I posted this in the
Horrors of the "Professional" World thread, but I'm reposting it here because it's a perfect example of this:
While I was at my old law firm (before I finished my legal studies) we had a reasonably steady stream of work experience people come through, mostly kids who'd just finished their GCSEs or A-Levels and were looking to get a taste of the professional world. Most of them completed the mundane tasks they were given to do with a good degree of competence, however there was one who was different. Let's call her Spoilt Bitch.
Spoilt Bitch got her work experience because she was the daughter of a good friend of one of the Senior Solicitors in my team. Now, I'm not going to decry someone getting something because of nepotism, because we had another work experience girl at the time who was the girlfriend of the Partner's son and she was very helpful. However, I am going to decry Spoilt Bitch because of what she did with her work experience.
Spoilt Bitch arrives at the firm bright and early on Monday morning for four days' work. She's introduced to the team, given a desk and told what needs to be done. She was given a fairly important (but boring) task which involved going through a list of firms which did similar (but different) work to our firm and compiling them into a spreadsheet with additional details. It's expected it'll take her most of the four days to complete.
About an hour after beginning her task, Spoilt Bitch walks over to the Senior Solicitor who'd given her the work experience in the first place and says:
"Can't I have something more interesting to do?"
The Senior Solicitor looks at her, flabbergasted, and says:
"No. It's a job that needs doing."
Spoilt Bitch goes back to her desk and keeps doing the task she's been assigned. Now, I'm sure most of you here know that if you're lucky enough to get some work experience with a company, you do whatever they tell you to do. Even if you're just shining everyone's shoes or making coffee, the fact you have something to put on your CV makes it all worth it. You certainly don't go up to the person who's been kind enough to give you a chance and say:
"I'm bored! Give me something better!"
Even kids who are barely out of school get this. I was shocked to come across someone for whom this was an alien concept.
Wednesday rolls around and we haven't had any trouble from Spoilt Bitch since that incident. I come in that morning to find the Senior Solicitor sitting at his desk looking half shocked, half angry. I ask him what's wrong and he tells me he got an email from Spoilt Bitch saying she wouldn't be in for her last two days because she's going on holiday that weekend and she'd rather spend her remaining time hanging out with her friends. The worst part was, the Senior Solicitor couldn't even send a rude reply back because she was the daughter of a family friend, so he had to settle for having a long rant to the team about the incident and swearing that if she ever asked for work experience again, or a reference from him, he'd say no. And what's worse is that I then had to complete the task Spoilt Bitch had left undone, which ended up eating a full four days of my time.
Getting work experience at a law firm is
incredibly difficult, and not to brag, but this firm was a very prestigious one. There are people out there who would've killed for the opportunity Spoilt Bitch was given, so to have her throw it away like that... it made us all more than a little angry.
