I don't know how to express it or explain it or ask for advice without further inserting my foot into my mouth. But, redacted.

Address the intern's behavior very specifically -- what she does, versus what is expected. You mentioned that a previous intern was "suspected" of having Asperger's. But absent a diagnosis, and with a pattern of 2 (not a huge pattern, but 2 makes it less random), I'm wondering how the intern position is described/advertised. Are these interns not adequately prepared for the position because they don't know fully what it entails?

I guess that might be step 1 -- how thoroughly was/is the position explained to prospective interns? If it's not explained thoroughly, it sounds like it's time to back up and explain the expectations of position to the intern.

If it was explained thoroughly, then you're back to just addressing her behavior, rather than trying to pin it on a diagnosis.

Also, assuming interns are people without (much) job experience, they may just have to learn how to have a job, which is what they are really there for, as much as to do the work you need doing. I hired a really smart young woman into her first office job, and she really needed to be taught how to be in an office, because she just didn't know.

I was already planning on having teak for dinner, but now I'm going to try tommyrot's salt 45 minutes before frying technique. I've never put a lot of effort into my steaks - a cheap cut indifferently cooked is still pretty tasty to me.

I seem to have signed up to donate platelets this Sunday. We'll see how that goes, I guess.

I was already planning on having teak for dinner, but now I'm going to try tommyrot's salt 45 minutes before frying technique. I've never put a lot of effort into my steaks - a cheap cut indifferently cooked is still pretty tasty to me.

Well, when your dinner is made of a hardwood like teak, the salt treatment may not make much difference.

A hardwood needs a good marinade. A little Murphy's and some Pledge to finish it off.

I could have sworn I saw that and fixed it! Maybe I just saw it and skipped the fixing part. Sigh.

Eta: no Pledge for me. Beeswax!

People say, Man, I wish life came with an instruction manual! I think I'll write one. All the things you say, dammit, why didn't anyone tell me that?! when you take a hit in RL for not knowing it. Like, how to behave on the job. How to dress for an interview. How to take basic care of your car. Not, how to change the oil, but, you have to get the oil changed every three months or your car will die. (I knew a woman who didn't own a car until she was 25, and she had NO IDEA at all how to care for it. She destroyed the engine by running it out of oil.)

My niece, the daughter of a DIY woman, knows not one thing about caring for a house or a car. She's always had everything done for her, and has never cared to learn anything practical, and now she has a house and doesn't even know that she needs to change the furnace filters, so her mom comes over and does everything for her. I know she's not the only kid who's become an adult with no idea how anything works.

But she doesn't need to know, if she has someone who will do it all for her.

But to be given explicit instructions, and stare at you with a blank face, and then when the instructions are restated, they say either "okay!" or "oh, you want me to do that Now?", especially when the instructions are "dump that pot into that green barrel" is a bit beyond the pale.

We're very very used to dealing with nubes. We work with non-gardening volunteers on a weekly basis. We've gotten quite used to all the foibles and quirks of people who have never done this sort of work before.

She "helped" us out during a corporate event, and after all instructions were given and everyone got to work, she turned to me and said "what do you want me to do?".

I've had twelve-year-olds who were more motivated and capable. She's going to be a freshman in college.

I don't know what to do with someone who, when given instruction, and is basically still working alongside me, fails to immediately start carrying out that instruction, or else asking for further clarification. If I say "dump the dead plant in the green barrel" and you put the green live plant in the blue barrel after puttering around for five minutes, something is wrong to me. And its not the typical slacker-kid syndrome or the newbie/never-gardened syndrome. I can't reconcile her seeming intelligence with her failure to engage when it comes to receiving instruction.

IRN, I still don't know how to be in an office, because I so rarely am. I've been doing this for over a decade and only have just recently learned office skills (my office six years ago was the copy room, which was sweet because I had direct access to the restroom, and I couldn't bear to share the office with three other staff in a glorified shotgun closet).