing tutor at my University, but we were all students, and none of us ever had the need to ask the other to bring them something), but haven’t necessarily been what you may call “lucky.”
“Well, 15 years ago, I had to bring coffee to my boss,” you may say. “That’s just what interns are for.”
WRONG!
I don’t know if it’s the enviable way I’ve been brought up, or my demeanor, and/or even the fact that I’m an overachieving Millenial who knows she can get everything done, but the way I see it, current interns (i.e. those who are in there 20s) weren’t born to be anyone’s maid. We’re tomorrow’s leaders, for cryingoutloud, and we’d like to be allowed to act as such.
I mean I grew up with maids, so I’m well aware of their job responsibilities (that’s the norm in my native Colombia, after all), but I could NEVER ask anyone under me whose job I know isn’t to be my maid to bring me anything I couldn’t bring myself. Interns have lives. And jobs. And real responsibilities that EXCLUDE getting anyone’s coffee or meals. (Now, stapling, photocopying, and all that is fine. But interns are NOT maids or servants. They’re professionals in the making who shouldn’t be taken advantage of.)
(Are people who have the nerve to ask interns for these things just crave having a maid? Do they want to compensate for not growing up with one? That’s just unfair!)
I think it’s all in one’s demeanor, too: If you don’t take yourself seriously, neither your coworkers nor your superiors will. If you look too cool, they’ll assume you’d be cool enough to be their servant and not mind it. But you should care, because you’re a professional. I have a dear friend who’s one of those independent-minded gals who takes no BS. She works at the local branch of one of the major agencies in the world and she’s said to me she’s been asked to bring people sandwiches. She’s smart but I just kept thinking, “come on, you deserve more!”
Maybe people perceive that I’m a serious hardworking university graduate who’s wholly committed to her job, who takes herself seriously and doesn’t respond well to BS. So they may think that if they were to ever ask me to get them food, this is how it might go down:
Them: Hey, Annie, can you run over to X and bring me a Hyper Deli Sandwich with coleslaw and fries on the side?
Me: Let me see. [Pulling out my sheet of job responsibilities.] I’m sorry but that’s not one of my responsibilities. [This might leave them speechless, but in case they’re in the mood for a duel...)
Them: Oh but you’re our intern!
Annie: Yes, I know, but I took this job with the premise that THESE [pointing to the sheet] were my job responsibilities. Now I’d love to be assigned more job-related tasks, but getting someone’s coffee or meals isn’t one of them. [I didn’t study Marketing for four years, work on a thesis AND graduate with Honors to become a maid!!!]
Diva? No. Smart!
Dear employers: Please don’t take advantage of us. We don’t deserve it. Imagine we’re your kids: would you like your kids to have to fill obligated to bring someone’s lunch? The answer is no, because that isn’t a real responsibility needed to get ahead.
And dear co-interns: Take yourself seriously and stand up for your rights. You’re above being someone’s maid.
Thank God my current employer respects me enough to keep these boundaries clearly set.
