Interns Get Fired En Masse After Protesting Dress Code at Work

[Independent voter]

At this one job I had there was some office drama. One of dramatists came up and asked me what I thought about it and I told her. Turns out she was taping my response and she replayed it for the boss. 4 or 5 of us were let go. I don't need to say that I keep my mouth shut these days.






After complaining at work and hoping to enact change, a class of interns was met with a very unexpected outcome.

After complaining at work and hoping to enact change, a class of interns was met with a very unexpected outcome.

A blog post on askamanager.com says that a reader recently scored a summer position at a company within the field the individual hopes to work in post-graduation. “Even though the division I was hired to work in doesn’t deal with clients or customers, there still was a very strict dress code,” the person wrote, adding that they felt the clothing rules were “overly strict” but weren’t going to complain. That is, “until I noticed one of the workers always wore flat shoes that were made from a fabric other than leather, or running shoes, even though both of these things were contrary to the dress code.”

Angered by the hypocrisy, the reader rallied other interns, and the group wrote a proposal, along with a petition signed by the whole class (minus one who declined to participate). The request mostly focused on footwear, asking for non-dress shoes that would fit under a more business casual dress code, but also asked if it was possible for the workers to not have to wear suits and/or blazers in favor of a more casual but still professional dress code.

The next day, everyone who signed was called into a meeting, where the lot was informed that due to their “unprofessional behavior,” they were being let go. “We were told to hand in our ID badges and to gather our things and leave the property ASAP,” the post reads. The young adults were shocked and weren’t given a chance to defend their actions. But that’s not the worst part. “Just before the meeting ended, one of the managers told us that the worker who was allowed to disobey the dress code was a former soldier who lost her leg and was therefore given permission to wear whatever kind of shoes she could walk in. You can’t even tell, and if we had known about this we would have factored it into our argument.”

In response, Alison Green, the voice behind the blog, shared that while she believes firing the whole group was an extreme reaction, she understands why the employers were highly annoyed. She explained that being an intern is basically like being a guest — the company’s rules are the rules. “To be clear, that doesn’t mean that you need to suck up any and every condition of an internship. You don’t,” she wrote. “But this wasn’t something like asking you to do unsafe work or work unreasonable hours; this was asking you to abide by what sounds like a very common and reasonable professional dress code.”

Since the blog post was published on Tuesday, it has been shared multiple times across the Internet, with many offering their own opinions. “Kids these days. You gotta pay your dues,” Jason Chalker said. “I think the company handled it perfectly.” Julie Borowski wrote, “Interns these days got mouths on them. You’re in audition mode. You better not be slacking with the dress code.” Lucas Correia even made the argument that the situation was the “direct result of the bad parenting and the self entitlement attitude created in both our primary and secondary education system.” Glenn Beck also offered his opinion, writing that “real life can be brutal.”

Because of the attention the article received, with a majority of the critics calling the millennial generation delusional and blaming “young people today,” Green added an editor’s note. “The letter-writer’s generation is far from the first to bridle at dress codes or misunderstand office culture or start out with little knowledge of how things work in offices,” she said. “This is about being young and new to the work world, not about what generation they belong to. Most of us made plenty of mistakes when we first started work — I certainly did. So please go a little easier on this person.”

[minteK917]

This is actually a good lesson learned as an intern. If you cant comply with a dress code, you dont accept a job. If someone is allowed to break the dress code, you inform yourself why it is allowed. Also peititioning your employee when you are new = no no. I think college kids have it a little too easy now, thinking the world is yours because you simply "exist".

[Revi]

That petition skill they learned in college is sure serving them well.

[Ragedaug]

I think that's kinda funny, thinking they had some leverage by petitioning the boss. As an intern especially, keep your nose clean and your mouth shut and just focus on learning. I got to think that the employer figured, if they are going to complain about stuff like this now, as interns, how bad will it be if they got hired.

[Hif]

Well done. The youth these days don't know shit and demand privilege.

[minteK917]

I think that's kinda funny, thinking they had some leverage by petitioning the boss. As an intern especially, keep your nose clean and your mouth shut and just focus on learning. I got to think that the employer figured, if they are going to complain about stuff like this now, as interns, how bad will it be if they got hired.

I think a bigger part of it is as the article says, interns arent real employee, they are guests. Often when you have interns, especially at their early stages, they are actually slowing productivity. Which you agree to, in order to teach new people. If they were real employee, they would have had more warnings. Intern, not so much, you are already a burden. A logical burden to take, dont get me wrong here, but as an intern, you should be aware that you are given an opportunity, not something that is owed to you.

Something owed to me is like, well i pay my taxes for healthcare, i expect to be served correctly at the hospital. I think people nowdays blur the line between what they should be entiltled for.

[Spectral]

I wonder if they've learned the hard-won lesson here or if they just feel even more absurdly self righteous. I'm guessing the latter.

[Direpenguin]

That fact that young students these days can't dictate workplace policy at companies they aren't even *real* employees of is unacceptable, and needs to change!

...I've been working on my Bernie Sanders impersonation, how's it coming?

[Sovich]

If the can't follow something as simple as a dress code then they're wasting the company's time letting them intern there. they wouldn't make the cut.

[Spectral]

"The proposal was written professionally like examples I have learned about in school, and our arguments were thought out and well-reasoned. We weren't even given a chance to discuss it."

This actually made me chuckle IRL.

"I have never had a job before (I've always focused on school)..."

Spoiled brat doesn't understand how employment works - news at 11.

I must admit, I'm curious what the tyke's major is.

[Orange Joe]

This actually made me chuckle IRL.

Spoiled brat doesn't understand how employment works - news at 11.

I must admit, I'm curious what the tyke's major is.

Acutally, if this shows us anything. It's that school does not really prepare people for life as an adult.

[s_bushido]

lol

I especially like the part about how they didn't even bother to look into why that person was wearing different shoes. Entitled brats.

[Anon56]

If one people disobey the company rules on a daily basis it's already been noticed by his boss and there's probably a reason.

You don't scream about hypocrisy or injustice in a company. A company is not a democracy and you don't have freedom of speech. You shut your mouth and do your job.

Lesson learned.

[Deleted]

Yeah, kids these days! Back in my day, we only striked like there was no tomorrow because we truly were entitled to all that money and worker benefits, often to the point of the company going out of business. But kids these days, am I right?

I love generation shifts, because suddenly our past are being rewritten to being the most hard working, most law abiding and overall just best people to grace this very earth. And every single mistake that the new generation makes, will be call to be the standard of all of them.

[Spectral]

lol

I especially like the part about how they didn't even bother to look into why that person was wearing different shoes. Entitled brats.

Right - rather than saying, "hey man, sup with the sneakers?", their first thought was to tattle to the manager, and to so in a fashion that only a campus activist loon could love.

[Direpenguin]

lol

I especially like the part about how they didn't even bother to look into why that person was wearing different shoes. Entitled brats.

Even better was how that would have only "factored into their argument".

"If a veteran who lost a leg gets special privilege, so should I, because I had to sit next to a Trump supporter in my Woman's Studies 101 course, and was heavily traumatized by the whole ordeal!"

[Azadina]

Acutally, if this shows us anything. It's that school does not really prepare people for life as an adult.

If it shows anything, it is that corporations do not want educated people who think. They want mindless drones who would never speak of workers rights or their low pay.

[GutsAP]

Good, give the entitled brats a dose of reality.

[Mithfin]

Dress code dinosaurs will die out. Being unable to adjust to changing times is the most telling sign of impending doom for the company.

[minteK917]

Yeah, kids these days! Back in my day, we only striked like there was no tomorrow because we truly deserved all that money and worker benefits, often to the point of the company going out of business. But kids these days, am I right?

I love generation shifts, because suddenly our past are being rewritten to being the most hard working, most law abiding and overall just best people to grace this very earth. And every single mistake that the new generation makes, will be call to be the standard of all of them.

Interns are not part of unions, they arent employee.... Clearly the employee were consulted, hence disable employee was able to break the dress code. No employee signed their petition, not even all of the interns. Even when you are a real employee, people need to learn why they are told, youll be unionized in 3 months.