I am an intern at a law firm. I hate it. I don’t think my true passion ever lay with firms, but now, more than ever, I hate it. Probably cause I hate the team, they’re not very good people and for me, work environment matters a lot.
It was my birthday and I just took an off, without informing anyone. I know I should have but felt scared that it would be rejected. I pretended that I had mailed the HR except I had not. I did all the work from home (yes I got tons of work despite it being my birthday) except accidentally let it slip to an associate that I was taking a leave.
My mentor got angry with me, asked whether I had informed. She realised I had lied about the email as well. She called me twice, I didn’t realise, and then later did not pick my calls. I obviously apologised profusely.
I did all the work diligently, I was just frustrated that I already hated the work and had to do it on my birthday. I submitted all the work on time. However, my mentor has ghosted me.
My internship ends in three days, I don’t really want a job here but I’m scared to go in tomorrow.
I know I have fucked up, just give me advice on how I can correct the same please.
Comments
It’s not that complicated. Come clean about what you did and apologize.
Never do this again. This is incredibly unprofessional and immature. This is something I’d expect from a middle schooler.
Yeah, you messed up and acted like a child. So now moving forward; never repeat that behavior again. Bad times is how we learn.
You left them out to dry without even a courtesy to let them know you “didn’t want to work on your birthday” and YOU are claiming you care about work environment? If you don’t want the job and have no intention of trying to use this as a connection going forward I just think you ride out your last few days and leave it at that. Frankly if you feel so negatively about them and this firm what is there to fix?
what are you scared about? you don’t want the job and you’ve messed up. it’s an internship.
you do need to address this whole situation at least mentally. I can’t believe this post is real and I hope its not. regardless of what the work is, the real world does not work this way. unless you take leave, you will have to work on your birthday. taking unauthorized leave, not picking up any phone calls…I mean at my federal agency after 2 hours they will send the police to do a house call to make sure you are alive.
this isn’t high school. you can’t just skip with zero reprecussions. but again, the good news is, youre probably not getting this job.
Sorry, you are now known to the firm primarily as a liar. You will never regain your reputation there, and whatever you do, don’t list them as a reference.
Also, the fact pattern in your post is specific enough that anyone at your firm who peruses Reddit could see it and realize it was you. (Young female law firm intern, with a female boss/mentor, skips work on her birthday, then lies about it and gets caught. Also, she hates everyone at her firm because they are not good people.) So your judgment, not just your integrity, is in question.
On the other hand, you’re obviously young. You can afford to write off this summer as a CV item (hope at least it was a paid internship!) and start over next year.
Internship is a huge step when it comes to getting introduced to the work environmental. It matters that you’re able to be professional – which you weren’t.
Not wanting to work on your birthday is NOT a reason an adult skips work. Lying about it was also a bad move, obviously. Unfortunately, now you have to pay the piper.
Go see your mentor or boss first thing, as in immediately when you get in (which should be earlier than you need to or normally do) and apologize profusely. Say you messed up, don’t know what got into you, and that you hope it doesn’t jeopardize the remainder of your internship. Do not make a single excuse. Hopefully you won’t get fired if you’re genuine and remorseful.
On the bright side, you’re going to get your wish re not wanting to work there next year.
Adults work on their birthdays dear. Unless they applied for leave in time and got it.