You know that feeling you get when you plug in your charger but forget to turn on the switch or when you put the toothbrush in your mouth only to realise that the paste fell off? Or when you lose the end of the tape even though you marked it or when your cereal gets soggy? All of these things are annoying and bound to happen- just like you not getting work for the initial few weeks of your internship.
While some of my classmates were getting by-lines in newspapers and assisting directors, travelling extensively and running on two hours of sleep, I was thinking of new ways to look busy. That little voice in my head constantly made me feel like I was being left behind.
By the time the second week had rolled around, I was losing my head. It is not that I was completely idle throughout but I didn’t have enough work to keep me busy for eight hours a day. With each day came the promise of work, only to wind up with me using the office Wifi to download shows on Netflix.
On top of that, the organisation let us leave early if we didn’t have work. Wait so, they don’t expect me to put in gruelling hours of unpaid labour and sell my unborn child to the devil? They actually understand the concept of personal life…in this economy?
Jokes apart, not getting work is understandably frustrating. But sometimes, all you can do is make the best of what you’ve got. Perhaps, try creating work for yourself instead of waiting to be handed down a set of instructions. For instance, I ended up editing a music video for two days after asking if they had footage that I could practice on. If you have an idea, don’t be afraid to share it with your seniors, it might just land you an opportunity.
Meher Dhillon
(Batch 2020)
