I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Heinous Fuckery

To all my "free-market" friends who like to go on about how companies are really good at heart and wouldn't ever hurt or take advantage of their employees or customers because that would just be wrong for business, I submit this for entry into the record.


And this is a lot more prevalent these days. This wasn't the only flyer offering "real world experience" for no pay on that board, but it was the one that got me. Also, notice that these postings have to be "approved" before going up (and really, why didn't the approval people catch this).

Say, isn't there a law forbidding unpaid internships? Why, yes there is. I believe this position fails on all 6 of the criteria. Fuckers.

4 comments:

CoreKnell said...

Sadly, this is pretty widespread out in Cali as well. When I was in grad school there was a local TV station that was infamous for using unpaid interns to run most of its operation, then snubbing them even for petty references.

Lots of people posting BS "startup opportunities" as well; i.e., "Hey, I wanna be an internet maven! Build me an entire site and make it work and profitable, then when I become a millionaire you can say you worked with me!"

Nathan said...

I love how you're supposed to get real world experience from someone who needs to be taught FaceBook.

vince said...

And in this economy, they probably have people lining up hoping it will turn into a paying job.

Steve Buchheit said...

CoreKnell, yeah, I'm seeing a lot more of it. And it's no longer preying on the newly minted student anymore. IF you look at hospitals and how they use "volunteer" labor, you can see the same thing. Going through retraining I'm being heavily lobbied to do volunteer work.

Nathan, that part got me as well. I think what they meant to say was, "get something you can put on your resume" as well as the "you don't know what the real world is like, and Facebook and LinkedIn isn't the real world."

Vince, you're probably right. In fact, I know you're right.

When we have classes again (this was posted at my college), I'm going to write on this flyer explaining how this is an illegal practice. It was my innate "good do-erness" that kept me from doing so on Monday. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.