Internship Ethics: The Cheshire Cat.

Hello there, my precious internees!
SO. I ran into quite an issue the other day that I want to share.
It involves ETHICS.
(We all remember the classic scene from Billy Madison regarding, business-ethics.)

So first, what is ethics?
Well. According to the dictionary there is a fabulous and lengthy definition for ethic(s).
However, in addition to giving you the smart definition, I'm going to give you the Alice definition.
GOOD VS. EVIL. YOUR MORALS.
It is how you deal with right vs. wrongs in situations.

Classic example: What do you do when you find a wallet on the road?

DO YOU:

A. Call the police

B. Keep the money and call the police

C. Keep the money

How you answer this gives people an insight your own ethical thought process.
Now you're probably thinking, "Alice, WTF? What does this have to do with internships?"
And I say, EVERYTHING, MY DEAR INTERNEES, EVERYTHING.
(It certainly ties into office behavior!)

Intern Alice Story:
The company I intern for also is closely associated to my actual "paying job". So close, I often have the big-time business guys coming in to tell me about something they need me to look into or they have something for me to do the next time I'm at my internship. A few days ago, one of the big-wigs strolled in and gave me the usual speech. "I need you to email me...", "Can you look into...", "What ever happened with..." but rather than be the polite, professional business man he is, he did something that caught me totally off-guard. He began to bad-mouth my company. No, there was no f'bombs or name calling, but he said enough to put me in a really uncomfortable position. What do I do now?

What I wanted to say: "HEY! I'm part of that team you are talking about and you shouldn't be such a (for lack of a better word) turdburger!"

An ethical predicament. A place I am getting paid to wait tables at versus my possible future job. AND. You have two, count 'em TWO, members of authority in this situation: boss lady from the PR firm and part owner of my paying job.

Here are the problems:

• You can't be a taddle-tale. Running back to the PR Firm and telling on him makes you look...like a taddle-tale.
• You can't say something to the owner, because he'll fire your ass quicker than you can say money. (Plus, what ever would you say to him? He has the upper hand.)
• You can't demand. You're an unpaid intern, so going into the internship and demanding he treat you better will do absolutely nothing.
• You can't throw the owner under the bus. Again, like being a taddle-tale.

Ahh, the grey area where right and wrong are blurred.

It's like the Cheshire Cat, laughing at you because you have no idea which way to go. There is up and down and right and left, so many ways to go! But only one will lead you home. And, it is the same for making ethical decisions. I could have yelled at him, I could have told him he was wrong, I could have cried to my boss at my internship.

How I ended up handling the situation received recognition from my boss at the PR Firm.

I simply explained to her that I was having an issue with ethics and I need to ask her how to take care of it, because I have never been in that situation before. When I explained to her what happened, she told me that she was glad I told her and would make sure something like this didn't happen again.

End of Story.

This is the advice I'm going to give you my dear internees! When it comes to problems, situations, anything that makes you feel uncomfortable or could jeopardize one (or more) opporunities/jobs, you must do the RIGHT THING.

Yes. Go back to when your mother and father were teaching you between right and wrong.

Yelling at either of my bosses would have accomplished nothing. Demanding would have irritated my PR boss lady and crying about it would have made me look like a big baby.

And, damn it, I'm an adult. I'm Alice!

Dare I say, when you have issues and you think of ethics, do unto others as they would do unto you. How would you want someone to handle a situation if the tables were turned, etc?

Still not too sure about internship ethics? Check out KPMGGo's Channel on YouTube. They have some great videos on internship, ethics, and internship ethics!

Remember, internees, DO THE RIGHT THING! Being in the grey area is a sticky situation, but if you use your head, you'll be well on your way!

Happy Interning,
Love, Alice