Week 3 Impressions by Stephanie Schwartz

The Daily Grind

This past week marked our first “full” week of work at our internships. By asking around about every one else's internship experiences it seems as though we've got quite a wide variety of daily activities among the group. From phoning newspapers to inquire about publicity possibilities to cooking with special needs adults to entering client data into spreadsheets all day, between the twelve of us we literally do it all. Our work days range anywhere from the traditional nine-to-fiver to ten-to-four or two-to-seven. Travel times vary as well - anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour and twenty minutes! For some the approach of Wednesday means finally getting to meet the 73-year-old wizard slash Knight we were named after, and for some it means having to sit in front of a computer all day playing Bejeweled and maybe getting a free lunch.

During FIE orientation we were essentially told to expect very little from our work place environments. It was made very clear to us that our coworkers would likely not be friendly nor welcoming to us fresh-off-the-boat interns. I expected to be making tea for my boss and perhaps be taking out the recycling. Thus far, this has not been the case and I have been pleasantly surprised. My own work-place experience has been very good. One thing FIE warned us about has turned out to be true: I am given very little direction for my work. So far I have entered client data (I work for Smoke Free, a branch of the NHS) every day for about four hours. The rest of my time has been spent shadowing the Smoke Free advisers (aka my bosses) while they lead clinics or do public outreach. Friday I went to a local mosque to give out information about second hand smoke and the harmful effects of smoking on women in particular. As the mosque was sex-segregated, I was only able to talk to women about the benefits of our program. Interestingly enough, none of them would admit to smoking or even knowing any smokers. I have to say I have my doubts about the validity of such claims. In any case I ended up helping out other NHS reps promote healthy eating. My job was to hand out smiley faced fruit stickers to little kids with too much energy for their own good. It went well.

The British sense of humor has become increasingly salient to me throughout my work experience. I went tanning for the first time ever the other day (seriously, I'm really really pale) and I shared this fact with my co-worker. Her response? “I don't think it worked.” Besides my official duties, my typical day includes providing a free dream interpretation service for another coworker and being told that I can literally do whatever I want, eat whenever I want, wear whatever I want and leave whenever I want. This, of course, doesn't mean that I won't get made fun for whatever I wear, eat etc. My coworker (maybe she's my boss?) frequently doesn't get her work done on time but promises to get it done soon. This would NOT have been OK back during my days at the Dollar Tree. I literally do the work that is meant for others (who get paid, but I digress) and they are very thankful. They give me giant cookies and say things like “there's an American sized cookie in the office, you'll love it!” At that point, is it socially acceptable to eat the whole thing? As I cause effectively zero problems for my bosses, I am told that I am a “perfect angel” and could do no wrong. Good to know. At times it is almost as though they've got no work left for me so they entertain themselves by making up mini projects and tasks for me to do. I don't mind because I'd rather this than have nothing to do.

I may be wrong, though I believe the general consensus seems to be that our internships having been getting more comfortable every day. Come six pm daily when we all return to congregate in the kitchen, there are always plenty of stories to be heard. Whether it be sad stories of families visiting loved ones in prison, or learning that your friend had her story published on her organization's website, there's always a new or exciting experience to learn from!