Communication for the setting of my new internship is wonderful. I emailed my supervisor to get a formal recognition of my cancelled internship, but he was able to find a way to reinstate it. As discussed by “Digital workplace and culture: How digital technologies are changing the workforce and how enterprises can adapt and evolve,” moving to online work is more accessible now than ever. We emailed for a bit and he sent me a 12-page paper to edit for English. On Monday, we finally had our first call since my return to the US to discuss options for work and the tasks for the week. I was able to attend a webinar about the COVID-19 infodemic and the war on truth during this crisis. He has also asked me to write a sort of personal statement on the current state of the US, the differences of public response to the crisis, and how different companies are stepping up to help.
My relationship with my supervisor and coworkers was steadily strengthening ever day I was in the office. If I had just a few more weeks, I would feel comfortable considering some of them friends. They all wished me a happy birthday on Sunday and told my supervisor to get a good report on how I was doing for the phone call. Even though we cannot meet face-to-face anytime soon, I still consider my relationship with my supervisor as relatively close. Despite the reputation of most Czechs, Petr is very chatty and we both had a reputation of getting into conversation for a substantial period. He loves to talk, and he made it clear that he is looking forward to our next call. Originally, our call was just over voice – he did not want to intrude on my personal space. However, I assured him that a video call may create a better connection for our extroverted personalities, so we decided to switch to video for our weekly Monday meetings from now on.
I have tried not to approach this situation with any expectations. There is too much ambiguity in the current state of the world to make any assumptions about what I should be doing and what I expect to work on. According to “Nine Steps to Effective Business Problem Solving,” we had to roll with the punches and work with things that were out of our control. However, after discussing with the other interns last week, I realized that I am actually quite lucky to be in the position I am in with my internship. Petr is very responsive and has given me a lot of work to do – which does not seem to be the case for most of the class. Since the whole world (except maybe a few countries for political reasons) seems to be in the same position, the opportunity for differences in work techniques is not as present.
Life here has become to feel normal. I have left the house twice – once for Chick-fil-a and once for a doctor’s appointment (they were not seeing COVID-19 patients). I went to HEB on the way home from the doctor and it was not near as hectic as I expected. Yet, there is one extremely valuable product at the moment: toilet paper. This country does not seem to understand that we will continue to have grocery stores open through this process and people are hoarding the stuff. For those of us who keep a regular amount; to run low is to nearly descend into chaos.
I usually work as a legal intern/assistant in Houston and have offered to do remote work for the firm just to get some income going, but they have not responded. I have a feeling that things are slow for the moment, but in the event that times are too tough to hire an assistant, I am considering working at Target or Kroger just to make some money.
Kenadie's Internship Experience 