Your opinion on unpaid internships?

I was in a position in 2009 where I returned to school had enough money to get by so I volunteered with a local company to get experience in that field. Initially all I did was manual labour type crap, they used me to carry shit around & not much else. I kept to it watching & learning and being taught how to do various aspects of the job to the point where they were sending me and another out to do them. I was unlicensed volunteer doing the work for free.

After awhile about 3 weeks I learned everything I could in that aspect & asked about another part of the job. The owner said, no I need you doing what I was being used for.... essentially free installation & labour. Meanwhile he purchased himself a brand new acura SUV. So I asked about learning another aspect of the job and he declined saying he only wanted me for installs. I politely declined saying I've learned everything I need to know & would like to learn another part of the job. If he wants me to continue doing that he can start paying me.

He looked surprised at this & said he wouldn't & that he'd call my tradeschool & tell them I wasn't going to help anymore. I laughed at him and said ITS A FUCKING VOLUNTEER position you asshole, its optional. You're going to tell on me because I'm not volunteering my free fucking labour ? Go **** yourself.

I kind of want to do an unpaid internship now just so I can have my own cool bridge burning story.

That if someone is in a possition to work for free, no use complaining they are clearly in a position of privilege in the first place, cause otherwise they starve to death so whatever.

I'm looking for a few unpaid interns to clean my toilet. Compensation includes valuable experience, and a brand new toilet brush.

I don't like them. They're very biased in nature.

Poor people can't afford to do them because they require an income to live, while rich kids don't care because they have money and can do them without problem. Unfortunately, they're often needed as a stepping stone to getting better jobs, so the poor, and to some extent the middle class get left behind.

and the class divide gets bigger.