This is why I love this country. An intern starts with a tech startup and falls asleep. The response? A group picture of course. What followed was a hilarious series of photoshops of the now famous but nameless intern. The guy even has his own teeshirt as an inspiration to us all.
The intern told the media “One of the associates noticed me sleeping. And it just went downhill from there!”
Here is my favorite photoshop:
Riesling
When I was in law school, I paid the university for the credit hours that I accumulated when I worked–for no pay, mind you– at a not-for-profit agency which offered free legal assistance to those who were subsisting at poverty level. The days were long, the offices and atmosphere were far from glamorous and the workload was overwhelming, but the experience and the cases to which I was exposed were priceless. So, yes, I was paying for the honor of being able to work there for an entire summer, but I gained far more than a few measly credit hours, and I never forgot that. I was, after all, learning on the agency’s time, and these internships were often quite competitive in the sense that only a handful of students were actually accepted for these few, available slots. I have an easy and a solution for anyone feeling as though they are slaves or demeaned by these internships–DON’T TAKE THEM! Easy solution. There are many others who would gladly take the place of those who feel that they are being abused, eager for the opportunity to grow and learn. The last time that I checked, Germany was still a free country. If only you had the same level of outrage against your leaders, who are destroying your society, from within, by flooding it with barbarians and savages intent on crushing civilization. If only.
bam bam; You made some very good points. These people are obviously FAR more focused on their own cheap entertainment than any consequences for the butt of their joke.
Just look at that crowd! These are the types of people that the public school system turns out en masse; those that never mature past the age of 12 and spend their ‘adult’ years watching reality shows. In Jr. High School I might have been this cruel but social media makes it so easy and socially acceptable to degrade and humiliate people that I guess the temptation is just too much.
Reblogged this on Dave Alexander & Company with Ukuleledave and David Edgren — This is the original Artisan Craft Blog and commented:
THIS is why the 21st century is great!
Do American students have to pay their college in order to get credit hours for internships they have done?
bam bam, I think things have changed a lot since you and I worked our jobs and internships in college. Here in Germany they call this generation “Generation Internship”. That means they have all sorts of opportunities to work at companies for free but have a very hard time finding real jobs. Why should the companies offer them jobs when they are willing (or forced by their schools) to work for free? I´m to the point where I think unpaid internships should be outlawed.
Reisling
You, Riesling, have proven my point, exactly. Your child has adopted your way of thinking. Children will do that. They will usually, although, not always, mirror the priorities, ethics and attitudes of their parents. If one is lucky enough to have been raised by parents, such as mine, who worked seven days a week and taught us, by both example and by words, that work, in and of itself, has meaning and value, and that one’s performance should never be based upon reward or the amount of money paid, then a child in that household imparts those views and attitudes by giving 110% to every employer, regardless of the pay. I can vividly recall griping to my mom, years ago, about the long hours and little pay associated with a job that I had taken, when I was still in college and, as my mom would say, still wet behind the ears. I can remember her telling me that instead of this employer paying me that I should, instead, be paying him, for all of the experience, knowledge and training that I was getting. It is a completely different way of viewing things–it’s about having pride in whatever you do, regardless of the pay, and comprehending that every moment and minute spent working for that employer only serve to enrich the employee in a multitude of ways. An attitude of gratitude. As always, she was correct, and an attitude like that is much healthier than going around feeling like the employer is perpetually taking advantage of the poor, put upon employee. Learning to take pride in what you do and how you do it is invaluable. Feeling fortunate to even be given the chance to work as an intern is the proper attitude. As I stated, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
bam bam: internships are a gift – an invaluable chance and opportunity for companies to exploit college students. My daughter has worked at a paying job for a winemaker for the last 5 years. She´s the only employee that they´ve had for that long. It is hard work and they work long hours. They pay her well because she is worth it. On top of that she goes to university and does her required unpaid internships. She knows the value of hard work. That´s how she knows when she´s being taken advantage of.
Perhaps I was raised with a very different set of values, as evidenced by some of the comments that I have read on here. Being an intern–whether a paid intern or an unpaid intern–comes with responsibilities. That was the unspoken rule in my home, as I worked as an intern during my college years. Paid or unpaid internships–those distinctions, according to good, caring parents, are irrelevant. That’s what responsible, loving and caring parents would drum into the heads of their offspring, and that doesn’t come from one, isolated speech. It comes from years and years of observation, where children see parents who don’t just talk the talk, but they walk the walk. The responsibility to show up to work, on time, awake, alert, and ready to fulfill one’s duties and obligations doesn’t turn on the amount of pay that one receives. That internship, paid or unpaid, should be viewed as a gift. That’s right. A gift. An invaluable chance and opportunity to garner experience in that particular field. After reading some of the comments about this kid being an unpaid intern or one who was probably making slave wages, and how those are justifications for falling asleep at work, no wonder we have a generation of f’d up kids with no sense of work ethic, integrity or respect. It’s a learned behavior, like everything else. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Key word in the story? “Intern” You get what you pay for.
So long as people are expected to do something without being paid for it, the results will likely reflect that key element.
It is way different if you are knee deep in mud with a shovel in your hand.
Tin, looks like he´s got a 3-day beard. That is the style now. Please note the other men in the picture aren´t all clean-shaven either.
Interns are the modern-day slaves. They usually get paid nothing or very little – so, so what if they sleep? My daughter has done 16 weeks of unpaid internships that are required by her university in order to get her degree. She gets rave reviews from every employer and they´ve all wanted her drop her studies and stay with them cleaning dental equipment, filing, watching infants sleep, putting the labels on wine bottles, etc. Hard to get good people to do that kind of work, so a lot of companies are happy to get interns.
He reminds me of the kid that the plumbing company sent to fix a burst pipe. No uniform, no tools; he was about 18 and wearing a t-shirt that read “I want to eat your corpse.” He didn’t have a flashlight and was trying to locate the hole in the pipe with the light from his iPhone. I gave him a flashlight to use, and then he took a picture of the hole with his cell phone and said he would go back to the office and show his boss. Are you serious? I sent him on his way and called a real plumber. While he was soldering the pipe I told him about my experience. He laughed and said that back in ‘his day’ (the 60s) that young plumbers went through a two-year apprenticeship, during which they accompanied a master plumber on the job. These days, companies don’t want to invest the money.
Any young adult who doesn’t take a job at a tech company seriously enough to show up clean shaven and well rested will soon be back in his mama’s basement, staying up half the night eating Doritos and playing video games. We have raised at least two generations of young adults who are really just overgrown children. I attribute that to broken homes and fathers who abandon their kids. A single mom can’t give a boy the discipline and direction he needs to become a successful man.
bam bam: maybe there are still some employers out there that also have a sense of humor. He´s obviously a team player!
Some people would not have been so willing to view. . .
His company and coworkers should be thankful that this kid has a sense of humor and is not offended, embarrassed or angry enough to do something about this unflattering and damaging photo being taken, while he was at his workplace, and then spread around on the internet. How will these photos impact his future employment? Will he lose out on future employment opportunities due to these less than flattering photos? Did he grant those responsible for posting these altered shots permission to do so? Note that his face is clearly visible, making him easily identifiable. Unfortunately, these photos can last forever on the internet, and some people would have not have been so willing to view this prank in such an innocuous manner.
“FAILING asleep”? C’mon you guys… at least get the headline right.
I worked with a guy who used to sleep at his desk after lunch. They finally walked him out of the building.
We’ll see him next in Federal employment, TSA or God forbid the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller.
He is over weight. He is asleep at the switch. His next thing in life will be working at McDonalds selling burgers. Not that burgers are all so bad compared to what he was selling.