Getting fired from an internship?

Kind of funny (or sad) but does this happen? I'm talking about getting fired for "non-performance" reasons as an intern. Of course, if you do something crazy stupid then you're getting fired. I'm more so talking about things like messing up something in slides or just little things that you keeping making mistakes on. My friend just got "fired" (he was unpaid anyway) and is worried about how this will look going forward.

The firm he worked at was a little mom-and-pop shop run by the founder's son - no one would recognize it, but he's a sophomore and wanted some experience. I don't know what to tell him.

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Advice for your friend.... If you get "fired" from an internship (esp an unpaid one).... 

1. Just show that it ended on a resume, I mean, its a short-term temp job, what does getting "fired" even mean!

2. Just don't put it on the resume, who cares then!

Either way, no reason to take a downside. Just need to be sure if worth having a place on a resume or not. 

I think it is rare, but I know of one story of a guy who basically ignored a request from an MD to do certain work over a weekend as he had friends coming into town and wanted to go drinking. The MD asked where the work product was Monday morning, and he basically just said "um I didn't do it" and got fired on spot (was a big name national brokerage on a heavy hitting IS team). 

Still, most interns that suck just get to finish their time, do bullshit tasks, and move on with life. 

 

Haha that guy has balls. Yeah, his boss didn't need to fire him though, that was a douchebag thing to do. My friend didn't even suck that bad, was just slow in doing somethings because he had never done them. He was sobbing last night while talking to me on the phone, poor guy thought his life was over. 

 

So I don't really remember all the details of this story, it was from years ago, but in fairness to the MD, I think the intern's response was more dickish than just "um I didn't do it", but I don't want to quote further as I just can't remember (i.e. the intern def had a shitty attitude also). 

But, yeah, top dog IS brokers can be brutal, and he caught the wrong side of it. Still, if they can't be relied upon, would you trust them again? Break trust, and you are fucked. That is really the lesson. 

 

it's all good. I told him not to worry too much but he was literally sobbing, guy's a little awkward and is not at all good at dealing with confrontation or speaking up. 

 

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