# Unpaid internships: Should be be outraged or should they suck it up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpaid-internships-should-be-be-outraged-or-should-they-suck-it-up/682786 "2014-03-03T23:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpaid-internships-should-be-be-outraged-or-should-they-suck-it-up/682786/61 "2014-03-08T19:46:04Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Umm… they were paid for by the parents of the apprentice, not the master. The master was required to provide things like food and shelter to said apprentices, which is a form of compensation for labor. Unlike these days, when corporations just take the labor and leave the “apprentices” to fend for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpaid-internships-should-be-be-outraged-or-should-they-suck-it-up/682786/62 "2014-03-11T01:51:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Let’s not pretend that companies are acting in the name of some universally respected and neutral good here. Since the 1960s, American companies have been increasingly profitable, but the balance of the benefit has radically shifted in that top managers and executives have been “saving money” in order to pad their own personal compensation in increasingly disproportionate levels. > > There’s no rational basis for assuming that this is either good for the company or good in general. Companies tend to act in the “universally respected and neutral good” of the bottom line. Or at least how they perceive it. Most of the companies I’ve worked for offered some sort of training. In many cases, very expensive training. Although, for some reason, most of that training seems to focus more on the culture of the company and “team building” than how to actually perform your job. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpaid-internships-should-be-be-outraged-or-should-they-suck-it-up/682786/63 "2014-03-11T02:48:24Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Did you end up getting a job in your field of interest? Yep! So I guess I can’t grumble too much. 🙂 In my field there are more openings than there are people to fill them so it’s nice being able to be little picky. I actually got hired with the same company (different location) as my medical internship. I think having the same company definitely helped and it’ll be really nice to already know a lot of the paperwork and protocols. As someone else mentioned, it’s frustrating to not only be paid nothing, but essentially have to pay them to work for them. All the while, my supervisors are not only getting free labor but also a tax write off for taking me under their wing. Like I said, even a buck an hour would’ve helped for all the gas I had to use- some interns got placed 45 minutes away! It really eats away at your finances. Also, a previous poster pointed out, I don’t feel like I got as much out of my experience as I could’ve because I couldn’t spend the weekend studying or reviewing as much because I had to work my dinky minimum wage job to try to somewhat stay afloat. It’s just a frustrating process, these unpaid internships. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpaid-internships-should-be-be-outraged-or-should-they-suck-it-up/682786.md?page=3)