firing

I fired an unpaid intern yesterday. Someone who is unpaid has to do something pretty bad to get fired. She stole from the food bank. Have you no shame? We give stuff away for free. All you have to do is ask. (& answer a mighty intrusive series of questions - I don't understand why we need to know someone's marital status before we can give them a box of cereal or a few cans of soup, but that isn't my department.)

She said that she brought this huge bag of diapers from home & was taking them to her friend. . . except a coworker saw her come in & she wasn't carrying the diapers. . . she couldn't produce a reciept. . . her story started falling apart. . . she started yelling & getting super defensive. She said that some interns, ones who had already gone home for the day conviniently, saw her bring the stuff in. I suggested that she leave the garbage bag brimming with diapers here overnight & we would talk with those ladies tomorrow & see if they could vouch for her. She refused. I told her that if she left with the diapers, she shouldn't come back. She left, carrying the bag of diapers. Such a powerplay, I know. I'm not proud.

I hate being the asshole boss & generally, I'm not. My interns aren't paid, so I don't expect tremendous efforts from them. I think that's fair. There's been times that I've told them, 'as long as you look busy, we'll be okay.' I think that is a good work skill to pick up. [look at me furiously typing away with great concentration - coworkers think I'm doing something work-related, I'm sure.] And I usually give people choices about what they do. Granted, sometimes the choice is between sweeping the floor, washing the wall, and picking up garbage outside, but its a choice. I let people listen to the radio of their choice - there would probably be a riot if I enforced my desired all day every day NPR marathon. So I'm not a terrible boss, at least most of the time. . . right?