Dealing with tough atmosphere as an intern

Probably will get roasted for posting this but any advice on what to do would be appreciated. After 2 years of working my ass off to get an internship, where I got rejected from many BBs and eventually got an offer at a smaller ATS company on their equities desk, I feel really defeated and distraught. Essentially, I am really enjoying my time for the past 5 days and have been learning tons and trying to take everything in and add value where I can without disturbing the daily workflow of the people on the desk. I sit on the trading desk and the people on it are more senior and have been really nice and helpful to me and have even said they want to, “pay it back”. Today my MD wanted me to sit with one of 2 people who are more behind the scenes, ensuring that the ATS has no issues. These people are more junior and younger, and they have seemed to get quite annoyed when asking for help or asking questions about what they do etc. I sent them a message, not wanting to disturb them from their workflow, that my MD wants me to sit with one of them and if that would be okay. They seemed nice and said of course and I thought nothing of it. Fast forward to end of the day I see on one of their screen while walking back on Bloomberg IB of them talking shit about me saying “like act your age” and that “I’m the worst”. This is really demoralizing to me because I was really enjoying coming to work and learning from everyone and now I feel like I should just sit at my desk, shut up, and wait for people to give me things to do.

Any advice would be appreciated thank you!

5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Oh my god - that's awful!!! I am so sorry. I would be devastated if I saw someone saying that about me. However, their comments reflect who they are rather than who you are. Don't let them & this experience affect your internship too much. SHAKE IT OFF ASAP and move on. You finally made it here after years of hard work. DO NOT let those posers ruin this for you. I will say though, maybe there is something you should change. You will have to reflect on that. Perhaps you need to tone it down a little or ask fewer questions or be more mindful of other people's time. I'm not sure exactly but you should certainly self-reflect and see if you need to adjust your behavior in any way. I wouldn't dramatically alter my behavior, but situations like this can be a good time for you to stop and think about how your actions impact others. Why are people responding to my behavior like this? Or what am I doing to make people react this way? Use this as a learning experience. You're doing something to get on their nerves, so just do less of that. Also, don't feel alone!!! I have been in situations like this before and I know I will be in them again! At the moment, I felt hurt and slighted, but I learned from it and used it to grow. Please do not start self-deprecating yourself. PLEASE. You are awesome and you are doing a great job! You're trying your best, and that's what counts. Sending you love!! Do a self-care night - go watch a movie, catch a sunset, or whatever brings you joy. And take some time to think of a few things you love about yourself! Best of luck!

 

Sounds like they are just unfriendly. Are there any other junior employees around? Also I trust you are being considerate but make sure you aren’t asking really basic things while they are busy. Totally fine to be friendly and say hi though... Those two sound unusually stand-offish if you’re just making polite small talk and asking questions like any intern would.

 

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