Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think a work experience should make the tea?

189 replies

LouiseD29 · 31/05/2013 12:39

I work in a large-ish agency in central London. It's fairly competitive and as a result we have a steady stream of youngsters all keen for a work experience placement. Some good, some not so good, but I am increasingly noticing that most of them NEVER offer to do a tea round for the team!

It's not like I'm expecting them to be churning out six rounds a day for 25 people, but AIBU to think that it shouldn't be beyond them to spot that 1. People here like tea; 2. If you do a nice thing for people it shows manners and team spirit and they're more likely to remember you and bear you in mind for future vacancies and 3. Everyone else has made a round today so GO AND PUT THE KETTLE ON!

When I was starting out I was constantly looking for opportunities to impress and wouldn't have dreamt of letting someone more senior make me a cup of tea.

AIBU and hopelessly old-fashioned, or do these youngsters have no clue?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 31/05/2013 13:29

Who has time to be drinking tea all fecking day? I prefer coffee myself. That's what Costa is for, you know people who are paid to do that job.

MelanieCheeks · 31/05/2013 13:31

I don't think it's unreasonable for them to make the tea.

I think it's unreasaonable to assume they will somehow magically "get" that this is expected of them without being explicitly told. And that's not an age thing, I'm not terribly observant about that sort of thing either.

Remember the Mumsnet thread on "rules I forgot to make"? Our house rule boils down to just one: Never Assume.

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 31/05/2013 13:32

toys I know what you mean. Temping isn't much better either. I don't believe anyone should ask people to do things they wouldn't do themselves!! Even the work experience and temps!!

HabbaDabba · 31/05/2013 13:33

25 people in the team and everyone apart from the interns have done a round??? How many rounds are there in a day?

Original poster
LouiseD29 · 31/05/2013 13:34

Oh no, 25 was just an example of what I thought would be unreasonable - there are usually only 5 or 6 cups every round.

OP posts:
livinginwonderland · 31/05/2013 13:36

"Plus it would be bloody lovely to have a cup of tea.

I do ask occasionally, but then I feel mean because it isn't as several people have kindly pointed out, part of their job, it's just a nice thing to do! Even worse are 'selfish tea' makers who sneak back to their desk with a cup without asking anyone else..." Hmm

If it would be "bloody lovely" to have a cup of tea, get it yourself. When I make tea/coffee at work, I get it for myself (mainly because we have to pay and I'm broke) but also because it's not my job to get everyone else their cups of tea!

Boosiehs · 31/05/2013 13:39

YANBU

When I first started as a trainee it was pointed out that as the most junior person at a meeting it was my job to make the tea/coffee.

So what - never hurt me at all.

expatinscotland · 31/05/2013 13:43

Time to drink 6 fecking cups of tea a day and sigh that it's not being made for you= needs more work to do. Never had a job that was that slow.

ToysRLuv · 31/05/2013 13:45

In some offices you just can't win as a trainee/work experience/whatever, can you? Either you "don't take initiative" and are "antisocial" (or whatever) or are "overstepping boundaries" and "slacking". I accepted this a long time ago. Sad

theoriginalandbestrookie · 31/05/2013 13:48

It's not just about expecting the trainee to do it though, it's about the social ebb and flow of an office, about getting people to remember who you are so when a job comes up they say "Oh yes I remember such and such very keen and eager to help."

When I was at the dizzy heights of having a secretary ( she was a shared resource so not really mine as such) I would make sure that I made my fair share of coffees and teas. It's a nice social gesture and I can't see that offering to get someone a cuppa would ever be interpreted as "overstepping boundaries".

DontmindifIdo · 31/05/2013 13:51

Livinginwonderland - that works both ways really, while if you want a brew, it would make sense to make yourself one, but if everyone else in a group of 5 of you who sit together have asked you if you want a drink when they were going to make themselves one, then the obvious thing is to do the same when you are getting up to get one.

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 31/05/2013 13:51

Yeah, the crappy reports you receive because they take a shine to someone else or u were just ignored the whole time

The ones I enjoyed the most probably broke every health and safety rule in the book showing me what they did but I loved because they showed me stuff allowed me to help and treated me like a member of the team.

TheToysAreALIVEITellThee · 31/05/2013 13:58

OP do the 'work experience' people you refer to drink tea themselves?

HabbaDabba · 31/05/2013 13:59

This thread is why I hate tea rounds. I drink a cup when I arrive in the morning and probably two more over the course of the day. However we literally had a round on the hour.

It really use to irritate me when people 'joke' about how it was my turn to get the teas. The fact that I didn't want one just yet didn't matter. When the 'jokes' had no effect I was told that I wasn't being a team player. One girl would make a point of getting tea for the others but not for me.

Tea rounds, as evidenced by this thread, just creates tension, conflict and resentment.

saintmerryweather · 31/05/2013 14:01

'a work experience'?

when i did mine in a vets i was referred to as 'work experience' rather than learn my name. i was there one day a week for 6 months and even though i made them tea at least once a day they still didnt give enough of a fuck to even learn my name.

MrsSchadenfreude · 31/05/2013 14:02

They have no clue or they think it is beneath them (huge generalisation, yes, but also experience).

I had an assistant who used to preface every sentence with "I didn't get my first class honours degree from a Russell Group university to... do the photocopying/wash up cups after visitors/ make tea for visitors/go and pick up toner from the suppliers/order stationery." I asked her what part of the word "assistant" she didn't understand. On her second day she pranced in to see my boss and said she didn't think she should be working for Mrs Schadenfreude "because I have a first class honours degree from a Russell Group university, and Mrs Schadenfreude only has two A levels, so I don't think there is anything she can teach me." Grin Boss gave her a Paddington Hard Stare and said "She could make a start with teaching you some manners and humility. And has over 20 years experience." She didn't last very long. Oh, did I mention, she had a first class degree from a Russell Group university? GrinGrinGrin

Current assistant is lovely and excellent, but often forgets to do the washing up of the cups after meetings. But you can't have everything.

catsrus · 31/05/2013 14:02

I think it's your job to tell them if this is expected not their job to guess. I've got 40 yrs of "work experience" and got caught out by a different tea culture in the two offices I work in (same company). Office 1 has a coffee break mid morning with filter coffee made by reception staff. tea coffee and milk is provided you tick a box and there's a monthly tab to cover costs. There are a few individual mugs but most are plain ikea type or corporate logo for anyone to use. Sme people bring in their own but it's mainly the herbal crowd Grin

Office 2 has some communal milk (but you have to correctly identify it in the fridge) everything else you bring your own (and deal with your own visitors' tea and coffee even though they are not your personal friends Hmm). I asked about mugs and was told that in theory people brought their own but actually used any that were in the cupboard. I bought my own tea and coffee and forgot to bring in a mug - so used a corporate logo one guessing that it would not be someones prized and much loved possession. Wrong - I got a very stern telling off from the person who's mug it was Blush. I now have a very distinctive, personal, mug sitting on my desk!

It's a minefield I tell you - I'm not surprised a poor teenager is not engaging with it! As was said up thread, explaining how important these rituals can be in an office is part of what you should be doing.

Leverette · 31/05/2013 14:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
LouiseD29 · 31/05/2013 14:03

TheToys - some of them do and some of them don't. I was generalising as it's a trend I'm spotting.

Btw - clearly IABU to say 'work experience'. What should I be calling them?

OP posts:
ToysRLuv · 31/05/2013 14:03

Theoriginal: It could be seen as overstepping the boundaries if people don't want to be disturbed with offers of tea (a newbie's not always to know when the appropriate time is to ask, and who doesn't like being asked at all), you assume the un-marked milk in the fridge is communal when it isn't (does happen you know and people can be peculiar about their stuff), and, finally, you assume you should offer to make tea, when in fact the boss then gets stressy about you not working on his assignment data entry, photocopying or filing (which of course is VERY important, but not important enough to not have waited for months until another trainee comes in to do it Hmm )

changeforthebetter · 31/05/2013 14:04

We have a lovely tea lady at our school but the staff room is miles from the department and deliberately too small so I rarely take advantage. It is not a particularly nice school Shock

YABU - young people can be a bit clueless. They may be nervous, hate tea, worry about making it incorrectly (I am fussy about tea!) Get off your high horse and mention that it would be nice if they contributed.

MrsSchadenfreude · 31/05/2013 14:04

I also deal with recruitment in our office - we had an application from a very well educated young woman, who didn't get through the sift for interview. I got an email from her the following week saying "I don't appear to have received an email from you saying I've been shortlisted for interview. Hello? Surely there is some mistake here? Which bit of the "double first from Cambridge" on my application did you not understand?"

Bless them. Grin

ToysRLuv · 31/05/2013 14:05

Exactly catsrus!

curryeater · 31/05/2013 14:08

They are doing work experience because they haven't got any. so help them out. tell them what you expect, and tell them how to do it.

GetOrfMoiLand · 31/05/2013 14:09

I hate old fashioned places which have tea rounds - it is just a huge waste of time. Thank god I work somewhere where people make their own tea (or just bring a coffee in from the shop at break).

Pity the poor git doing work experience where most of the staff are getting into a bosom heft about the fact that they are not making them a cup of tea.