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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To Feel Irritated By The Work Experience Girl?

120 replies

TiffanyAtBreakfast · 03/07/2013 17:12

Okay. I don't know if I am just being a moany mare or not...

We currently have a young girl in the office who has just finished her GCSEs and will be here for two weeks for voluntary summer work experience (not the compulsory year 11 work experience). She's really sweet and personable and has been trying hard at doing her admin tasks and sitting in on meetings to learn etc. However I am getting so irritated by her saying "I'm just so tired", and "it's been so tiring", literally every single time someone asks how she is getting on. It is day three for goodness sake, and also we're in a very posh office with lots of big bosses. Bit unprofessional. When I did work experience I just kept replying "It's great!" or "I'm really enjoying it thanks" when people asked me that, so I don't think it's her age or a lack of social skills as she is obviously quite intelligent.

I just heard her do it again in the kitchen with someone pretty high up in the company - When he asked how she was finding it I don't think he expected her wet lettuce response of "Yes, well... I'm very tired to be honest and need to get home", I think he expected something positive - He didn't really know what to say!

It winds me up when the rest of us actually ARE bloody tired lol. I know she is only 16 but she has a lot to learn if she thinks the kind of work she has been doing is tiring lol :)

Maybe I'm being mean, at 16 she has probably been up late seeing friends or something and is therefore tired, but... Don't do voluntary work experience if that's what you want to do all summer. Thoughts?

OP posts:

garlicnutty · 04/07/2013 15:26

Do tell us how it went, Tiffany!

Crinkle77 · 04/07/2013 15:38

YANBU. Perhaps she could have worded it a little differently something like how frenchvanilla suggested would have sounded better. At that age she should know what is appropriate behaviour. I work in a univesity library and we have student shelvers who come in and do a few hours a week. One of the new recruits came in one day and said to his superviser that he was giving it up as it was boring. They were his exact words. I was really shocked and thought that it was fair enough if the job wasn't for him but he could have been a bit more professional about it

Original poster

TiffanyAtBreakfast · 04/07/2013 15:42

Well... I did talk to her. After some general conversation we got onto her telling me how busy she was in the evenings seeing friends now that she doesn't have revision to do, so I grabbed the opportunity and talked about giving out a positive vibe when colleagues ask how she is. I said that tiredness can often be inaccurately associated with boredom and that it's probably not the ideal thing to say in answer to a question about work.

I think it went down okay, she seemed to understand where I was coming from. When she sat down at her desk she yawned loudly and then looked at me and laughed, so obviously she does see the funny side of it lol

Thanks all for the advice, my grumpiness can simmer down now!

OP posts:

mrsjay · 04/07/2013 15:48

see you were kind and straight with her and now she sees the funny side hopefully that bit of advice will follow her,

ExitPursuedByABear · 04/07/2013 16:16

Well done Tiffany. Sometimes a bit of gentle advice can go a long way.

Hullygully · 04/07/2013 16:46

Oh well done, Tiffany! Splendid.

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 04/07/2013 16:51

That was really helpful and constructive Tiffany she'll look back and be glad you said that.

limitedperiodonly · 04/07/2013 16:55

Glad it turned out well.

I'm nearly 50 and I've never mastered the enthusiastic thing about work.

limitedperiodonly · 04/07/2013 16:58

I mean, I'm glad it turned out to your satisfaction.

pigletmania · 04/07/2013 18:10

Yanbu, i presume she has nevet worjed so does not have a clue. I wiuld pull her asideand tell her nicely

ApocalypseThen · 04/07/2013 18:21

Working for free isn't enough, you've got to be a ray of positivity for paid colleagues as well.

limitedperiodonly · 04/07/2013 19:16

apocalypsethen I agree.

It was never hard to separate me from a ray of sunshine but that was because when I started work you actually got paid to do it, rather than being expected to be pathetically grateful to do someone's photocopying.

garlicnutty · 04/07/2013 23:52

Oh, well done, Tiffany! Glad she got the message in a humorous way, too. You did your good deed for today :)

If she's going to be exploited for the sake of learning about Work, she may as well get some of the basics down - and this is an important one.

LRDLearningDomHome · 04/07/2013 23:53

Ah, brilliant, glad it went well.

Original poster

TiffanyAtBreakfast · 05/07/2013 08:58

I'll just reiterate that the girl voluntarily signed up to come here - She was not forced. If she wanted to be paid she could have gone and worked in a shop or at Legoland and still have gotten some good experience

You don't have to be a ray of positivity, just polite.

OP posts:

omaoma · 05/07/2013 09:10

That's really sweet of you, work experience is a massive shock to the system. I remember being appalled how long and draining a full 9-5 day seemed at 16! We've all been there, and you need more experienced people to show you the way.
I had a lovely, lovely intern once who was brilliant, but every time you asked her if she wanted a cup of tea she would literally spend 5 minutes considering the question and explaining the reason for her choice!

Hullygully · 05/07/2013 09:11

Ds has just done some WE

I sent him off shouting "Be interested, smile, be polite, be enthusiastic! These people are doing you a favour!"

omaoma · 05/07/2013 09:14

My heart does drop at the thought of one day having to host WE; we're too small to manage it at mo. once worked on a youth project that suggested local businesses clubbed together to run a fake office purely for the purposes of inducting school agers into office culture and gunning them up a bit before they actually went to a real one. god that would be good.

omaoma · 05/07/2013 09:14

genning not gunning :)

Original poster

TiffanyAtBreakfast · 05/07/2013 09:28

That does sound good omaoma. I know what you mean, it's quite hard to keep on top of work as well as sitting with them for an hour or so every day talking them through things. It's important to invest the time in them and make it an actual experience rather than just filing though, so we all just suck it up

OP posts:

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