24 Problems Everyone Who's Been An Intern Will Understand

You're not invited to the office party.

Posted on July 18, 2014, 17:49 GMT

Yezmin Villarreal

BuzzFeed Staff

1. You are regularly reminded of your lower status when you hear your bosses refer to you as "the intern."

2. Being broke on the regular because you're paid minimum wage...

3. ...or, even worse, being an unpaid intern working 40 hours a week.

4. You've accepted that no one will ever call you by your actual name or try to pronounce it correctly.

5. Sometimes you are so bored that the most mundane things start to seem exciting.

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6. You never fully feel like a part of the office.

You sit in "the intern" corner.

7. When you are actually included in an important meeting, you aren't sure if you should speak up.

8. Getting stuck with the things NO ONE wants to do like licking envelopes.

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9. When people ask what you do at work, you realize your work description is so vague that YOU don't even know.

10. It is the most cliche intern thing EVER, but you've stood in line at a coffee shop and thought to yourself: "WTF am I doing getting coffee for my boss?"

11. You are expected to work extra long hours on random days like everyone else.

Even though you aren't paid like everyone else in the office. So you *try* to convince yourself that everything is OK.

12. Most of your days are spent looking at the interns next to you and saying: "What are we even supposed to be doing?"

Also, "What the hell are we doing?"

13. Your family and friends constantly ask: "When are you getting a real job?"

While you are trying to gain experience to get a real job.

14. Your coworkers host parties that "the interns" are never invited to.

15. You constantly agonize over why you can't just have a normal job like your parents did when they graduated.

WHY IS EVERYTHING A MESS?

16. You've had to get another job (or two) to afford your internship.

~Freelance life~ is your friend, or nemesis, whichever way you choose to look at it.

17. You're always short on cash, so when your internship offers free food, you become a monster.

18. The Catch 22 of being a recent college graduate: "Will I be an intern forever?"

19. You can't actually afford your internship, so moving back in with the 'rents again is your only option.

20. Your mind is a broken record: "Will I be offered a job after this?"

The thirst is too real.

21. You spend most of your day trying to appear useful by looking busy, but you're really not doing anything.

22. Or there are the days where you run around like a zombie who's barely slept or had time to shower because you have so much to do.

23. Having pep talks after breakdowns in your kitchen with your roommates becomes a weekly ritual.

24. You agonize over why other interns get super competitive and try to throw you under the bus.

But you stick together with the friends you make while surviving the struggle.

In the end, it's a *learning experience* you will never forget, whether it was good or bad, you officially entered the "real world" for the first time.