Millennial Barista Blasts Hillary for Not Paying Interns

AP Photo/Julio Cortez
AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Hillary Clinton talks incessantly about income inequality, but a former barista blasted her campaign on Tuesday for not paying her interns.

Writing in USA Today, Carolyn Osorio wrote that when “Hillary announced her second run for the White House, I felt my passion for politics reignite. I quickly applied for and was offered a position as a Hillary for America fellow to work on the campaign.”

She added that “I couldn’t have been more excited — until I was told I’d have to move to Nevada and work full time on my own dime.”

“I couldn’t believe my ears,” Osorio recalled. “I did not apply as a routine volunteer but as a fellow. Its application process with an elaborate screening and interview process was now revealed to be an ugly lie. If Hillary hopes to inspire young people, to prove she understands our interests she should offer substance to earn our votes.”

Aware of the image problems associated with Hillary Clinton’s tone-deaf remarks about being “dead broke” after leaving the White House, her family foundation’s scandals, and the hundreds of millions of dollars the Clintons have made from lavish speaking fees, the Clinton campaign is going out of its way–almost trying a bit too hard–to give off the impression of frugality as Team Hillary reportedly tries to amass at least $2 billion. Osorio said she hoped that a “trailblazer would be more willing to break the mold of indentured servitude that haunts my generation,” but “finding out that Hillary perpetuates the exploitation known as unpaid internships was like discovering that Santa wasn’t real.”

But she admits she probably should not have been shocked, given that Clinton worked in an Obama administration that “was cracking down on unpaid internships in the private sector” while “it continued not paying the 300 annual interns in the White House.” According to Osorio, “internships, once a prestigious foot-in-the-door experience, have increasingly been shown to be an abusive way for employers to gain free labor.”

“For a woman I supported to demand this of me felt repulsive,” Osorio continued.

It is also worth nothing that this isn’t the first time Clinton has been called out for her hypocrisy on income inequality and pay equity issues–her Senate office paid women 72 cents on the dollar compared to men.

“So, Hillary, I ask you to question your role in this exploitative system,” Osorio added. “My generation is in trouble. Young people today are put in the impossible position of trading their self-worth just to survive.”

But make no mistake, Osorio is still voting for Hillary and she acknowledged that doing so “might make me sound like a Stockholm syndrome victim, but after all of this, Hillary is still the best chance we have.”

“Hillary will get my free vote even if she will never have my free help,” she concluded.

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