“Nicole, you know you’re supposed to copy and paste the pictures, not drag them into folders, right? This is our only record of these clothing pieces.” It was my first day working at my dream internship with a fashion company in New York City, and I had already managed to embarrass myself. Within my first assignment I had almost wiped out this company’s inventory. Perfect start, right? Needless to say, I know when to copy and paste, and when to drag now! When I told this story to some of my UVa friends who were also interning in the city this summer, they cheered me up by telling me some of their embarrassing moments, and I had to share them. Here are some truly embarrassing summer internship stories from real girls!
“We had to wear those headpieces (basically a hands free headset– envision a Britney Spears like microphone headset) and it caused some problems. One time I forgot that I had it on and started to walk off with the headset still on. I catapulted backwards and fell when the headset’s line that connected to the phone system tightened. I jumped up from lying on the floor and everyone in the group was laughing. The guys working around me always loved reminding me to remove my headset before leaving as a safety precaution so that I didn’t injure myself.”
– Anonymous
“I answered the phone at work and I thought it was a client calling. My boss told me to take a message each time because he didn’t recognize their names. However, after five phone calls throughout the day from girls chuckling and giggling on the other line, I realized that they were calling to set up a date with my boss. Apparently, some of my boss’ friends created an eharmony.com account for him and gave out his work phone number when girls emailed his account. So here I am at work being asked by one girl on the other line “What does he look like? Because he matched my profile perfectly online and I think we would be compatible.” I had no clue how to respond so wrote it down on the message note I left for him. I think he thought I was joking the whole time and making fun of him until he realized his friends created this account for him.”
– Anonymous
“We had a Wii competition with some of the interns as one of our intern events. I was so excited about playing Wii tennis that I got extremely into my forehand swing… and pulled a muscle in my arm. I couldn’t work out for two weeks!” – Anonymous
“My boss’ wife is a stand up comedian…I first met her at the office summer party and she asked me to “please go on her website and watch the video that stars John* (my boss) because it is very funny” and I would “get to see him with his shirt off.” Little did I know that the whole movie is about his wife being turned on by the smell of detergent so she does laundry all the time. I wish I was joking right now. He then bathes in Tide laundry detergent so he will appeal to his wife. Needless to say it’s very hard to take your boss seriously after that. – Anonymous
So the next time you accidentally slip up and do something embarrassing during your internship, take heart ladies, we’ve all been there! Just continue to be the shining collegiette that you are and you should have yourself a job offer before you know it!
*name has been changed