Lower Rung.

Part 31 of the “Occupational Hazards” Story Arc.

Drawing Autumn is fun.

I’m switching back to the main story: Chris’ search for a job (and trust me, his quest is pretty appropriate for my current occupational situation). His statement of “5 years” is a reference to when I last released a comic. Anyway, like all aspiring professionals, I’ve experienced the internship path both as an intern and as someone who had them as minions. Both scenarios in today’s comic — where you either do a ton of actual work or none at all — are pretty accurate. There was one time I held an unpaid internship and a low-paying job at the same time, and I had to reduce my work hours; I figured the internship will lead me somewhere or at least give me some kind of learning experience. Nope. For a week and a half, my supervisors gave me absolutely no work or any mentorship, and instead of sitting at a desk looking at YouTube videos, I just quit and returned full-time to my job. Now at my last job, I actually had (paid) interns to command and do as I please. Of course, I didn’t whip them physically but asked them to help in production work. Needless to say, interns are the un-and-underpaid backbone of our society.