Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Growing Pains

Ahhhh, well... the fun never stops.

Yesterday seemed like it went well with the intern. It's so obvious this is his first job - so the questions are a little funny at times. When there was a question about going to the bathroom... I had to laugh to myself.

Or every time he needs to ask me something - he knocks on my cubicle before walking in... hysterical. Respectful, and cute... but a little funny too.

So I thought we were rocking along, doing pretty well actually.

Then, today - our HR director (a man - this becomes important later) comes by to tell me that our intern came to talk to him yesterday about the job. It seems our young grasshopper isn't exactly happy doing data entry. Which I find odd because he seems really intimidated by people - so you'd think a job where he pretty much gets left alone to do his own thing would be ideal.

He instead wants to meet with our VP, do some volunteer projects, and special event projects... heck - it's like he wants to go from 0 - 60 in one day! We do have some other things planned for him this summer, but his primary job was to help with data entry.

The funny thing is that I sit here everyday - and do the exact same thing he's doing... EXACT same thing - just a different set of data. So, how is it too good for him? I don't know.

I've picked up on something about him though. I think he has an issue with women... maybe a discomfort of some sort... I don't know... but I've noticed that he'll talk to the men that he sees, but avoids the women if possible.

Anyway - I'm pretty sure he's met with the HR guy at least one more time today - so I'm curious as to if this is going to work out for the 8 weeks, or if this student is going to cut and run. I think he could learn a lot if he'd stick around and realize that the bulk of what we do is behind a computer screen... but I guarantee his work is the only work that the CEO will be looking at this summer. If we get these lists loaded into the database and make some significant progress on getting our monthly e-newsletter to a larger audience... he'll be a hero!

Lets just hope that he continues coming back and that he'll settle in... or somehow - it'll be my fault.

I was worried that he might not come back from lunch today, but we got through that hurdle... next thing... lets pray that he comes back tomorrow morning.

5 comments:

  1. This might sound a little funny, but do think he can "smell fear", meaning, can he tell that maybe you're a little weirded out at the idea of having to be his boss? Are you being too easy on him on and not giving direct orders? Maybe you need to be more authoritative toward him so that he gets the point that a woman is just as capable of leading him as a man, so he won't have a choice but to respect what you ask him to do.

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  2. Interesting...I had a male intern that I supervised when I was a school counselor. I had him for six weeks and it worked out pretty well, but I could definitely sense a difference when other male administrators came around. He just treated them with more respect and wanted to impress them more. At one point, I wanted to say, "Look, buddy. I'm the one you need to impress 'cause I'm the one that signs off on your internship."

    I don't know...it's just an interesting dynamic that some men have issues with. I hope everything works out! I'm sure you're a great mentor!

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  3. Wow! That is crazy! If he can't do the simple small tasks that are assigned to him, what makes him think he can handle more responsibility??? Everyone has to start at the bottom and it's not just him...if he leaves then oh well...if he stays then more power to him and you! Soon enough he will realize how the "working world" works :P

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  4. He sounds very immature. I hate office politics but as his immediate supervisor he should have come straight to you if he had a problem. AND a good HR director should have told him to go to you with problems first. Not let him get away with it. All he did was breed distrust and suspicion.

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  5. Hmm. Interesting - does he have a relationship already established with the HR director? If he was interviewed by this person, and a different expectation was set for what he would be doing, then I can see why he might go back and talk to the HR guy. Also, since this is his first job, he might be completely unaware of how things in the real world work (i.e., don't cut your boss out of the loop). Good luck - sounds like you're going to have some good stories out of this if nothing else! :)

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