This might be better placed in the "Get it Off Your Chest Here..." Thread, but

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’d like some thoughtful input.</p>

<p>A hypothetical student at a top 30 school applied for and got one of six internships through the Future Teacher Program (fictitious) for which she later found out she was not eligible for (it’s just for math and science majors and she’s a humanities major) and has no transportation to. Prospective boss assures her “several employees live near you, carpooling will be no problem.” She accepted the five week internship, noting to her prospective employer that she is not actually Future Teacher Program eligible. Boss says no problem…she’s hired. Boss and student correspond via email twice, several weeks pass before internship starts, student emails boss questions twice about setting up carpool prior to day one…boss doesn’t respond. Student calls, leaves voicemail, boss does not respond. Now it’s 4th of July weekend, job starts on 5th, student has no transportation and hasn’t heard from boss for at least a month…has filled out no forms…wonders if she really has a job. (And starting to get a bad vibe.) First work day arrives, student spends nearly $40 in cab fare to get to work. In the next 7 work days student gets rides from four different people, who are clearly not pleased to be driving her. She gets to work a half hour early because her ride is on a different schedule, she leaves up to an hour late for the same reason. </p>

<p>Turns out she’s the only intern from her school (from the FTP), she has no involvement in lesson planning as stated in job description, gets no prior briefing on day’s activities and no debriefing afterward. She is a babysitter. She’s working different hours than all other interns (HS kids and volunteers), she’s left alone for up to four hours at a time with 10 kindergarteners while teacher does who-knows-what. Director of program spends the entire day on the walkie talkie trying to find employees who are not where they are supposed to be (probably because no one told them where to be) and is not helpful in finding a transportation resolution (will offer suggestions of who to ask in passing on any given day). The program is “crazy, disorganized, haphazard”. Student gets no breaks and no lunch break, arranges rides on a daily basis by asking anyone who will listen wherever she goes during the course of her day, then calls people and sends email looking for rides after work. This morning’s ride did not show…another $40 cab ride!</p>

<p>Student wants to quit…but doesn’t want to be a quitter. She’s miserable. Thoughts?</p>

2

<p>Seems to me she can legitimately quit if she can’t afford it. She shouldn’t have to pay $40/day to be a babysitter.</p>

3

<p>I see no reason not to quit. This job is not what was advertised, in many ways. “Don’t be a quitter” is a meaningless soundbite, really. I’m sure your daughter has stuck to many commitments, probably almost all. She might consider letting the program know about the situation at this place.</p>

4

<p>is there a contact person for the program (not the “boss” you mentioned) …contact them and explain what happened</p>

5

<p>FWIW, my son landed a job as soon as he got home. Lets just say that it was a bad situation. He got another job within a week and the minute he was hired at the second job he quit the first. He loves that second job and has no regrets.</p>

6

<p>If your D is still on the fence about quitting, forward her this:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1176700-successful-execs-share-their-summer-job-experiences.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1176700-successful-execs-share-their-summer-job-experiences.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>From the article:</p>

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7

<p>Thank you all for taking the time to ingest the saga and respond. She’s going to finish out the week and has left a voicemail with the FTP letting them know what’s going on and she’ll follow up with them. I think it really helped that you all supported quitting. @NYMomof2, you’re correct, she’s never quit anything before.</p>

8

<p>In situations like this I always quote to my kids the adage (which I think I first read in Dear Abby) that you can’t be treated like a doormat if you don’t lie down first. Glad your D stood up!</p>

<p>I hope she also reports all this to her college career office so others will know to steer clear of this employer. Actually, I think this was a great learning experience–she learned that things aren’t always what they seem, that some organizations can be very poorly run and that she shouldn’t let herself be taken advantage of. Valuable stuff.</p>

9

<p>Of course she doesn’t want to be a quitter; good for her! But this isn’t about quittiing. The position and the situation were obviously misrepresented to her. THEY are the ones who failed to hold up their end of the bargain. IMO she made the right decision and should have no qualms about leaving.</p>