What's Wrong with my Intern?

I wanted to title this post "What's Wrong with People?" but really, that would be the headline for most of my posts, so instead of focusing on people, I'm focusing on my intern. What the hell is wrong with her?

My intern is 23, a little older than most interns. My office manager hoped her age would bring with it some maturity. Not so much.

So the intern, "Maria," is dating a 30 year-old. I think the age difference is a bit much, but whatever. A few weeks after she started working for us, she bounded into the office, all aglow with the excitment of a new present. What had the boyfriend gifted her with? A promise ring. After they'd been dating for only a month.

Now, I have several issues with this:
A) A promise ring? Really? Who does this at all in 2007? And who does this at 30?
B) After only a month? Really? What on earth are you promising after only a month? Hell, I've been with sandwiches longer than a month.
C) As a jewelry snob, I also had a problem with the ring itself. A silver ring with a cubic zirconia, it looked beyond cheap; in fact, it didn't even look like silver. The ring looked plastic, like one of those treats your mom lets you buy for a quarter from the supermarket.
D) Maria insisted on wearing the ring on her "engagement" finger, since this ring was certainly a predecessor to a greater, more official ring.

When Maria and I were talking about marraige, she was surprised to learn that I wasn't married or engaged. Then she was even more shocked at learning my age--she had thought I was unmarried at 25--at 30, it was truly horrifying.

This all happened a couple weeks ago. Why am I writing about it now? Because yesterday I noticed that Maria was wearing a new ring. When I asked her about it, she responded by saying, "the first ring wasn't real silver and started to rust my hand. So I called him on it and made him buy me a real ring." Indeed.