Internship Joys

Random House Children's Books has won my heart and soul. Today the head guy of the division, Chip, held what he calls a "randomizer", an hour-long informal chat session in his office with a "random" bunch of people, who today happened to be all the Children's interns plus the CEO himself, Peter Olson, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.

The first thing I see when I walk in at 4 in the afternoon is an assortment of beer and wine and Malibu bottles on this guy's desk, gleaming like beacons of hope amid a messy pile of paper and picture books. Chip asks me what I would like to drink; could he interest me in some sparkling white wine? OH hellz yeah... I mean, That would be great, thanks.

So we start chatting and all the interns are a little light-headed from the wine; Chip and Peter start bashing Disney and Mattel for being idiotic partners. Then they bash law, i-banking, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, among other things...but somehow everything sounds pretty inspirational. We laugh nervously, at times wholeheartedly. Peter looks so chilled out I want to joke around with him, but think better of it.

At 5:03pm, Chip ushers us out the door while we thank him and Peter profusely. Chip urges us to keep the two opened bottles of wine and divide it amongst ourselves. We are stunned and suddenly shy, and hand the two bottles over to the only male intern-- but only after I pour myself another cup of wine.

This is only one example, but it gives you an idea of how chill these people are while being serious about their work. No wonder people LOVE working here and especially in this division. We are having a 'high school graduation' themed party next week in the cafeteria (alcohol aplenty, I am informed), and we'll spend next Friday morning in a cinema watching a free screening of Ratatouille. Yeah, it's no 10K bonus, but it's really the little things that make the whole experience fun and worthwhile.

Or so I keep telling myself.

But good Lord, if ever I had any doubt about this place, these things have convinced me that I've found my professional home. -- If I decide to go into publishing.

As an added bonus to the day, a bunch of us interns went to Rudy's Bar and Grill after work for happy hour, consisting of dirt-cheap beer, free hot dogs, and good conversation. Did I mention free hot dogs?

Maybe these really are the best of times.