They arrive full of ambition, wide eyes, and a vague idea of what “work” actually means. Confidence? Sky-high. Competence? Still buffering.
These are the brave souls tossed into office life with nothing but a backpack, a dream, and maybe three functioning brain cells before 10 a.m. They nod in meetings like they understand, Google everything the moment they leave, and survive on equal parts caffeine and confusion. But beneath the chaos there’s something beautiful: The raw, unfiltered enthusiasm you only get before reality sets in.
We're laughing at them, but also we're celebrating the magical, messy stage between “I got the internship!” and “I accidentally replied-all to the CEO.” So if you’ve ever trained an intern, been an intern, or just enjoy secondhand embarrassment… this one’s for you.
1
Meaningful Work, Until We Spellcheck His Chaos
“Intern begged for “meaningful” work, so I let him start the return process: AJE’s and prepping for upload. He spent hours struggling. I checked in; he asked for explanations but left before finishing. We ended up spending way more time fixing his mess.”
2
Intern Tries Stealing Client Info
“Not a mistake, but an intern actually tried to steal bank account info from client direct deposit and debit approval forms.”
3
No Fieldwork? Intern’s GPS Must Be Broke
“Day before fieldwork, we discussed showing up at the client’s office next day. Intern somehow didn’t get it. When he didn’t show, senior called him. He went into our office first, then had to drive out to the client, arrived 2 hours late.”
4
Google Snake Streak
“An intern was playing Google Snake on the computer. The whole team stood behind him and he didn’t realise.”
5
Intern's Postal Emergency
“An intern dropped off a FedEx package at USPS.”
6
Share-Drive Swipe Fest Shuts Down Everything
"Intern wanted to copy the whole company share drive to their laptop to work from home. It was web-based, so they could’ve just logged in. Instead, they dragged and dropped, deleting files from the drive in real time while we watched.”
7
Pajama Check-In, Because 9AM Is So Last Century
“Intern ignored emails to show up, then joined his first morning check-in in pajamas, telling my senior 9 AM was “too early” for the office.”
8
High as a Kite and Requesting Mental Health Days
“Intern got so high in week two he emailed HR asking for mental health days. Later bragged about his “insane spiritual journey” from that trip, senior figured it out and called him out. Intern tried to backtrack but no one bought it.”
9
Paper Fax Gone Wrong
“Intern tried to fax paper to an audit team in the field who ran out of paper, literally sending the physical sheets through the fax. I had to painfully explain why that wouldn’t work.”
10
Christmas Party KO: Intern Punches Partner
“At the Christmas party, after missing a punch on their senior, the intern ended up punching the partner. Alcohol was involved.”
11
Intern Drops Curse on Partner
“My manager said an intern two years ago straight-up cursed a partner in a meeting. Partner joked about his hours, intern told him to “shut the f- up.” Kid also left early, complained, did nothing.”
12
EEO or Eeeek? Intern’s Loud Mouth Gets Her Fired
“Worst intern: Day 1 complains about commute and hours, lacks promised skills, slow, sloppy, talks back. Tried an EEO complaint after I reported her. Final straw: trash-talked me on the phone at work, loud enough for me to hear. I got her fired.”
13
Noon Tumble Leads to Intern Exit, Literally
“One intern fell on the ground that noon and resigned that afternoon.”
14
Bye-Notice Email: Intern Vanishes Without a Heads-Up
“He looked great on paper, but working with him tested patience. He’d say he got it, but work was sloppy or missing. After five months, he emailed one manager (not both) saying tomorrow was his last day, with a vague promise to finish outstanding work. No notice, no heads-up.”
15
Brag Fest Bombs Hard
“When I was an intern, another intern kept bragging to audit staff about how she was sure to get hired and trashing me nonstop. Guess who didn’t get hired?”
16
Floor Seating: Intern Sets New Meeting Trend
“I work long-only buyside. First week of summer, we get a new intern. Morning meeting, full house: 10 seats taken, a few people standing like usual. No big deal. But this kid? He sits on the floor. Whole meeting.”
17
Too Coachy: Intern Gets Physical, Senior Gets Creeped Out
“Had an intern who got way too friendly with a senior: touching his hair, draping over him despite being told to respect his space.”
18
Avocado Jelly Tears
“An intern made avocado jelly (we don’t usually eat that here) and cried when someone refused to try it.”
19
WoW, Workplace Romance & Wild Audit Fallout
“B4 audit intern, got the job through his dad. While everyone’s pulling 16-hour days, he plays WoW on his work laptop. Hooks up with a senior, who gives him work to “help”. He screws it all up, making her fall behind. When their hookup is exposed, senior gets fired.”
20
Wikipedia Workpapers Crash the Audit Party
“Had an intern that used wikipedia as a workpaper reference.”
21
Cheerleader Intern Sidelined, Game Days Only
“We had a cheerleader intern (daughter of a division chief). She never worked a full day or finished a task. Came in decked out in Cardinal gear on game days, then bounced whenever there was a Rams game. We’re all Cardinals fans. She might not have even signed into the computer.”
22
Where’s Intern #471? FPGA Demo Derailed by Breakfast Laziness
“Intern was supposed to show up at 9:00 to my FPGA lab demo. I prepped half a day for it. He didn’t show until 9:45, he was busy eating free breakfast elsewhere. He barely cared, saying: ‘I don’t think I’ll remember any of this’.”
23
Russian Phone Chats: Intern’s Personal Line Goes Pro
“A former workplace had an engineering intern who talked on the phone in Russian all day. (Personal calls!) Even after they asked him to stop, he kept doing it.”
24
Meeting Slowed to a Crawl by Off-Topic ‘Curiosity’
“Intern asked off-topic questions in meetings, slowing everyone down. Also, scanned docs wrong, wasted hours fixing.”
25
Team Chat Sportscaster
“There’s this one analyst, every time someone presents in a meeting, he hits me on Teams with stuff like: “Woohoo go Z! Can’t believe he did all that work himself!” Happens every time. Like bro, are you live-commentating the meeting?”
26
The Diva Intern
“One intern was nonstop complaining: working until 5:30 while staff stayed till 7, not enough billable hours, work not ready, software, and our Keurig coffee (which is honestly the best I’ve had). She even griped the elevators were too cold and hated the support desk’s hold music.”
27
Elevator Roast Backfires: Interns Get Dropped Like Hot Audits
"Two B4 audit interns trash-talk a client in an elevator, only the CFO is also there. CFO reports it to the partner. Interns? Fired on the spot.”
28
Birthday Invites Beamed to the CEO? Bold Move, Intern
“When I interned at a wealth management firm, one of the other interns emailed the CEO his last week and invited him to his birthday party in Miami.”
29
Sleepy Ben’s 5 PM Dash
“We called him ‘Sleepy Ben’. He full on fell asleep at his desk and the second (and I mean the second) it turned 5pm, he ran, not walk, out the office.”
30
TikTok Takeover: Intern Choreographs While Others Excel
“We had an intern who was constantly filming TikTok dances in the bullpen while the other interns were working.”
