Internship Don'ts... That I Did!

I had my first internship when I was 14 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can't even tell you what my position was - I know it had something to do with numbers. Anyway, there were very clear rules that had to be followed on how to dress, how to act, how to address others and the like. It was a very... interesting(?) experience for a 14 year old girl on her own in New York City.

This year, I've participated in 3 different internship experiences that completely defy the rules, or the "Don'ts" I was taught 7 (wow, it's been that long??) years ago, as well as the Don'ts I learned as I got older.

DON'T: Go on Facebook or Twitter while at your internship

Maybe in Public Relations/Communications, this rule is almost meant to be defied, since a majority of my duties consist of interacting with different audiences through social media.

DON'T: Dress inappropriately
Not to say I wore short shorts or a see-through shirt, but as a rule I hear that you're not supposed to wear jeans, flip flops or shirts that show shoulders. At my internship during the spring I followed all of those rules, but at BOTH of my summer internships, I noticed ALL of the clothing and accessories we're told generally not to wear. So because it was deemed appropriate at these places, I occasionally wore flips flops or shirts that show my shoulders (but not in a way that it looked like I was about to head for the beach).

DON'T: Take your shoes off/walk around barefoot
Okay, so we're never told this because it seems pretty obvious that you should NEVER do this. At one of my internships however, my director wanted us to feel really comfortable. After running around the city in less than comfortable shoe-wear, the feet need a little rest outside of the shoe/sandal. My boss actually found it funny that I needed to take my shoes off because she did the EXACT same thing. I would definitely NOT recommend this to any intern, it was just acceptable in this atmosphere (thankfully for my feet).

Besides these few exceptions, I follow the other rules (i.e. Don't be negative, Don't gossip, Don't come unwilling to learn, etc.). This just proves, however, that not all experiences will be the same, and not all will have the same cut and dry/black and white rules.