Aaron Michaelson

My first insane employment experience I was hired as a paid intern / junior designer while still actually in design school. Considering the year that I was brought in, it would have been difficult for a Jr. designer to have accumulated super-deep PSD skills, as very few people really had them yet. Mine were way above average, but still, I was very new to the game. The two senior designers I worked with were absolutely seasoned, key art industry pros. I was learning from them, and they were kind enough to mentor me. I was learning a ton. But the mgmt had very unreasonably high expectations on speed and turnaround for everyone. Had absolutely no interest in trying to develop someone into what he/they required. As the weeks went on, I guess my distaste for how he was treating me finally began to show on my face. He didn't have the guts to dismiss me himself. He had his business partner do it. It then became obvious that they only hired us junior d's on a deliberately temporary basis. That way they could treat us with little respect and have us fetch stuff for them. Our job was to keep the senior designers equipped with sub-ideas, photo props, further development of "main ideas" etc. Serfs. How do I know this? My desk was up near the front, and it was typically my job to answer the phone and say "Concept". In this desk, I found the left-behind evidence of a very long line of previous Jr. designers. We were apparently the "designated dirt". That was our job. To go fetch stuff, try designing a little, and to answer the phone. Oh yeah, and that free lunch? You are expected to sit and eat it, every day. Even if you'd like to go out and join a friend for lunch, mgr takes it personally if you dare to not eat with the team. Everyone is on pins and needles with the guy at all times.