I am in california btw.
My school has a thing where, for the last three weeks of senior year, we are supposed to work on a project outside of the classroom to get a new experience/gain a skill. The criteria is 20 hours a week and 60 hours total and we are explicitly not allowed to get paid for it to count. This project is mandatory to graduate and our advisors made a big deal about how we won't be able to walk for the graduation ceremony or get a diploma without it.
A lot of my friends did more professional things (shadowing a doctor, interning at a marketing firm, etc.) but I wanted to do something more laid back so I decided to intern at a local yarn store because I really like to knit.
I wasn't explicit about my intensions with the internship so that was my fault, but I thought it would be more of an educational experience where I could see the workings of a small business and potentially they could teach me some new knitting skills.
I have worked their for five days now (11am-5pm) and they literally had me sitting in a chair and tying yarn the entire time. I am not exaggerating: I get there at 11am and they present me with a big cardboard box full of skeins of yarn to tie, I do that until my lunch around 1pm, and then I return to the yarn until I leave at 5pm.
Yesterday, after an hour or two, I asked the owners of the yarn store if I could do a different task bc hands were hurting and they let me package orders with to be shipped for a bit, but after lunch they wanted me to go back to the yarn tying and the yarn tying is also what I did today.
I talked to my friends about their internships and they are having a great time and aren't actually doing all that much work, really just learning about their respective fields. My friends also made a big deal about how I am being exploited and were joking about reporting the yarn store to the US labor department.
I'm not enjoying my internship at all and low key do think I'm being exploited, but I'm not sure what to do about it. If I quit, I literally will not graduate. My school says that the 60 hours have to be over a singular project so I can't switch or anything.
I feel like the only thing that I can do is suck it up and tie yarn for two more weeks, but I was wondering if you have any advice?
Thanks sm!