Gates Bans Interns from House

Item: After a group of Microsoft interns drank too much and damaged Bill Gates’ property, interns are no longer invited to the Gates’ house.

General Information about Item:

  • Oral Folklore: urban legend
  • English
  • USA

Informant Data:

Afnan Enayet is a Dartmouth computer science major, in the class of 2019, from Richmond, Virginia.

Contextual Data:

During his time as a Microsoft intern, the informant heard this urban legend from other interns. No one knows exactly when this incident occured, who was involved, or if it even happened, nor can they agree on a definitive version of events, but they continue to tell new interns this story to explain why they are never invited to Bill Gates’ house despite their hard work. The informant believes the story to be true, especially because the interns frequently throw large parties where alcohol is served.

 

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Interns Banned from Gates’ House

Informant’s Comments:

The informant confirms that he has helped continue the spread of the urban legend, telling new and potential interns the story, both to entertain, and to show the growing party culture amongst programmers. The informant notes that despite common stereotypes, programmers are actually very social and enjoy parties, as evidenced in the urban legend. He believes this is due to the fact that programmers are getting younger and younger.

Collector’s Comments:

This urban legend can be categorized under both the stereotype and etiological headers. It reverses the common stereotype that programmers tend to avoid social gatherings and parties. It also explains the origins why interns are no longer invited to BIll Gates’ house.

Tags/Keywords:

urban legend, microsoft, bill gates, stereotypes

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