A Clear Voice

April 27, 2005

A Heartbreaking Story of Rejection

Number 2 Pencil has a link to a simply hilarious article by a college journalism intern’s torturous experience of being rejected for a job.

The world of a college journalism intern is not glamorous. It's not exciting, and it isn't fun. It is a true test of skills and stamina, and above all, it makes you wonder if you really want to do what you thought you always wanted to do.

Last week, I was flatly rejected by SPIN magazine for a summer internship in New York City. The "rejection e-mail" from SPIN's editorial intern coordinator said something like "after thoroughly reviewing all applications, we have come to a decision, and unfortunately you have not been selected." All I heard was, "You suck."

This girl better grow a thicker skin if she wants to have any job at all, ever. Unless you’re applying at McDonalds, many people have to apply for dozens of positions to even get an interview, let alone get a job. And these are people who actually have, you know, experience and stuff.

I first stumbled upon the internship opportunity on SPIN's Web site, and decided to take a shot at it. The application required a cover letter and resume, and three to five clips of published work. Three to five? I had at least six in my portfolio from my time here at the Transcript and with MCLA's paper, the Beacon. Along with camera-room experience and graphic arts certification, I assumed I was a shoo-in.

They required 3-5 clips of published work and she had 6. SIX. I mean, do you actually think that anyone else applying for that job possibly met those stringent requirements? She was totally a shoo-in. Totally.

[I] started looking for apartments in the East Village in my spare time. I told my friends I was moving to New York for the summer, and told them they should all come along, thinking they would all say something like, "Wow Krystal, I would, but I just can't right now, you know, work and all." To my chagrin, they all said yes. My friend Amy is moving in a few weeks, and I found her a job at a hip vintage store in the East Village. At least it worked out for someone.

Ok, I know I’m in the engineering department and most of us here would are probably familiar enough with reality to not do something like that, but I have never ever heard of anyone applying for a job and being so confident that they would get it that they started looking for apartments and telling everyone that they were definitely moving.

The rejection e-mail from SPIN also welcomed "questions regarding my decision." Naturally, I was a little more than curious. I was, and am, heartbroken, and like any heartbreak, I needed a reason. I asked politely, and received no response. A week later, I sent another e-mail, asking a little less politely, and a little more aggressively. This time I got an answer.

Heartbroken. I mean seriously, she was a shoo-in. This is comparable to divorce or something.

After telling me the delay in correspondence was because they had "fallen a bit behind in the creation of the next issue," I was told that being "snippy" to a prospective employer was "unbelievably off-putting," even if they had already decided not to give me the job.

I went home and cried until I passed out, then woke up and cried some more.

Being unfailingly polite to a prospective employer seems like, you know, a good idea. What a surprise that they would get upset if you weren’t. I bet the SPIN correspondent was thinking, “Thank God we didn’t hire her.” I’d love to see her email. “You said you’d email me and you didn’t. Get on the ball!”

Then I thought about what the second rejection e-mail really said.

First of all, what does an editorial intern coordinator have to do with the production schedule of a magazine? I read SPIN a lot, and have seen this man's name under a few minor album reviews. Nothing that would delay anyone's schedule. I had gotten a lame excuse for his procrastination, and he obviously didn't take my inquiry seriously.

Totally! I mean SPIN has 2-3 interns, after telling them what to do and corresponding with a few pissy applicants, what could he possibly be doing with his time? Sitting around sipping coffee while everyone else scrambles around?

I love her confidence that she knows what this guy’s duties are and that he should have emailed her back IMMEDIATELY since he obviously has nothing else to do.

Secondly, being "snippy" and being direct are two very different things. He said he would answer questions, and I took him up on the offer. When he didn't reply, I asked again. I wasn't mean or rude, just to-the-point. If he didn't have time to answer my first question, he wouldn't have time to read any unnecessary formalities. I had a question, and I wanted an answer. That's all.

She should have asked once, as politely as possible and if she never got a response, tough. They have no obligation to tell her anything, even if they said they would. I wonder if she would get “direct” with me if I offered to give her some cash, and then took more than a week to give it to her.

But, you know, she was just being nice and respectful of his precious time by leaving out "unnecessary formalities."

Lastly, and most importantly, his reasons for rejecting my application were the font I used in my resume and cover letter headings, and that I didn't show a "passion for SPIN magazine."

So I used an interesting typestyle. I thought it was creative and would make my application stand out. Apparently, it made me seem "less serious."

My passion for SPIN is definitely waning, but I do have a passion for music, though rarely have the opportunity to write about it. Not everyone is lucky enough to write about whatever they want, especially if they want to get published. I thought an editorial intern coordinator would know that better than anyone.

Usually when people are going through resumes looking for someone to hire, they pay more attention to who they like and why, not why they are rejecting every single other person. Most of the reasons they would give for rejecting a particular person would be similarly pathetic.

But they totally should have had a good reason for rejecting this girl, because she was a shoo-in!

I was at a party last weekend and everyone asked me about the internship because I talked myself up so much. All I could say was I didn't get it. No one had the time to hear all the reasons why, and I didn't have the energy to talk about it.

Maybe you should have told them that you were an idiot for making assumptions and telling everyone about your cool summer job.

So I'm in for another six months at the Transcript until school starts in the fall. Besides, an internship with SPIN might not be the best thing for me anyway. I have a feeling I'd ask too many questions.

I love stupid kids. She gets rejected, but it’s not because she’s a poor applicant, it’s because she “asks too many questions.” She’s “standing up to authority.” I bet she even thinks her parents are, like, so totally dumb. Geeze, I'm 25 so it's not like I can't understand the hubris of the young, but I don't think I've been that presumptuous in at least ten years.

If there are any “editorial intern coordinators” reading this, while on one of their many coffee breaks, I hope they remember the name Krystal Grow.

Posted by illuminaria at 03:06 PM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2005

Those Poor Misunderstood Accountants

An article on Fox News today discusses the reaction of Ahmed Younis, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, to the television series “24.”

Younis said the show does present problems for Muslims, especially those living in the United States.

"We are simply worried about what this means to the American social fabric," he said. "We as a nation have not shown historically in modern history that we are able to deal with situations in which there is an enemy that has representation in some form or another within our country.

He continued, "We believe that at its most extreme, this is no different than signs in the South that say 'no niggers,' 'no Jews,' 'no dogs.' This is no different than during World War II, cartoons that depicted Japanese-Americans as having buck teeth and big glasses."

Um, yes, it is different.

If you’re not familiar with the show, (I just started watching it myself last week and it is, indeed, very compelling) the current plotline involves a Turkish family living in the US that carries out a terrorist act.

This reminds me of a SNL skit, “Anti-Arab,” that aired in 1993. In it John Goodman keeps bursting into the same Arab owned store every time the US is having some conflict with [insert Middle Eastern country name here] and shouts, “You dirty [insert Middle Eastern country name here]-ian, I’m going to bust up your store.” The shop owner protests, “But I’m not from [insert Middle Eastern country name here].” John Goodman says, “Oh, sorry,” and leaves, until the last time when we find that the US is actually having a conflict with the country the shop owner is from.

The implication is that Americans are simply too stupid to realize that Arabs are all from different countries and all have different political views, and even the ones who share countries and political views with terrorists aren’t going to blow us all up. However Younis, unlike SNL, isn’t very funny.

Obviously there are racist people out there who are too stupid to realize all that, or just don’t care. Somehow, though, I really don’t think their minds are going to be changed by an episode of “24.”

An article on the group’s website reveals that they had a meeting with Fox officials in January to discuss their complaints. Fox agreed to air a public service announcement, the text of which follows:

I'm Kiefer Sutherland. I play counter-terrorist Jack Bauer on Fox's 24. While terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it's important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting terrorism in every form.

The problem with this, however, is that while some members of the American Muslim community denounce and resist terrorism, it’s certainly not clear that they all do. In fact, it seems as though there are plenty of American Muslims who don’t denounce or resist terrorism in any form and actually encourage it. See this for example. And goodness knows in the worldwide Muslim community there are many people who are all for terrorism. Remember those people dancing in the streets on 9-11?

The only time I ever hear about Muslims denouncing terrorism is while they are also complaining about their treatment in the media or claiming that hate crimes against them are running rampant. (There may very well be hate crimes against Arabs going on, but I’ve never actually seen any figures to suggest this is a widespread problem.)
Of course the public service announcement was not enough. MPAC says:
While it sends the message that the American Muslim population is an equal partner in fighting terrorism and protecting our country, a PSA with that message is far less powerful than a story line that underscores that reality.

The problem with news and entertainment is that it never accurately represents reality because that’s not what people are interested in hearing about. They already experience reality every day; they want something more interesting. That’s why during prime time TV you see, say, ten murders and zero people burping the baby, even though millions more incidents of baby-burping occur in a day than murders.

What’s next, Irish American communities complaining because the news about and depictions of Irish people tend to emphasize the IRA more than the regular people out there feeding their cows? Are accountants going to complain that their portrayal in entertainment and news focuses too much on embezzling, and not on some guy adding up numbers and reading tax law?

Posted by illuminaria at 02:25 PM | Comments (1)

February 16, 2005

Offensive? Yes. Big deal? No.

WARNING: Possibly offensive sandwich names are in the text of this article. Please don't read if you have a heart condition.

I read about this article in the "The Daily Targum" at Rutgers University's on David Limbaugh today

Students split on Grease Truck names.
Duct tape continues to hide Grease Truck menu items that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community members said were offensive.
The controversy erupted last week over the names of certain sandwiches served at the Grease Trucks on the College Avenue campus. The University community is varied in its response to the incident, when the Department of Parking and Transportation Services demanded the trucks cover up [certain] sandwich names.

My first thought was, “Oh no, here’s people getting all offended for no reason.” Then I looked up the actual menu and realized, “Ok then, some of those ARE rather offensive.” Examples include, “The Fat Bitch,” “The Fat Fellatio,” and “The Fat Ass.”

The article also says that there is “The Fat Dyke,” although I don’t see that one on the menu.

Now even though they’re offensive, I don’t see why it is they should be required to change their names. Although the trucks operate on campus and are stored in a university lot, it seems that they are privately owned. If a private restaurant owner wants to have offensive names for his products, so what? It’s his business plan, and I’m sure it works quite well on campus. But people are complaining and saying it adds to an “offensive atmosphere” that causes harassment…

The controversy emerged when members of the LGBT community on campus said they were offended by the names of certain sandwiches. The outcry was brought to the attention of PATS, and all names deemed offensive were asked to be taken down, otherwise a citation would be issued to the offending Grease Truck.
Some students have come forward, saying the Grease Trucks further created an offensive atmosphere, with employees making sexually suggestive comments to customers, as another form of harassment.

Really, I don’t see how the names are any more offensive to the LGBT community than to Buddhists (“The Fat Buddha”), illegitimate children (“The Fat Bastard”), or prostitutes (“The Fat Gigolo.”) And you don't see any of them complaining. Not to mention…

Eileen Mcelhaney, a crime analyst with the Rutgers University Police Department, said there were no investigative reports of harassment near the Grease Trucks or Lot 8 this academic year so far from September to Feb. 1.

Some people need to grow thicker skins, roll their eyes, and get on with life.

And for Pete's sake, if someone harasses someone because they looked at a sandwich name, they need to get over themselves too.

Posted by illuminaria at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)