This Actually Happened

princessleia22 · July 2015

Not long ago I conducted an interview. The guy showed up 10 minutes late, wearing a graphic t-shirt and jeans (this is a professional office). He didn't bring a copy of his resume or any examples of work (which is typical to bring in my industry). The first words out of his mouth (before even saying hello or anything) were that he just ruined his phone because he was up all night playing video games and didn't realize that putting your phone near the gaming system can erase your phone memory... so when we call him with a job offer, we need to e-mail him instead of calling him. Also, we were hiring for full time position, but he wanted to work only 2 days a week, part-time, so he didn't need to quit his other job. Needless to say, we didn't call him (or e-mail him).

[Deleted User] · July 2015

I've had some crazy responses to just our declination email (for people who are just 100% unqualified for the role). One recently told another recruiter that he was going to come blow up all the recruiters cars because he couldn't get a job with us and kept getting rejection emails. Looked the dude up and he had zero applicable experience, one of the worst resumes ever, and literally applied to like 50 different roles Another sent some really scary emails to a peer of mine, threatened her multiple times, called her a whore and other terrible names. Laywers had to send a cease and desist letter to him and blocked his email/IP address. I had another one claim he didn't get the job (even though he KNEW he was the most qualified applicant) because the hiring manager did a google search on him (not sure how he would even know if they did) and in general recruiters use social networks to discriminate against candidates and he was joining a class action lawsuit against us... good luck with that one buddy. ETA where are my damn paragraphs?

AprilH81 · July 2015

AlisonM23 said:

I've had some crazy responses to just our declination email (for people who are just 100% unqualified for the role). One recently told another recruiter that he was going to come blow up all the recruiters cars because he couldn't get a job with us and kept getting rejection emails. Looked the dude up and he had zero applicable experience, one of the worst resumes ever, and literally applied to like 50 different roles Another sent some really scary emails to a peer of mine, threatened her multiple times, called her a whore and other terrible names. Laywers had to send a cease and desist letter to him and blocked his email/IP address. I had another one claim he didn't get the job (even though he KNEW he was the most qualified applicant) because the hiring manager did a google search on him (not sure how he would even know if they did) and in general recruiters use social networks to discriminate against candidates and he was joining a class action lawsuit against us... good luck with that one buddy.

I'm sorry I went too far. Please accept my apology.

[Deleted User] · July 2015

@AprilH81 hahaha! How is your job search going by the way?

AprilH81 · July 2015

AlisonM23 said:

@AprilH81 hahaha! How is your job search going by the way?

Job search is over! I have been back to work for two weeks now. It is a 6-8 month contract (not ideal) but the pay is excellent and there is a chance I could get hired on full time. Thanks again for all of your help!

thespeshulestsnowflake · July 2015

adk19 said:

beachyone15 said:

ShesSoCold said:

I once had someone insist - repeatedly - that I conduct a phone interview on an evening or weekend.

...perhaps it was the same poster who came on TK that was clueless as to why she couldn't ask her interviewer for a weekend interview.

I was thinking the same thing! "But lots of people work on weekends! Why can't I be interviewed on the weekend??? I'll be working on weekends, so it makes sense, right?"

"Is this business open on the weekends?"

"No, but other places are..."

[Deleted User] · July 2015

I've received Glamour Shots and head shots mixed in with resumes before. Those were entertaining.

YogaSandy · July 2015

ibarfburlapandlace said:
Nothing to do with interviews but when I talked to someone at one of my prospected venues she said" yes we even have salmon for you know, vegetarians." I tried so hard not to laugh but I did give her my biggest grin.

I went to a national conference in high school. I IDed as vegetarian. My pass had the vegetarian sticker on it. The first night's vegetarian alternative - salmon. I get some veg eat fish, but to assume all do? (And I don't agree with the classification of vegetarian for fish eaters. There's nothing wrong with only eating fish, I just feel it needs a different title)

AprilH81 · July 2015

YogaSandy said:

Nothing to do with interviews but when I talked to someone at one of my prospected venues she said" yes we even have salmon for you know, vegetarians." I tried so hard not to laugh but I did give her my biggest grin.
I went to a national conference in high school. I IDed as vegetarian. My pass had the vegetarian sticker on it. The first night's vegetarian alternative - salmon. I get some veg eat fish, but to assume all do? (And I don't agree with the classification of vegetarian for fish eaters. There's nothing wrong with only eating fish, I just feel it needs a different title)

There is... Pescatarian.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226 · July 2015

When I was an RA in college we had interviews for the following year and I interviewed a girl who seemed so sweet until she opened her mouth and said "Living in the city has opened me up to many new things. I no longer get sick to my stomach when I see homosexuals."

She did not get hired.

teddygirl9 · July 2015

I'm not in the business of hiring, more so of firing.

The most interesting one ive HEARD of (did not participate) was this older asian lady. Been with the company for almost 10 years. Another employee saw her stuffing something into her pants and thought it was weird, let someone know. They started watching her. Every shift, multiple times, she would put something in her pants, go out to her car (smoke break sorta thing) and come back. No one ever thought anything of it. Eventually they had enough to arrest her. When they spoke with her, she admited to stealing ALOT over the past while, so they asked for the merch back. She said they'd have to come to her house to pick it up. When they went, they found over $100k of stolen merch from the company, all folded and stored nicely. She was like a klepto hoarder, you couldn't walk through the house without tripping over merch. All had the tags on it. They couldn't recover most of it because it was musty and older though. I saw the photos/video and they were ca-razy.

loveislouder · July 2015

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

luckya23 · July 2015

loveislouder said:
Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

Your workplace sounds like a mess!
How's your search going?

[Deleted User] · July 2015

So today, an agency I'm working with to place a candidate tells me the candidate can interview at 5pm on Friday. Cool- I set it up and everyone accepts. I get an email 5 min ago saying her (candidate's) work place is an hour away from our location and she might be a half hour late- should she just call the number to give them a heads up if that happens?

Say what?

No. You don't PLAN to be late. You set a start time you can make. WTF people?!

[Deleted User] · July 2015

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

loveislouder · July 2015

luckya23 said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."
Your workplace sounds like a mess! How's your search going?

Not as well as I'd like. I got bossman to give me a pretty significant raise while I continue my search. I told him I couldn't afford to live off what I was making and he panicked and said "Please don't leave. I don't want to hire anyone else!" So I feel like I have the upper hand right now. I'm still sending out a ton of resumes though. I've included part time jobs in my search now. If I can take on 2 part times vs one full time at least I'm still getting enough hours.

loveislouder · July 2015

FeeleyToBe said:

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

I get that type of shit all the time, honestly. I've stopped letting it bother me. Like, one time I was at a restaurant and someone told the waitress they didn't want to sit by me because "fat people eat sloppy and she will ruin my appetite" Like what?

flbride2015 · July 2015

loveislouder said:

FeeleyToBe said:

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

I get that type of shit all the time, honestly. I've stopped letting it bother me. Like, one time I was at a restaurant and someone told the waitress they didn't want to sit by me because "fat people eat sloppy and she will ruin my appetite" Like what?

WTF? Seriously? Who are these people?

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226 · July 2015

FeeleyToBe said:

So today, an agency I'm working with to place a candidate tells me the candidate can interview at 5pm on Friday. Cool- I set it up and everyone accepts. I get an email 5 min ago saying her (candidate's) work place is an hour away from our location and she might be a half hour late- should she just call the number to give them a heads up if that happens?
Say what?
No. You don't PLAN to be late. You set a start time you can make. WTF people?!

I just scheduled an interview with an applicant and asked him to pick a time. He said "Around 12". I said "No, what do you mean AROUND 12?" and he said he would try to be here by 12:20. I said "I'm scheduling you for 12:30, we will see you then".

loveislouder · July 2015

flbride2015 said:

loveislouder said:

FeeleyToBe said:

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

I get that type of shit all the time, honestly. I've stopped letting it bother me. Like, one time I was at a restaurant and someone told the waitress they didn't want to sit by me because "fat people eat sloppy and she will ruin my appetite" Like what?

WTF? Seriously? Who are these people?

Assholes. Every single one of them. I was walking out of my H's work (he's a manager at a fast food place and I had just dropped him off some cough drops) and someone who was coming through the drive through yelled Lay off the fucking *insert Fast food chain here*!!! I wasn't even carrying a bag or anything.

flbride2015 · July 2015

loveislouder said:

flbride2015 said:

loveislouder said:

FeeleyToBe said:

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

I get that type of shit all the time, honestly. I've stopped letting it bother me. Like, one time I was at a restaurant and someone told the waitress they didn't want to sit by me because "fat people eat sloppy and she will ruin my appetite" Like what?

WTF? Seriously? Who are these people?

Assholes. Every single one of them. I was walking out of my H's work (he's a manager at a fast food place and I had just dropped him off some cough drops) and someone who was coming through the drive through yelled Lay off the fucking *insert Fast food chain here*!!! I wasn't even carrying a bag or anything.

I can't believe people like this exist. I mean, I see people say fucked up shit on FB about strangers, which is bad enough. But to actually have someone say shit like that IRL...wow. I'm shocked. Assholes. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that shit.

On a somewhat related note, I recently got into a debate over skinny/fat shaming with some skinny friends. They were upset about the whole "real women" movement and trying to explain how they get judged too for being skinny, and told to eat and called anorexic. And I get that, I do. But it's so not the same thing as fat shaming, as your stories above illustrate. Like, you can't compare the two. Body shaming regardless of size is bad, you shouldn't do either. But one is definitely worse than the other.

Casadena · July 2015

I had a medical school interview yesterday. Of the 5 prospective students expected, two were late (like over an hour late), one didn't show, and the other brought her mom.

Are you kidding me?

NowIAmSyp · July 2015

Casadena said:

I had a medical school interview yesterday. Of the 5 prospective students expected, two were late (like over an hour late), one didn't show, and the other brought her mom.
Are you kidding me?

So it was the fifth candidate hands-down, I imagine

And the bolded kills me- so funny!

Vivandiere8 · July 2015

At a place I use to work a girl came into interview. She had been interviewing only a few minutes when her mother showed up with a bag of McDonalds and walked into the interview room and handed it to her daughter who opened it, spread out the food, and began to eat, explaining that when they arrived she was hungry and had sent her mother to get the food for her.

onefootinthebayou · July 2015

Just told this story today in a client meeting & thought it was fairly relevant to this thread.

When I interviewed for my current job, I told 3 directors and our VP of operations that I like to think inside the box.

The interview had been pretty challenging up to this point and I thought it was going fairly well so when VP asked "Do you like to think outside the box?" I was all, "Are you fucking serious? How unoriginal...Who even asks this anymore?" (Internal dialogue, obvs) I despise corporate jargon and often ridicule shit when I hear things like "paradigm shift", "team player", "sharpen our pencils", yada yada yada.

Anyway, I just sat there for a second and said, fairly deadpan, "No, I'm actually an inside the box thinker. EVERYONE thinks outside the box these days so I'm going back into the box. Inside the box is the new outside the box. I think there's probably a lot of ideas left in the box now that everybody's thinking outside of it".

There was a microsecond of awkward silence and then all 5 of us just cracked up. I just celebrated my 6th anniversary with the company and recently heard that that interview answer is still talked about every now & then.

redheadbride15 · July 2015

Casadena said:

I had a medical school interview yesterday. Of the 5 prospective students expected, two were late (like over an hour late), one didn't show, and the other brought her mom.
Are you kidding me?

Oh goodness... Pre-meds are just soooooooo special! The one who didn't show probably thought that it was his/her "safety school" and was too good for it. And for the one who brought her mother... I have nothing to say. Good luck with your application process!

[Deleted User] · July 2015

onefootinthebayou said:

Just told this story today in a client meeting & thought it was fairly relevant to this thread. When I interviewed for my current job, I told 3 directors and our VP of operations that I like to think inside the box. The interview had been pretty challenging up to this point and I thought it was going fairly well so when VP asked "Do you like to think outside the box?" I was all, "Are you fucking serious? How unoriginal...Who even asks this anymore?" (Internal dialogue, obvs) I despise corporate jargon and often ridicule shit when I hear things like "paradigm shift", "team player", "sharpen our pencils", yada yada yada. Anyway, I just sat there for a second and said, fairly deadpan, "No, I'm actually an inside the box thinker. EVERYONE thinks outside the box these days so I'm going back into the box. Inside the box is the new outside the box. I think there's probably a lot of ideas left in the box now that everybody's thinking outside of it". There was a microsecond of awkward silence and then all 5 of us just cracked up. I just celebrated my 6th anniversary with the company and recently heard that that interview answer is still talked about every now & then.

@onefootinthebayou a friend from college started this web page when he was in corporate America; it's still an active site but I don't know if he really updates it any more. Any way, there's LOTS of good gems on the site, but I thought of these two posts when I read the bolded. Enjoy!

http://corporatelifesucks.org/2008/11/guide-to-corporate-buzzwords-part-i/

http://corporatelifesucks.org/2008/11/guide-to-corporate-buzzwords-part-ii/

ETF: bolding

novella1186 · July 2015

loveislouder said:

flbride2015 said:

loveislouder said:

FeeleyToBe said:

loveislouder said:

Overheard an interview my boss was doing -"The fat chick is leaving right? I don't work with fat chicks."

WHAT?! That's pretty damn awful.

I get that type of shit all the time, honestly. I've stopped letting it bother me. Like, one time I was at a restaurant and someone told the waitress they didn't want to sit by me because "fat people eat sloppy and she will ruin my appetite" Like what?

WTF? Seriously? Who are these people?

Assholes. Every single one of them. I was walking out of my H's work (he's a manager at a fast food place and I had just dropped him off some cough drops) and someone who was coming through the drive through yelled Lay off the fucking *insert Fast food chain here*!!! I wasn't even carrying a bag or anything.

Holy shit I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's fucking awful

I really hate people sometimes.

AddieCake · July 2015

Vivandiere8 said:

At a place I use to work a girl came into interview. She had been interviewing only a few minutes when her mother showed up with a bag of McDonalds and walked into the interview room and handed it to her daughter who opened it, spread out the food, and began to eat, explaining that when they arrived she was hungry and had sent her mother to get the food for her.

What the actual fuck?

thisismynickname2 · July 2015

To all of you who have had these insane interviewees, do you get to give feedback on why the person doesn't get the job?

There are people out there whining, "No one will hire me and everyone sucks and fuck The Man and blah blah blah," yet I wonder how many of those people are completely clueless about this behavior...

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