How about contemplating the fact that soon, there won't be work for ANYBODY in traditional publishing? Not even photocopies!

A summer at some cushy internship with little to do and your nights free to run around the city, not a care in the world?

As my favorite George Michael once said, "What a fun sexy time this must be for you." Or something to that effect.

Sigh.

They should use all this extra time to access the shared computer files and find out everything that's going on at the magazine. It'll provide real insight into the editorial process, and possibly also include personal correspondence that will make great blackmail material when they decide to ask for a paying job.

Don't cry for me, Argentina -- having seen the other side, I would kill you with a fork to have that position.

The only thing worse than not being paid to do that shit is being paid to do that shit. Enjoy every minute you're not doing that shit you little shits.

Being bored is part of the internship experience. Back in my interning days, I spent hours organizing the "soda fridge" at a film company... don't ask.

At least they HAVE an internship. Cry me a fucking river dudes, next time get your parents to get you an internship somewhere else.

me bitter? nah.

@DeliciousNoise: They can always get work making .pdfs of '50s Disneyland pamphlets for Cory Doctorow.

@BK_KT: shit, i had to do that at one of my first temp jobs out of college. and it was at some lame bay area software company, not a high profile magazine.

I had three summer internships. All were highly sought after gigs (one hired 8 people out of 600 applicants), and none allowed us to do much of anything except hang out, collect blackmail-material against our loutish bosses and, after hours, get stupendously drunk and gloriously laid. Oddly enough, it did not occur to any of us to complain about this state of affairs. This summer's crop of intern crybabies has me convinced that America's Class of '07 (or '08 or '09) are truly FUBAR.

I'm pretty sure I first started reading Gawker during a boring editorial internship. So yes, in that sense, working a boring internship was probably the worst thing I ever did for my lifetime net productivity.

@smartastic: Yes, but did they have a one page, typed, single spaced, sheet with instructions on how the soda fridge must be organized ("Please put the diet pepsi next to the pepsi; if there is not enough of one kind of soda, please do not put different sodas behind them to fill the row")??

Wah wah. Little interns, wait until your full time job is 60% downtime, yet the overlords are constantly checking that you are doing work, though there is no work to be had!

The future lies before you: surreptitious blogging, listening to talk radio 24/7, taping small mirrors to the side of your cubicle, and obsessively clearing your web history. And all of your co-workers either have three kids, live in a the boons and drive an hr each way to get to work or they crank up their fans to lessen the hot flashes.

Wow. I need a new job.

The whole point of an internship is to show people you have initiative. Use your $150,000 dollar college education to figure out what needs to be done without being told. If you nag bosses about planning your day for you, they're probably counting the days till your farewell lunch.

They're complaining. How sweet. Our intern spends all day on MySpace and flipping through an old issue of Cosmopolitan. When I printed out an article for her to read, she looks at me, frowns and says, "You like to read?"

I send my intern on "research trips" all day long to keep her out of my hair. She gets loads of fresh air and exercise, and my errands get run, and everybody is happy.

They sit around all day, do no work, and complain? Shit, that sounds like a government job to me! How are the bennies?

@adminslave: Yes. Yes you do.

I've never had an intern but now I want one! When I start to pine for yesteryear, all I'll have to do is look at the grim vapidity of today's youth as represented by Madison or Jackson or whatever its name is and then, well, I won't feeeeeel sooo baaad.

@BK_KT: haha. no. also, i was getting paid.

My internship of two summers became my full-time job after college graduation. They didn't have work for me to do then, they don't have work for me to do now.

Not sure where my salary comes from actually. But my one solace is that first summer introduced me to the gloriousness that is gawker...What would I do without you?

I get an intern on Monday. She is the daughter of the owner of my company. Couldn't be more excited about it.*

*may or may not be true

Hey, punk, I'm an editor at a publishing house. Every year we draw straws to see who gets to babysit the interns. Trust me, if we're not giving you anything to do, it's because we've already figured out that you're a moron. An expensively-educated moron, perhaps, but still a moron. Either that or you're the little shit who told me that, like, the work I asked her to do was too boring? Because, like, she was an English major? And could I, like, ask her to run a focus group or something, 'cause she was prolly gonna go to graduate school anyway?

We need a new term for these under-25 brats. Twitwiffles?

Dear whiny interns,

All of the smart interns have academic jobs in which they work thirty hours a week in casual clothes and are paid twice as much as you.

Love,

The Ivory tower

at my first magazine internship, i spent most mornings putting together a news digest for all the editors. it took hours to go through the times, the post and the daily news, clip the appropriate articles and columns, resize, cut, paste-up, copy and distribute the digests each day. it was their primary way of keeping me busy, and i used the time to display a flair for editing content and design. (*cough*)

one morning i came in and was immediately pulled aside by my supervising editor. she asked me if i'd like to try out editing the letters section for our next issue. that meant i'd have to go through the boxes of mail every day and keep track of the best letters, etc. i accepted the job with excitement.

i went to my desk and sat down to begin putting together the digest. i turned over the first paper in my pile.

anthrax-tainted mail was circulating around manhattan.

and that's my story. now i freelance for peanuts and work a worthless temp job where i do, indeed, restock a fridge full of drinks.

the aristocrats!

When I worked in editorial, the publisher treated the summer intern (nobody's relation, at least) like a prize puppy. She was given "fun little projects" while me and the other assistants choked under the workload we weren't allowed to ask her to help with, even when she offered. Good riddance, publishing industry! It's your own fault.

True story about a former intern who's now a major magazine editor: In between filing and xeroxing, she noticed the art department had laid out a full-page car ad next to a story about the death of Princess Diana. Oops. Save your bosses from a stupid/expensive error -- without being a jerk about it -- and you've earned your non-existent salary.

during my internship i had no time at all.
now that i have a full time long term contract, i spend my day reading gawker.
gasp.

I used to make my interns FOIA my FBI file. Because I didn't know how.

I spent last summer at a publishing internship where I waded through the slush pile for a few hours, took a long lunch, then spent the afternoon reading Gawker. This summer, I'm temping at a place that gives me 5 hours of work a week, leaving me a glorious 35 paid hours to read magazines and blogs. Maybe I lack ambition, but it's never occured to me to complain. Interns these days terrify me.

Hmm, I'm actually asked to do things at my internship. I'd be lying if I said i weren't a little resentful of the fact that I know others being paid more than me to do less work... but the EXPERIENCE, eh? Eh? Eh? :(

So, yea... that "do nothing" post was mine. What do I do in all my free time? Read you guys of course.