Internship #16: Final Boss

Internship at a drain cleaning company is definitely a lot more interesting than it sounds. I learned a lot about working with a tight-knit group of people who are more than happy to welcome someone like me into their environment without a second thought. I learned a lot about working with people who could care less about my reasons for contacting them as an intern. I learned that a desk job is not what I want to be stuck doing for the rest of my life, but I definitely don't want to have to deal with toilets like that one pictured above. As you can see, I learned a lot. It really feels like I've grown through doing an internship outside of my comfort zone—in fact, in the complete opposite of my comfort zone.

Internship #14

Cara Johnson
Office Manager, Michigan Power Rodding
Ann Arbor Michigan

Interview Highlights:
Kyle: "What is different about working at a regular job as opposed to being a college student?"

Cara: "I think you feel a lot more responsibility...when you're in college, you might not want to get up and go to class and you could probably get away with that. But, as an adult with a family, you have people that rely on you. Even if you feel like you need that snooze bar, you can't do that because no one's going to do the work for you. You have to take the responsibility to come every day and do your job and do it to the best of your capability. Prove yourself, because in the long run the more you work, the more chances there are for advancement in your career."

K: "You said you were married...what does your husband do?"

C: "He is an airline pilot for U.S. airways, but he's currently furloughed so right now he's working for my brother's contracting company. He has a background in computers, and before he got his pilot license he was a computer programmer."

K: "So how would you say the recession has affected your job and work life in general?"

C: "My job here has been very steady (thankfully!), but Michigan Power Rodding has continued to do very well even though there's a sort of slowing down from what they were five years ago, which was just kind of the beginning of the economic slide. So my job hasn't been directly affected, but people around me have. If my husband had stayed with the company he was working for previous to flying, he would be out of a job because they are pretty close to being completely closed. A lot of the decline in customers here is directly related to the automotive decline, because most of Michigan's residents work in the auto industry, so when [these companies] leave people out of jobs, [the people] aren't calling us as much."

K: "So what are some of the day-to-day challenges you face when working with your colleagues?"

C: "Well, being a manager, one of the biggest challenges is keeping people motivated. Some of the tasks that the other girls do here are reptitive and can be pretty boring and if they're not motivated to do the work doesn't get done. And when you have to talk to someone about the work not getting done it's hard to do it in a manner that isn't angry with them to the point where they're not going to want to do it, but you still need to be firm enough to let them know that this does need to get done. I think dealing with the attitudes of people that just don't care can be really hard because you can tell them five times to do something, and then they don't so you have to write them up. When you use disciplinary action against them they get angry with you and I think that's one of the hardest things to deal with."

Internship #13

This is where the ideas happen. Each person brings something to the table that will be considered in the final product. This is exactly how my project was decided. The only difference is that I was with my mentor and the boss wasn't on the phone. But this is just one example of how things get done around here.

Here is the encouragement board. It's where the employees go to get a pick-me-up if they aren't feeling up to a task. This is also where my project will go when it is finished. I will post my findings up here for review and as a constant reminder of the work that I did for the company.

Here is my sanctuary*. This is where I work on everything. I make calls from here, enter data from here, collaborate from here and sometimes even eat lunch from here. It gets kind of lonesome, but there's plenty of energy and excitement in the office so it's never boring.

*desk

Internship #12

Personally, I only work with a couple of people: myself and my mentor. Most of what I do is self-directed so I don't need a lot of outside input on the project, which means I'm left to work how I see fit. However, I am constantly on the phone with people outside of the workplace to try and get information that I can use for my project. In this way, the entire company is indirectly affected by my work! Advertising brings mucho dinero, and I'm the one who makes it happen. I'm calling people to get their business, they're sending me information and I'm putting it all together in one cohesive and coherent project. The employees here can then use this project to get an idea of where to go next. They will design relevant ads and release them to companies that seem lucrative. This affects the community as well as the company. The community sees the ads and calls Michigan Power Rodding, which leads to more business, and, ultimately, more money. Since these people are not working for or with the company, it's an indirect relationship.

Internship #11

My week was very productive. I'm about halfway through my project and have a great basis for an interview (as in, there are plenty of other follow-up questions I can ask this coming week). There weren't many challenges this week. Everything went very smoothly, and I next week should gothe same way if I continue to work hard like I have been.

Internship #9

My mentor is the dispatch manager for the company, and works with all of the accounting aspects of management. Her name is Cara Johnson, and she graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2003. She grew up in Hudson, Michigan, which is a very small town south of Ann Arbor and east of bigger town Adrian. Cara worked at a department store previously, before taking her second job at Michigan Power Rodding, where she's been working since 2007. At her current position, Cara has been working for one year.

Her husband was an airline pilot before the recession, and she has one 6-year old daughter.

Internship #8

Many of the people in this company are very self-disciplined and determined. I say determined because they try to do their best job at all times, no matter what happens. Part of this organization's commitment is to giving the customer the best experience possible for a reasonable price. Because Michigan Power Rodding charges more for their service, they put more effort into it. I really admire the fact that the employees are hard-working and motivated to perform well because sometimes I feel like I don't work hard enough or fall short of other peoples' standards and that I just get lazy for no reason. Working with these self-motivated individuals will hopefully be beneficial to my own outlook on work and responsibility.