So, I was incredibly excited this afternoon to receive a call from an unknown number.
The reasoning: it immediately precluded anyone that I know and find annoying and who I'm trying to avoid. It could only have been one of two things: the Spanish-speaking woman who phones every week to sell me nail polish (I think) OR it was a job/interview offer.
Lo and behold, the phone call was about an internship to which I'd applied a few days ago. Apparently, I just made it and they wanted to schedule a phone interview with me. I can't even begin to describe how happy I was, seriously, there were celestial beings doing the hula in my room.
Validation! Finally, acknowledgement of my few marketable abilities! Somebody likes me, they really like me! Hooray.
Never mind that it was just a phone interview, I was already envisioning tottering up Fifth Avenue with a Blackberry and a copy of the Times in my hand ...or something.
Everything was going great until the woman said the U-word.
Wait - what? Unpaid?
Who, in this day and age, offers year-long, full-time, unpaid internships? In New York, no less? Isn't there another word for that....oh yeah, slavery!
One hour later...
I am still beyond horrified, and just plain confounded by the whole thing. It's pretty disheartening when this much-touted meritocracy engineers things in such a way that the only people who can do public service internships are rich kids who wouldn't bother doing this kind of thing in the first place! Phew, deep breaths.
Perhaps this organization thinks, as Sarah suggested, that I'm an African princess with scads of money, a bejeweled sceptor, and a sufficiently elaborate wooden crown. I'm inclined to agree with her, especially after reading #105 on Stuff White People Like: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/07/20/104-unpaid-internships/.
Here's hoping for a brighter tomorrow, and a ruddy job. Cheers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment