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During my first internship at a newspaper, an editor asked me, "Would you walk into a butcher shop and ask the butcher for free meat?" "No, I don't think so,"
by hawkharris 13y ago
During my first internship at a newspaper, an editor asked me, "Would you walk into a butcher shop and ask the butcher for free meat?"
"No, I don't think so," I replied, confused by his question.
"So who in their right mind would think it's okay to ask a writer for free words?"
Although the paper had a small budget, he gave me a modest stipend for each article. It wasn't about the money; it was about what the money represented: respect for a person's time and energy.
I took his career advice to heart and never worked for a company that didn't value its employees enough to pay them.
- pdog 13y agoInterns aren't employees.
- NegativeK 13y agoIf an intern does _any_ usable work, they are, by federal law, required to be paid. True unpaid interns aren't employees, as they should be purely learning. hawkharris said he was writing articles; that's not just learning.
- eightyone 13y agoSpeaking from a lot of experience, they're often treated as such.
- cpeterso 13y agoEmployees are not the only people that companies write checks to.
- sureshv 13y agoIf they get a W-2 they are employees; maybe not full-time.