the parrot intern

And so, an intern came to my company. Since I am the newest guy around in the section, ie The Expendable whose absence won't impede the daily operation, I was tasked to take charge of this intern.

This intern is studying mechanical engineering in this university in the Southern Hemisphere. I happen to have bad experience with people who happened to be from that university. This guy proved to be equally moronic.

The first thing when our boss met him in the meeting room, the intern said "let's just be casual, I don't like to be formal" WTF! Who do you think you are to say that? George eff-ing W Bush? Even us permanent staffs dare not talk to our boss this way (of course, cos our boss decides our bonuses). He claimed to have worked in different industries, takes part in toastmasters, teach people on public speaking, etc etc.

And he has this habit of repeating what other people are saying. Before you end your sentence, that is. I was quite irritated, and so I decided to react accordingly. I stopped at mid-sentence just as he was about to copy me word for word, and I asked him "so how?", "and then?", "you were saying?" Completing the sentence is not easy when you are talking about technical stuff. You know it, or you don't. Was I hiding my smirk?

Since he was so proud of his goodself (and apparently, his university), I thought I could talk intellectual stuff with him. I asked if he knows about the ideal gas law. He said yes. So I asked what is the ideal gas equation. *silence* I rubbed it in. Isn't that fundamental? He claimed he has worked in many industries, including semiconductor and blah blah blah, so I asked him, have you seen a production line? *silence*

Notwithstanding his lack of EQ, he served as a good reminder for me not to be full of myself. Since you think you know it all, people won't want to pass you anymore knowledge. In the end you are the one losing out.