CampusSpeak Intern
 

Any thoughts on this posting by CampusSpeak CEO?

http://apathymyth.blogspot.com/

Text below...
The worst intern ever


We've reached the end of your internship. I've had more than 50 interns in my professional career, and I have to say, you're by far the worst I've ever, ever had. Now as you prepare to get the hell out of my office, I wanted to leave you with a little feedback. I hope you'll take it in the constructive spirit in which it is intended.

Because, you're a disaster. A toolbox. Worst. Intern. Ever.

First, I didn't appreciate the amount of time you spent surfing the web while on the clock. Just because you're not getting paid that much (or anything, as the case may be), that doesn't mean you have the right to spend half the day on Facebook while you're in my office. You can do that at home in front of soap operas, which is where you should have spent your summer. Same for your cell phone. If a portion of the creative energy you spent on text messages to your friends had been spent on the betterment of my company, our sales would have tripled.

Second, the difference between a good intern and a bad intern is one who seeks out ways to make an impact in the short time he or she is here. You didn't do that. If someone didn't bring something to you on a silver platter, you sat there looking bored. Best of luck in your government job.

Third, you made my job harder. An intern is only a good investment of time and energy if he or she actually makes everyone's life EASIER around the office. You were a distraction, and a drain on me. I constantly felt pressure to find something for you to do and within three weeks, I couldn't stand the sight of you.

Fourth, you really dressed like shit. Most days, I didn't know if you were coming to work or on your way to wash your car.

Fifth, I guess along the way you forgot that making a good impression and getting my highest recommendation after your internship was part of the goal. There were lots of times you could have stayed a little later, come in a little earlier, or volunteered a little faster when a task needed to get done. But you didn't. You made zero effort to go above and beyond. Guess you just wanted the line on your resume.

Sixth, you mentally quit halfway through your internship. I should have gotten as much quality work and effort from you in your last week as I did in your first. Halfway through, you signed out. It became obvious you were crawling to the finish line.

Seventh, while I'm glad you made some friends here at the office, you probably should have conducted yourself a bit more professionally. Sleeping with two other employees and coming in to the office hung-over on Friday mornings was a bad idea. Being sassy and smart-mouthed to other employees? Not cool. Having you here this summer felt like a full season of Grey's Anatomy.

And finally, most of the work you did was sloppy. I know many college students can't spell or write, but most know how to use spell-check. One of my vendors called me about a letter you wrote and congratulated me on offering jobs to mildly retarded citizens. It's going to take me a year to rebuild that relationship. How does one get through college without being able to write a decent paragraph? It's a complete mystery to me. I'm sure as hell never hiring an intern from your university again. Ever.

Please don't list me as a reference. And, if you have one good brain cell, you also won't list the name of this company on your resume. If someone calls and asks about you, we'll tell them the truth, and you probably don't want that.

LOL, at first, I thought this was an actual letter handed to some poor shlub and thus was probably false, but now I see it's just a blog posting, so it could very well be true. And while I would not have used the foul language because it lessens the power of the message (though it's funny), I completely feel and understand his pain. I think it's brilliant.

*stands and applauds*

Great post. I am pretty sure there are a few interns at my company that deserve this letter.

TJ is a great speaker, when I was in school he did a presentation for us on "Confronting the Bully in Your Chapter".

It's funny and does bring up some good points, but for someone whose company is so big on promoting self-esteem and proper behavior to openly publish something like this, and then to take it down and play the "this is my personal blog and not my company's so I can say whatever" card....it's kind of immensely lame. You can vent without putting it on the internet, unless you're an attention whore.

^^^Dang, he took it down? Oh, how I wish I'd copied and pasted it to my local. I still say it was brilliant and even though he now says it was based on a "fake" person, those people definitely exist IRL and deserve a well-crafted smackdown like that.