To work... or not to work

The night before my first day of work, I ironed my new dress pants and a nice shirt, straightened my hair to save time in the morning, already packed my bag again to save time, and I slept promptly at 12am to get good 8 hours of sleep. Ofcourse it took me an hour to kill the excitement and doze off. The first time my enthusiasm died at work was when another girl was sitting in the wait room. She too was here for her orientation. Upon reluctantly replying to her happy gestures, I found out she was hired for some other position, and she was a very fresh highschool graduate due to begin University in September. It annoyed me because here I was a B.A in Bioethics going on to Law school getting paid $13 an hour for a research position knowing Miss Chirpy is getting the same thing. I have alot of unemployed friends with graduate degrees in health sciences desperate for jobs and other unemployed professionals are just sulking around. I wonder why they picked her. I feel bad too, poor kid didnt do anything to deserve this, I blame those who hired her. Im sure shes great at her work, but when I see people my age and older than me, much more deserving, it annoys me to see such callousness at work places.
Any how, my orientation lasted less than 5 minutes. I was shown where the 2 washrooms are, where the kitchen is, and finally where I will be sitting. I wasnt introduced to any of the staff members. If anyone has visited this healthcare building, its basically an old church converted into offices. So when you enter, there are built in offices on either sides of the walls with a huge hall in the centre. Since most the staff is administrative, there is a total of maybe ten people working at the same time. Everyone has their own room. Noone gets out of it, except to get food, coffee, water or photocopies.
So finally my hiring manager brought my to my room. It was a pretty decent sized room with 4 desks and 4 office chairs. There was one dell laptop sitting all ready to be switched on. She told me I can get a keyboard if I want, but I'm used to a laptop so I didnt care. Then it happened. She handed me a thick pile of reading material, told me to get aquainted with the organization, and left. It was only 930am. I was going to sit there till 5pm, pretend to read the pile and get paid hourly for reading. I realised then what I had gotten myself into. This would be the story of the next three months.
As time passed by, I learnt to make coffee for myself with the oldest coffee maker there existed, I started to switch on the a.c in my room because it got stuffy. I began using the half n half cream in the fridge, because I realised its provided by the office for employees, its to share! I realised my boss is a very big perfectionist and my opinions hold no value to hers. I realised to cc the whole world what I am writing to one person even if concerns noone else. I realised if I go out for cofee or lunch people can come spy on me a few times and email me that i've gone missing (thank god for blackberries!).
Since I have noone to talk to, my mother would call me every few hours hours, then my father would call me. One day I was on the verge of loosing it. My boss and hiring manager, who are literally 4 steps from my office emailed me six times a day asking for petty details. "Could you see this?" "Can you send this?" "Can you cc it to everyone" "Can we meet on Thursday instead of Friday" "Can you please confirm". Amidst this electronic mode of communication I was so desperate for human contact that I approached one of the ladies in the H.R finance department. I saw her a few weeks back laughing. The only one of her kind. I knew I could talk to her. I almost broke down in her office. I told her I couldnt handle it, and the atmosphere is hauntingly unfriendly. I dont feel respected, appreciated or acknowledged. Its soo awkward with everyone. She shared the secret of isolating herself from this place and how she remains positive. She has been working here long enough to know the nature of her co-workers and deal with them. She doesnt speak to anyone unneccesarily, keeps to herself, and goes home to an amazing husband. On weekends, they go to Baltimore sometimes to see a soccer match. She is truly an amazing woman, and if it wasnt for her, i'd have a nervous breakdown ages ago.
Now, three months have passed at this internship. I dont want a recomendation letter, I dont want respect or acknowledgment. I just want out. I realised that I am only 21, and I am glad I had this experience. It made me realise that I can never work in an isolated environment. Secondly, I can never do something I dont enjoy. I need to be motivated, creatively challenged in order to perform to my best abilities.
Friends and family find me ungreatful and lacking professionalism. I agree that maybe I need to suck it up a little and accept that in life nothing is achieved without scrubbing the floor a little. But I also believe that each experience teaches you alot about your future prospects. Its not all about getting a job. Yes money is important. I agree. But I was happier at a lower paying job at a library where I knew my colleagues, we spoke, had a rapport with the patrons and I actually dressed up for work! Right now, all I can think of is a nap when I go home,and laundry, because im going to wear black sweats to work tomorrow. Why? Because they are comfortable to sit in for 8 hours a day. I'd dress up, but noone does, and noone cares, so why spend time on yourself to sit in a room all day long.