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You might think interning under a coal-hearted Elle editor would be totally fun—long days discussing the Hills really loudly in the office and verbally abusing "freelancer Caragh"! But you'd be so so wrong. Three weeks ago interns received an acerbic 5-point 710-word missive, sent from a BlackBerry! Look guys, Elle's Accessories editor Nina Sterghiou is a "big fan of rewarding people for good work, and giving them more responsibility + interesting tasks, but so far no one has proven themselves capable of handling the basics." And also, Merry Christmas, bitches!

Hi Guys,

There are a few really important things that I'd like to go over with all of you.

1. DON'T BE LATE
Interning at ELLE is an opportunity that a lot of people would kill for, and while it isn't paid, it is a chance for you to learn a lot about magazines and your role is actually crucial to the work that we do. When you interview and accept this job, part of that includes coming in 3 days a week and being ON TIME at 9am. This past week many of you have been very late and that has put us in a terrible situation. We are shooting almost every single day until Christmas and we have important things that need to be done right away in the morning.


2. DON'T LEAVE EARLY
I came back from my shoot today in the afternoon and there were no interns to check in anything and we had a TON of things that came in for 2 different run-thru. I know this seems like a tedious task but it is probably the MOST important thing in the accessories dept. If you have a job, or school, Alexis needs to know well in advance your schedule. If you had previously committed to a certain schedule for the semester, please try not to change it in the middle.

3.BE PROFESSIONAL
I know that the atmosphere in our office can be very casual and relaxed, but that is not an invitation for the interns to use bad language, talk back to editors or assts and discuss their personal lives and talk loudly. Sometimes I cannot hear anything on the phone because people are discussing the latest Hills episode really loudly. Be respectful of our workspace + environment and keep your voice down and be polite. Please also be courteous to our freelancer Caragh, treat her as an editor and offer to help her as well.

4.CLEANLINESS
Our office + closet are a MESS! Totally unacceptable. This is the interns responsibilty, it is your job, please take it seriously. I have never seen a closet in such an atrocious state. Don't leave bags of stuff lying around, this is how things get lost. There is always more cleaning to do. I don't understand why it is such a mess every single day, our office too. Sometimes I cannot even get in the door. This has to change right now. Please clean up the office and closet before you leave for the weekend. Use Nina Garcia's office + the fashion closet as an example. The fashion interns manage to keep those spaces spotless and it is embarassing that our interns cannot.

5. BE EFFICIENT
Any task that we ask you to do needs to be done quickly and accurately. Returns have been going way too slowly. It should not take you all day to DHL or Dynamex something. We are extremely busy and do not have time to wait for you take 10 min to find the camera or a post-it note. Figure it out! My camera can no longer be used as a check in camera. I have an extra camera and will set it up as a second intern camera. Anything Ellyn asks you to do should be a priority, but please also complete tasks before starting new ones.

I am a big fan of rewarding people for good work, and giving them more responsibilty + interesting tasks, but so far no one has proven themselves capable of handling the basics. I want this to be a learning experience for you but you also need to honor the commitment that you have made to us this semester. There are only a few weeks left so let's try to get it together and make this work. Feel free to ask us questions about the industry/business, but try to judge when it is an appropriate time to ask us about that, not when we are really busy. If you would like to talk to other editors about their experiences and how they got started, please ask their assts if they have time to meet with you.

Let's try to make a huge improvement for next week.

Thanks,
Nina

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile