INTERNSHIP LIFE PART 2 – Rolling Stone Magazine

By NICK POWILLS

Have you seen the movie "Almost Famous?" You know, the one where the kid works his way into a freelance-writing job for Rolling Stone Magazine. The so-called freelance job/internship that seems to be every music fan's dream. The job of a lifetime; the dream of a lifetime. You know that movie, right?

Well, Rolling Stone Magazine is nothing like that. In fact, it is the worst internship I have ever had. EVER!

A job is what you make of it. When times are shity, try something different. Been there done that. I wanted to make the most of my Rolling Stone internship. I wanted to experience Almost Famous. I wanted to be "in" with the editors. Unfortunately, my dreams were shattered on my first day on the job and the pieces were never picked up and put back into place.

In fact, I don't think any of the interns had an enjoyable time - except for the asshole who kept sticking his nose up one of the editor's ass, by getting him his coffee each day. Yes, that's the bullshit I am talking about.

The routine

"Hi, I'm Nick. Nice to …"
"Hello Rick, welcome to Rolling Stone. You can go get my coffee now, and while you are fetching that, prepare to walk all over New York in search of my crispy bagel with crushed olive baked into it. Oh, and if you can't find it, look again." "It's Nick," I whisper back.

This was how my day was every day. I don't think a single person in that entire office knew any of the interns' names. They didn't care that we were all working there for free - most paying thousands to live in the very expensive city. They just didn't care.

My days consisted of this: getting the editors', especially my supervisor's, damn coffee; reading newspapers for news that would interest the editors; sitting around watching the clock; patiently waiting for 4 p.m. to hit so I could get out of there; getting the editor's lunch and sometimes, the occasional snack; oh, and if I was lucky, I got to transcribe a boring interview that the editor wouldn't ever use.

Rolling Stone was an absolute blast, let me tell you.

But maybe I shouldn't complain so much, because I can still say that I have been there and done that. When I talk to people about my life experiences, I can still say that I interned at Rolling Stone. But in all honesty, after thinking about my experience over and over for the last three years, I have decided how I so wish I had just stuck to my other internship at the time - Details magazine.

No such thing as a free lunch.

My total expenses for the summer were somewhere in the range of $5,000 to $6,000. Given I have more expensive tastes than the average
Metrosexual, it was still an expensive summer.

I got the editors' lunches and breakfasts so many times, I would have expected one of them to say, "Hey kid, thanks for marching all over New York, let me buy you lunch." But that would have been too much of a dream. I was lucky to get even a thank you.

Details magazine was so much different. I was lucky enough to land two internships in the Big Apple - Rolling Stone for two days a week and Details for three, and I thank God for that. At Details, the editors would buy us lunch and even take us out for lunch. They would talk to us and get to know us. And the best part was, they even knew our names. We were not just lemmings working to get their coffee (which the interns at Details never had to do) - we were there to help, and the Details editors appreciated that and they showed their appreciation.

At Rolling Stone, there is no such thing as a free lunch. At Rolling Stone, there is no such thing as the editors taking their time to get to know you. At Rolling Stone, to some extent, you are treated like a slave. How sad is that?

Maybe the internship has improved over the last few years, but if it hasn't, I will be the first to warn you of accepting an internship at Rolling Stone. I mean, for all the shit the interns have to crawl through, you would think the editors would have enough decency to buy the interns lunch, even just one lunch, right?

Letting the door kick you on the way out

Trust me, I am not a snob. I am a very hard worker, and a dedicated worker at that, and I am not trying to cry over spilled milk. I know that internships are supposed to suck, but they are not supposed to suck this bad. Throughout my college career I persevered through many internships, some good and some bad, but none were as bad as this one.

The interns did everything they could to leave their marks on the Stone editors, in hopes of someday being offered a job by the popular magazine. The respect we got was so little that I am surprised the magazine even asks for interns. It seemed to me that they didn't even want us there.

All of the shit we put up with for a summer would have all been worth it for a nice pat on the back at the end, but we didn't even get that. On my last day, I don't think a single editor said thanks as I cleaned up my desk and prepared to find my life again in the Midwest. If I had not built up such a high amount of anger, I might have actually cried - yes a young adult male crying. The way they treated us hurt, it truly did.

And to make the situation even worse, they didn't even write letters of recommendation for some of us. That was really the only reason I put up with all of the bullshit - just to have that letter stamped with the Rolling Stone seal of approval. What a way to end an internship, huh?

Moral time

The moral of the story is simple, internships can suck, and maybe they are just meant to. Sometimes they aren't even what you make of them. You can give 110 percent and still walk away unsatisfied because the bosses made you feel so little. But, always remember that even in the shittiest of internships, life goes on, and you will come out of it a better person (if nothing else, you'll have a story to tell).