Interns fired en masse for protesting dress code

[adamgreer]

In case you needed another reason to think millennials were self-entitled brats:

https://www.yahoo.com/style/interns-get-fired-en-masse-after-protesting-dress-201632030.html

 

[Jane2]

Yay!

[PalJoey]

 

[dramamama611]

But, but, but.....they wrote it down. And they don't want to follow rules.

 

Good for the company.

[givesmevoice]

I read Ask a Manager all the time when I was looking for a job, and I always found her responses to be insightful and reassuring. I like that she pointed out that this generation is not the first to chafe at office dress codes. After all, the move from business to business casual didn't just start when the oldest millennials started going to work. How many of you have to wear a suit to the office every day? 

That being said, this was all because they wanted to be able to wear running shoes to work? I can understand not having the money for good leather flats, but come on. Go to the DSW and get yourself some Anne Klein flats.

[wonderfulwizard11]

I guess this makes me a lazy millennial, but I didn't think anything about what the interns did was so bad, or at least worthy of firing. Yes, it was certainly cringe-worthy that they didn't realize one employee was a vet, hence the need for different shoes, but it's not like they refused to do their jobs or anything like that.

I guess I also am not so eager to jump onto the "kids these days" bandwagon because as a general rule I think the intern system is awful. I'm all for having entry-level positions, but internships (specifically unpaid internships) are the worst and perpetuate the worst kind of class issues, because only those who have outside financial support can afford to do them. If the company isn't going to compensate a person like they're an employee, what should they expect? 

[javero]

"If the company isn't going to compensate a person like they're an employee, what should they expect?"

That millennials will eventually learn to accept that virtually all of the species crawls before it walks.  In times past, it was called paying dues.  I'm out...got my own cross to bear.

[PalJoey]

 

If the company isn't going to compensate a person like they're an employee, what should they expect? 

Fine. Then let's do away with the intern system.

I was under the mistaken idea that internships were for a limited time, for young people entering the job market, in order to see what an industry was like.

I say we do away with internships for millennials are give internships to baby boomers who have become part of the chronically underemployed. Give the 30-, 40- and 50- somethings who are dying for second or third chances those opportunities, and let the millennials compete with each other for whatever full-salaried  entry-level opportunities there may be.

 

[dramamama611]

My guess is that its more about HOW they handled it then it is about their desire for a less strict dress code.  But even so:  they TOOK the internship knowing the rules.  Their business, their rules.

 

They probably spent more time preparing their request then they did actually doing their work.  

 

I'm not a fan of unpaid intern work, either -- unless they are still students and getting both experience AND college credits.  I take on student teachers all the time.  (a version of an internship)   I love having them, but it is a LOT of uncompensated work for me.  

[yankeefan7]

"I guess I also am not so eager to jump onto the "kids these days" bandwagon because as a general rule I think the intern system is awful."

Maybe it is but nobody is forcing anyone to take the internship. The company I work for has an IT Associate program where they hire 30 college grads every year for very good money. They spend 6 -12 months in 2-3 different departments before finally getting a permanent assignment.

 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Is the Millennial-bashing really necessary? I'm solidly Gen-X, but it makes me cringe every time I see these sorts of generalizations about an entire generation of people. Twenty years ago, people were saying the same thing about my generation, which was IMO lazier and more inane than anything I've seen of Millennials.

[Cupid Boy2]

I am not much older than the group discussed in the article, and during my time in college, I completed two summer internships at large corporations. Through the lens of my own experiences, I cannot even imagine an intern class behaving this way given how determined everyone was to outdo each other where I worked. 

Certain interns consistently overdressed and competed to see who could stay the latest at the office. We were permitted to wear jeans on Friday, but no one ever did out of fear that he or she would appear to not be making as much of an effort. And meetings and networking opportunities where all of the interns were present turned into power struggles as everyone tried to take charge of the conversations with the "most intelligent" questions or comments. 

It really makes me wonder what other underlying factors might have been at play in the intern group described in the article given that the majority of my friends had experiences much more similar to mine. I just can't wrap my mind around having the audacity to voice disappointment like that given the chance internships provide to establish connections and to acquire references for future opportunities. 

[javero]

"Is the Millennial-bashing really necessary?" Yes

Why?

"I just can't wrap my mind around having the audacity to voice disappointment like that given the chance internships provide to establish connections and to acquire references for future opportunities."

[Kad]

yankeefan7 said: ""I guess I also am not so eager to jump onto the "kids these days" bandwagon because as a general rule I think the intern system is awful."

Maybe it is but nobody is forcing anyone to take the internship. The company I work for has an IT Associate program where they hire 30 college grads every year for very good money. They spend 6 -12 months in 2-3 different departments before finally getting a permanent assignment."

 

That's nice your company offers that, but that is not at all indicative of internship programs in all fields. 

The relentless generational ganging-up is ridiculous and doesn't help anybody. 

 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

javero said: ""Is the Millennial-bashing really necessary?" Yes

Why?

"I just can't wrap my mind around having the audacity to voice disappointment like that given the chance internships provide to establish connections and to acquire references for future opportunities."

This was one group of people who were obviously ignorant of how the business world works. Workplace cultures are rapidly shifting, and it's a motley, varied mess. The programmers in my mostly business casual office wear jeans and t-shirts. My father who works for a federal government agency wears Bermuda shorts on Fridays or teleworks. These kids may have heard about companies like Google or Facebook or Pixar or younger startups their friends may work at, whose widely-publicized workplace cultures are far more democratic and casual, and assumed that all companies could operate similarly.


It does not speak to Millennials as a whole. I work with many presently who are hard-working, intelligent, and often have refreshing perspectives to share. They are also more politically-informed and engaged than my generation was at their age. A far cry from the slacker culture and political apathy of the 90s.


If you want to sit at your computer, smugly masturbating to a sense of recreational outrage about "kids these days" like every other goon on seemingly every comment section of every blog or news article, be my guest. It's just tiresome and gratuitous.

[wonderfulwizard11]

javero said: "That millennials will eventually learn to accept that virtually all of the species crawls before it walks.  In times past, it was called paying dues.  I'm out...got my own cross to bear."

Did you miss the part where I said I was fine with entry level work? Of all the people my age I know, no one is unwilling to take on positions that are lower on the totem pole. But I don't understand why it makes us entitled to want to be paid for our time and work. Connections and exposure are all fine, but millennials also need to eat and pay rent. 

[Kad]

And as far as I can tell, very few of the world's major problems can be pinned on millennial entitlement. After all, millennials aren't the generation that overwhelmingly occupies positions of power. 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Exactly, and it's the Millennials who will be tasked with undoing the excesses and ravages of the Boomers. That will not be an easy task. I don't envy them.

[PalJoey]

 

the Millennials who will be tasked with undoing the excesses and ravages of the Boomers.

They'll probably just leave it to the next generation.

[javero]

And they'll do it swimmingly. In other fora, I've applauded the technical innovation, environmental awareness, disdain for war-mongering, and inclusiveness of millenials.  The thing I struggle to get past though is the incessant whining on their part, especially that of millennial male family members.  The family patriarch has pulled a few aside and asked them to grow a pair in the wake of some of their FB postings. 

[hork]

Millennials are the worst. With their selfie sticks. And their "literally." And their Chipotle.

[javero]

I didn't know they were called selfie sticks...duh.  I've always referred to mine as a monopod.

[yankeefan7]

"The relentless generational ganging-up is ridiculous and doesn't help anybody. "

Every generation gets picked on by the previous generations, just the way it is - lol.

 

[Jane2]

. If the company isn't going to compensate a person like they're an employee, what should they expect? 

Seriously? They should expect that? Wow. You sound very millenial/entitled to me.

"

 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Yes, questioning things. Sounds entitled to me.

Its cool when we did it years ago, but not now. I find our generations' need to insult millennials more annoying than millenials themselves. 

[StageManager2]

I guess this makes me a lazy millennial, but I didn't think anything about what the interns did was so bad, or at least worthy of firing. Yes, it was certainly cringe-worthy that they didn't realize one employee was a vet, hence the need for different shoes, but it's not like they refused to do their jobs or anything like that.

 

They weren't very compassionate about the disabled vet. Their response to finding out why she had to wear different shoes because she lost a leg in service to our country was "if we had known about this we would have factored it into our argument," meaning they still would have moved forward with their demands, but they would have included what I'm sure would be the pivotal reason why these self-entitled brats should get the same freedom to change their footwear as a wounded war vet who lost her leg defending this country. I mean, just because she lost a leg shouldn't give her the right to wear shoes that make her life a little easier and more comfortable, Right?