Kids These Days

Dear Lazy High School Senior,

When your teacher told you to write an essay about a career you're interested in, and was nice enough to say, "Hey, I know someone who's associated with the field you want to write about and here's her email address" she did not give you a free pass to turn off your brain.

When the person you contacted said, "This is not my subspecialty, but you should talk to ____ and ______, and here's some really detailed career advice," you should probably respond with a "Thank you."

Also, if you send your contact a second email asking if you can job shadow her and she explains she can't because she's just a student writing her thesis, and reiterates that she's not even studying your subspecialty of interest, you should listen carefully.

This is because when you send your contact a third email asking her to fill out a questionnaire about the subspecialty she's not in, you look like an idiot.

By the way, telling your contact to "Do this ASAP because I need to turn it in at school tomorrow" will not elicit any sympathy.

Sincerely,
Snark