Work experience, internships and volunteering can be good stepping stones to begin a career, but some assigned tasks during this time can be a little odd.
Twitter users have been confessing the “ridiculous” and “horrible” tasks they have been asked to do during their time at work experience, and some might sound familiar.
Journalist Katie Grant kicked off the conversation with her own account of being very excited to pick up dry cleaning on work experience.
What is the most cliched/ridiculous/horrible task you were assigned when you were on work experience? Mine was being sent to pick up the features editors dry cleaning when I was at a major women’s mag – and being *genuinely* excited at the opportunity to “prove myself” 😂😳😬
— Katie Grant (@kt_grant) June 5, 2019
She asked Twitter users: “What is the most cliched/ridiculous/horrible task you were assigned when you were on work experience?”
Social media users did not disappoint, with plenty of anecdotes from their own stints of work experience, from the mundane to the bizarre.
1. This painful task.
Removing staples from 300 training booklets because pages 20 and 21 were in the wrong order. Then re-stapling them. Without a staple remover so had to use a nail file. The training session was then cancelled.
— Duncan Lindsay (@DuncanLindsay) June 5, 2019
2. A strong workaround of a broken computer.
on my first day of work experience with a weekly local paper I was told the spare computer had a virus, so I was given print outs of press releases to read through and then "think about" how I would re-write them if I had a working computer.
— Lauren (@LaurenRProbert) June 5, 2019
3. Work experience might involve some unglamorous trips.
My friend worked for a radio DJ/TV presenter who made her drive back to London (a good 60 miles or so) to get his “lucky belt”.
— Rebecca (@Mrs_RV) June 5, 2019
4. There are a few obstacles to complete some tasks.
Being asked to collect a Romanian film star from Gatwick airport at 4am in the morning. I cannot drive. Or speak Romanian. https://t.co/7a8gfKJbh2
— Kate C (@laffychaffy) June 5, 2019
5. This picky eater.
She made me go to Subway with a loaf of her own bread for them to make a sandwich because she didn’t like subs https://t.co/qsT8BMxjni
— Leigh (@LeighWalsh1) June 6, 2019
6. There might be some upsetting tasks at work experience.
I had to send out letters to successful applicants for a training scheme at the newspaper that I had been unsuccessful in applying for
— Liam Thorp (@LiamThorpECHO) June 5, 2019
7. This disappointing experience.
I did my work experience at a restaurant because I loved cooking. However, there a lot of regulations around food and as I didn't have any training or qualifications I was left washing dishes for two whole weeks. https://t.co/bzJOVnbMH0
— Matt Redmore (@MattRedmore) June 6, 2019
8. Lastly, a great task for anyone who loves organisation.
I had to put a massive box of CDs in alphabetic order at HMV. I was thrilled as it was my favourite thing to do. Took me 10 mins, they were astonished.
— Chris Wadsworth (@Assimilatethis) June 5, 2019