All By Myself

Good news: the other intern at my magazine is no longer working there. Bad news: the other intern at my magazine is no longer working there. This is good news because now I have plenty to do, not because I didn’t like her. However, this is very bad news because this week I’ve had too many phone calls to make, too many meetings to attend, and too many events to fit into one day!

The magazine has a pretty small staff, so when the other intern and I were both there we didn’t always have a lot to do. The editors would evenly split tasks and events to go to between us, but most of the time we sat by our computers and watched movies online (not good, I know). Most of you probably hear stories about interns being sent to pick up dry cleaning and fetch coffee — I would have loved to have been asked to do that!

Now the other intern has left for medical reasons, so I’m assigned everything. I’m pretty much busy from the moment I step into the office until I leave. There are some days where I have the perfect amount of work — I make phone calls, send e-mails, go to an event and a meeting, and my day is over. Other days are completely insane. Has anyone else noticed that Wednesdays are the busiest day of the week? This past Wednesday I was supposed to go to four events, have two meetings, and make a bunch of follow-up phone calls. Luckily, my supervising editor noticed how stressed I was beginning to get and talked to me about scheduling. She explained that I’m an intern for the whole staff, not just for the editor that wanted me to attend four events for her. After our talk, I realized that I could really only go to two of the events and was able to find people to cover the other ones.

Even though it’s difficult being the sole intern, I love knowing that everything I do matters. I used to have a huge yet completely irrational fear of making phone calls, but now I force myself to do them because I know that the editor needs that information. It turns out that phone calls aren’t so bad! And they’re better for harassing people when you’re on deadline. I never feel like I’m missing out on working on an interesting article or going to a cool event because I get to do it all! I’d also much rather be busy doing actual work instead of being tempted to check my Facebook or watch an episode of a TV show. I’m being exposed to a lot more as the only intern, but I do think that there is too much for one person to do. My supervising editor mentioned that she might hire another intern, so I will keep you updated on what happens with that! Until then, I’ll be the red-faced, sweaty intern power walking down the street as I’m sent all around New York City.

Busily yours,
Lifestyle Intern