Intern forced to come in office when no one else does

General Advice

Hi all! I'm a recent student doing a temporary internship at a new office right now. The team is very small, my boss (ceo), me, and 2-3 other people (I'm not even sure if they're volunteers or employees). I know that I personally have to come into the office 3 days a week, but upon coming in for a few weeks .... I've realized that I'm usually the only person who comes in. My boss will sometimes swing by, but she often shows up 2 hours late and then leaves 2 hours early to pick up her children. I haven't seen a single other person in the team. We have mandatory in-person days, but no one else shows up but me. Not even my boss.

I'm wondering if it's even worth coming in at this point. Everything can be done online and we barely have meetings in the first place. My commute is 2 hours one-way on a good day, and it feels like such a waste of time to drive 4 hours a day to sit in an empty shabby office alone for 7 hours.

Is it worth bringing up to my boss? I don't want to sound like an ungrateful student trying to bend the rules so early on, but I really don't see any benefits of me coming in. I'd be happy if the mandatory days can even be reduced to 2. If yes, how long should I wait before asking?

Posted Sep 11, 2025, 5:02 PM UTC

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