“Hey Bae Intern! <3”
The greeting above is exactly how Microsoft started its invitation for interns to an event set on July 11. Not exactly professional, but it’s easy to see how the Redmond, Washington tech giant was just trying to be cool.
Twitter user Patrick Burtchaell shared the email received by his friend:
While it’s not everyday that we find corporate giants addressing their employees like this, Microsoft’s invitation drew flak from netizens. For the next generation of employees, there’s always a fine line between cool and cringey. Sometimes, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
For the uninitiated, let’s define critical terms in the toe-curling email. “Bae” is often used as a shortened version of “baby” or “babe.” It is a term for endearment which may also stand for “before anyone else.”
“Hella” means “a lot of” and “noms” mean “food,” so we can bet that Microsoft meant “a lot of food” for “hella noms.”
On the other hand, “dranks” may not mean “drinks,” but rather, much “cough syrup.” Taken recreationally, it’s cough syrup specifically containing codeine and promethazine. Consuming this results to feelings of euphoria, though it is unlikely that Microsoft will actually be offering such.
Yammer is a social networking service for organizations, and beer pong is pretty much about itself. Finally, people “get lit” when they party.
Because it’s on Twitter, we get to see the stream of comments beholding a laughingstock.
“That’s cringeworthy, much like one of those videos of old white church leaders trying to rap about God.”
“I just cringed so hard I pulled a neck muscle.”
“It’s maybe the most embarrassing thing I’ve read. And I’ve read Ayn Rand.”
“No way that whoever wrote this was under fifty years old.”
“Sounds like they’ve determined that their company culture requires a share of young, uncoordinated, idiotic drunks.”
Internapalooza is an annual San Francisco event attended by around 3,000 future tech professionals. According to Business Insider, companies in the likes of Google and Facebook also use the event to recruit talent.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long before Microsoft responded over the controversial email, “The email was poorly worded and not in keeping with our values as a company. We are looking into how this occurred and will take appropriate steps to address it.”
