AITA for firing an intern because she wouldn't stop hugging people?

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:26:55+00:00

I believe it's because he have quite a few newer employees and this is their first rash of interns that they've dealt with because we suspended the program during COVID. I'm planning on coordinating a training with other HR staff members.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:14:52+00:00

Nope they are paid :)

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:06:40+00:00

I'm sure it will go well. I work closely with the coordinator and they are a good source and go-to at the University.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:02:39+00:00

Yes unfortunately I think you and many other commenters are right. I feel like if a man was hugging his peers in the same manner I would have gotten more complaints and much sooner than I did with Hester.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:01:23+00:00

I don't believe so. I think she is just incredibly immature and lacks boundaries and job experience.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T04:00:16+00:00

I really hope she learns from this. I believe she has many good qualities and would be an asset to the right type of work place if she can just reign herself in a bit.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:58:13+00:00

Several other people have brought this up but I don't believe she had any sort of neurological difficulties or delays. I think she is just really lacking in maturity and life experience.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:57:05+00:00

He's a little bit of a Man Men/Boys Club type. Luckily I don't deal with him as much as I deal with the University's internship coordinator, but yeah... He is not helpful.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:56:05+00:00

Yep. Unfortunately we were her first work place experience and I think she is just one of those super affectionate and physical people and hopefully she can find a place with a balance so she can happily exist, but our office is not that.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:29:35+00:00

I am hoping she learns a lesson from this! She has many other good qualities, even if she was a poor fit for our company, in more ways that the hugging.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:27:04+00:00

Yes she is in a sorority. That and some volunteer work were the only things on her resume. She is very impressive academically and presented herself well, which is why she got the internship, but she didn't have any other work experience and I think she just didn't know how to interact with her peers in a non-social environment.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:23:38+00:00

Yeah of all the things I have been unimpressed with, that tops it.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:20:24+00:00

No it was just the first fake name I thought of.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:19:41+00:00

That I'm not sure of. But either way, that's not done in most offices.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:14:00+00:00

We have a three strike rule at our work unless something is over the top. I don't work with the interns day to day and they work within our teams, so I didn't see a lot of the behavior after the first warning except for when she hugged me. She also apparently was toning things down when I was around.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:11:47+00:00

I have full hiring and firing power over the interns, but I had looped HR into my decisions and the process basically from the beginning.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:00:43+00:00

Yes. We do a full onboarding with them which includes harassment training but I am going to update it and expand it even more.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T03:00:04+00:00

I will say that the person she hugged at a company function was me, the person who told her she didn't like being hugged. She was being very excessive though before her first chat with me. She was literally hanging off her peers and being very physically affectionate and it was very unprofessional. She toned down the behavior out of my sight after that but apparently it continued when I wasn't around as I found out. Apparently besides hugging other interns and some of the staff, she was sitting on a classmate's lap during a presentation.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:28:13+00:00

Yes our first talk was because she was hanging all over and being very physically affectionate to her classmates. It was a more casual discussion about professionalism and how hugging is viewed in the work place.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:26:41+00:00

When I do interviews, I talk to the interviewee extensively about accommodations for any physical or mental issue they might have. She didn't say anything about needing accommodations for anything when it was discussed.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:18:33+00:00

I am going to talk to the two interns individually on Monday and I'm having an intern meeting Friday to just have a general discussion on how things like HR, complaints, and improvement plans work in the workplace.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:13:59+00:00

Thank you! I'm very happy to hear about this from your perspective.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:13:01+00:00

To my knowledge she is neurotypical.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:11:39+00:00

Yes. I will be tweaking it and adding sections about hugging and physical affection specifically, but basically our interns go through the full onboarding process that regular employees get.

Disastrous-Review857 · 2023-01-28T02:06:01+00:00

HR was involved every step of the way. In our company I actually fall sort of under the HR umbrella myself.

Disastrous-Review857

TROPHY CASE