Is there anything too menial to be done by an intern?

Question

I am a student, currently interning at a fairly new startup. (I am amongst the first 10 employees). I have a role of a software developer there and the work for the most of it is very good. The pay is also sufficient, but there is just one small issue.

From time to time, I have been asked by my manager to do things like making a pot of coffee or tea for everyone or washing the pot (not peoples cups) amongst others. Since we do not own a dishwasher, this has to be done manually. While, for most I do not mind doing such things because I do not find any task/work too low to be done by someone. My issue arises when my lack of protest for doing such tasks is equated to my compliance, and these tasks are increasingly pushed on me, and not others (including other interns at the same payscale). It doesn't take a lot of time but breaks my flow of concentration when I am in the middle of some work.

Hence, my questions are:

1. Is there any such thing as a task being too menial to be done by me, an itern? Is it unprofessional of me to not expect such tasks?
2. How do I prevent myself from being unequally burdened by such tasks?
3. How normal/widespread is this? Especially in the tech industry?

EDIT:

Answers to some of the questions asked/clarifications requested

1. I am a male working in a predominantly male environment.
2. No, it is not a junior developer position. It is a full time paid internship as I still have a year of college left.
3. I consider myself to be fairly competent. I was selected for this position from a pool of 20+ applicants.
4. I honestly do not mind making coffee/washing pots. But I do not want to be the one who always has to do it. But more than that, I want to know if it is widespread. I was under the impression that the days of interns "To get coffee and photocopies" are gone.
5. There are no laws in my country which apply to internships, so there is no legal angle in this particular case.

Answer 1

If they are asking you in the middle of your work, when/if you're busy writing software, politely decline. There's nothing wrong with going and washing the pot when you're there and need to use it, but if someone is interrupting your actual job just so they don't have to get their hands wet, that is rude. Don't tolerate unacceptable behavior. Don't be a yes man.

At the same time, don't make an issue out of it. If someone asks you to do something and it doesn't interfere with what you're currently doing, go and do it.

Answer 2

When you are starting out, NOTHING is beneath you. Learn that now, embrace it, and when you move up, keep that attitude as it will earn you a great deal of respect over the years. If as you move up, you're the boss who brings coffee, or washes the pot, or takes out the garbage, your people will respect you.

As an intern, do it because you're brand new. As you progress, do it to show that you won't make your people do anything you wouldn't do yourself.

Never have the attitude that any work is beneath you. If it needs to be done, do it, and do it without complaint. Otherwise, you'll be viewed as a whiner now, and as pompous and condescending later in your career.

as MichaelJ noted below:

There is far more than "career-related experience" to be gained when working as an intern. It is very valuable to be taught as early as possible that not everything will be meaningful and important.

Answer 3

This question can be location related. I agree with DCON's answer, but wanted to add this :

There is no task too menial for you to do, but this is the case for everyone. I've worked as an intern in a small startup, and those kind of tasks were somewhat equally shared amongst everyone, including interns and the boss.

And for most of those tasks, it is even faster to do it yourself than to ask someone else.

My point is that your issue may be a symptom: a boss who constantly ask an intern for things that he could just do himself in 30 seconds is not the kind of boss I would want to work for.

As for a solution, I would take the next time he asks as an opportunity to say something along the lines of:

Listen, I don't mind cleaning the pot, but I do feel like I'm the only one doing it.

Answer 4

I would say that this is somewhat widespread. If you feel that you are unfairly being targeted over other interns, then perhaps you should talk to your direct supervisor about setting up some kind of rotation for cleaning. This would show some initiative, so it will probably look good upon you.

As an intern, you are there to learn about working in the workplace. This is just part of it. Direct answers:

1. Yes, there are some tasks that you shouldn't be given, such as taking your bosses dirty clothes to the laundry, but things inside the workplace are fair game.

2. Talk to your supervisor about setting up some kind of rotation for cleaning. (as above)

3. This is pretty common, something that even non-interns have to do at some companies.

Answer 5

Assuming you are in the United States, according to The Test For Unpaid Interns on www.dol.gov:

There are some circumstances under which individuals who participate in “for-profit” private sector internships or training programs may do so without compensation. The Supreme Court has held that the term "suffer or permit to work" cannot be interpreted so as to make a person whose work serves only his or her own interest an employee of another who provides aid or instruction. This may apply to interns who receive training for their own educational benefit if the training meets certain criteria. The determination of whether an internship or training program meets this exclusion depends upon all of the facts and circumstances of each such program.

The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination:

1.) The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

2.) The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;

3.) The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;

4.) The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

5.) The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship;

6.) The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

If all of the factors listed above are met, an employment relationship does not exist under the FLSA, and the Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions do not apply to the intern. This exclusion from the definition of employment is necessarily quite narrow because the FLSA’s definition of “employ” is very broad. Some of the most commonly discussed factors for “for-profit” private sector internship programs are considered below.

It would seem that washing dishes and other menial tasks (which are only directed at you, and not other employees) are not directly benefiting you educationally. These would not seem like duties you are required to take on.

However, since you are being compensated for this internship, you might be asked to perform menial in-office tasks. It is therefore up to you to decide if you are maximising your potential from this internship. If you don't feel as though you are gaining useful experience from this facility, you have the choice to discuss it with your boss and/or leave for a different internship.

Anecdote: I was a paid software engineer intern multiple times, and I am currently a full-time software engineer. At one internship, I was asked to assemble office chairs whenever my boss purchased new ones for the office from the local office-supply store. I did not feel as though I was under-valued, or not gaining experience from this internship. It was just something I had to do from time to time (once or twice a month, ~1 hr to assemble two chairs). Most of my time was spent designing software, so it wasn't significantly sapping my chance to learn.

Answer 6

story - as a senior engineer, I was often the first person at work in the morning, due to my commute. The second was often the CEO of this 150+ headcount not-quite-a-startup-anymore company.

One morning I came in to discover the automatic coffee pot had gone haywire and was overflowing onto the floor. While trying to find the switch to turn it off, the CEO came in.

In a couple minutes we'd dealt with the immediate problem, but had maybe 30 gallons of dirty water on the floor.

The CEO sent me off to work at my desk, and got a mop and bucket.

Answer 7

Well I think it's never good to get exploited. When others push it on you just because they think this work is "beneath" them or they just don't want to do it (which you probably meant by using the word "push"), tell them or deny doing this, they HAVE to learn that you don't always say YES .......and that's really important. say no, but NOT (never) in a rude way, but let them clearly know that this is not okay.

But it's good that you've realized, that no work is beneath you. NEVER. And learn to do things when you see they have to be done (of course when there is nothing which is more important).

There are people who just push work on others or think a work is "beneath" them, and people who just do it. No matter what we're talking about. but again: don't get exploited by your colleagues.

It's not unprofessional to deny doing such work (if you know that the other person pushes it on you or you have to do much more important things). It's unprofessional of THEM to push it on you. But don't be harsh with them (I know you are not), what would you do if you know that a person always says yes ;)

Good luck! :)

Answer 8

1. I would say yes, you are there to learn about your field of study; that being said, there might be cultural factors at play here.

2. Talk to your manager and ask that a rotation be implemented (as suggested above).

3. I'm not sure, but among the larger companies that I worked for (each was 60+ people), I never had to make, nor clean up, coffee or other items. Having said that, if you are in a 10-person start-up, I would imagine this might be quite common.

Longer version:

Answers to this question will likely be dependent on cultural norms, but I've done 5 internships in Canada: 2 in high-tech, 2 in Science, and 1 in Government, and at none of them was I ever asked to make coffee, nor clean up after anyone.

If this internship is done through a university, then there might be someone there you can ask about these, but when I was doing my internships, I was specifically told ahead of time that I would NOT be bringing people coffee, I was expected to be doing actual engineering work. In fact, one of my high-tech jobs had me sorting boxes of cables, I chatted with the university and they arranged for me to switch to a new company.

Also, since I don't have the reputation required to comment, regarding DLS3141 comment that you switch up regular and decaf: DO NOT DO THIS. If you give someone regular when they want decaf, that can be extremely dangerous.

Answer 9

In my office there is a culture where anyone (at any level, cleaner to director) who gets up to make themselves a cup will offer to make for the whole office.

Maybe you could discuss with your manager about encouraging that kind of behaviour. Explain that you don't consider it degrading but you are simply concerned that the frequency of requests is affecting your work and it would be better if the task was distributed more fairly.

Answer 10

I think we should keep things simple.

Is not a matter of attitude. Is not a matter of building a reputation. Definitely is not about the work been menial or been beneath somebody. It's not any of that at all.

It's a matter of what your contract says about what kind of work you should be doing.If the contract says that you should make coffee or tea, or clean pots or whatsoever, then you should do it. If not, then is just a optional task that will exclusively depend on your good will to perform them.

Imagine a programmer who is asked to clean a bathroom at work. Could he do it? Sure, why not? Is part of his tasks as a programmer? No. And if he is forced or compelled in any way to do it, them this it's just wrong.

Now, about this being possible normal in tech industry. Well, it's not. Definitely not. In fact, in my country, it's even against the law. If someone is being compelled or forced to performe tasks that he was not contracted to do, them this violates not only the contract, but the law. If your manager need someone to make coffee, tea or clean anything, he should contract someone to do it. If the company can't afford it or just thinks that's not necessary, them they should ask for vonlunteers or promote some kind of team work to deal with those tasks.

And team work is my sugestion to you. You should suggest to your manager the creation of a schedule were everyone could help voluntarily with such tasks, and not only you, because it would be better and would prevent someone alone to be overloaded with tasks that he shouldn't be doing in first place.

Answer 11

This may not be the answer you're looking for. But can still be the real reason.

Not everyone brings the same amount of value to a company. So it would be rational for a company to have the menial, non work related tasks be done by the ones that bring least other value to a company.

Answer 12

No.

And importantly, even if you think it's unfair, you should do them anyway.

A huge, important part of any job (especially as an intern) is your attitude and your reputation.

---

Which intern do you think makes a better impression:

The one who is constantly unhappy about not being given "real" work. Who complains about the unfairness of how work is assigned. Who thinks that doing this stuff is somewhat beneath them.

OR

The intern who just Gets. Things. Done.