I’d like to know your thoughts on a situation, that albeit happened a while ago, may affect me.
Last summer, I received an offer for an unpaid internship at a local firm. I interviewed Wendesday, got the offer on a Friday and accepted, to start that Monday. However, Monday in the middle of the night I got really bad food posoining and was pretty sick, and I definitely couldn’t start for at least a few days. So I had to email the boss and say I was too sick to start and I didn’t know when I would be able to start, so rather than extending my start date without knowing when I would be better to make the commute and start my internship, said that I would better off decline the offer so they could move forward with other candidates who could start earlier.
The next day, he emailed me calling me “a load of trouble” and was upset at me because he had also agreed to pay my train expenses back and forth. I had a knee-jerk reaction and said that I was sorry to have to do this but it was unprofessional of him to call me that when I was just purely not physically well. We had some back and forth where he was really mad and threatened to contact my references, and I was just devastated and didn’t know what to do.
I haven’t had anyone from my career center contact me about this since then, so I guess he didn’t complain. But I want to know what you guys think about this whole thing. How much of the wrong was I in?
I don’t understand why you quit. Most food poisoning cases will get better in a couple of days.
I agree with @roethlisburger. Why not ask to start that Wednesday instead? It sounds like the hiring partner (or office manager) thought about seeking restitution for the train fare but the firm probably hadn’t actually paid out anything for the fare yet (is that right?)
While it may have been “unprofessional” for him to call and argue with you, it is understandable that he is annoyed and notifies your references and career office. He may have passed on other candidates in reliance of your acceptance, and now needs to begin the hiring process again.
The unpaid status doesn’t mean you wouldn’t benefit from the arrangement (resume credentials or just the value of the train fare). While I’m sad to see so many young people commit to unpaid labor in the hopes of future paid jobs that doesn’t make this one wholly gratuitous and something to take less seriously.