Category: life

Job interviews are a major head game.

On one hand, they’re very exciting. An invitation to interview is one of the later steps in the journey to landing a new job.

And yet, they’re wildly performative, forcing us not to be ourselves, be polite, show off our skills and demonstrate general likability all in less than an hour.

It’s no wonder Redditor JimmySaulGene wondered about one of the more chaotic ways that could all go down.

They asked:

“People who walked out of a job interview, why did you do it?”  

For one person, it all came down to personality.

“Years ago, I went to an interview, and sat down with the man who was to interview me. Sat in silence while he read something on his computer for a few minutes, then waited for a minute or so while he looked over my resume (it was a small business, he is the same person who called me to set up the interview and he’d had the resume for a few days.)”

“He finally looked up at me and said, ‘Well, I’m not sure why you applied for this job; you really don’t have any of the skills or experience I’m looking for.’ He was just so arrogant and I felt like he was trying to make a power move to make a lowball offer.”

“I didn’t apply to any job that I wasn’t qualified for. I was just instantly pissed that he was playing games. I calmly said, ‘Then I’m not sure why you‘re wasting my time,’ and I stood and walked to the door.”

“He said something like, ‘Oh, no, let’s talk,’ and I told him I wasn’t interested in working for him.”

“I had a job already, I just wasn’t terribly happy with it, so I really didn’t feel like putting up with his b.s.” — RumBunBun

Another person was stunned by a big twist. 

“Showed up for a construction/trades workers ‘hiring event.’ I’m a plumber by trade and work was bleak as hell in my city at the time, so I went. Sh** looked legit until they sat us down to speak about the work scope.”

“They claimed to be one of the companies that were building Rogers Place in Edmonton. After they gave us sketchy details they said ‘however, if you don’t want to do that you can….’ And started speaking about how to do door to door sales of mostly chocolate in the higher end communities around the city.”

“They talked construction for maybe 15 minutes and the rest was door to door chocolate sales and unicef fundraising and how we can have an income of 150k+ a year doing that. I left probably 20 minutes into that. I had a friend who champed it out and stay the entire time. The stories he told me were hilarious.”

“Ironically, 30 minutes after I left, I got a call from a company who was actually a contractor on the Rogers Place job and ended up working for them for 4+ years.” — kokumslayer69

In this example, the Redditor was a fly on the wall.

“The guy interviewing me interrupted the interview to scream at one of his employees. Like red in the face screaming and berating the guy. And then tried to just pick up where we left off like it was nothing. No thank you.” — DrunkBeavis

This Redditor just had a bad feeling. 

“I’m a vet tech. Interviewed at a primary care, single doctor practice. The manager was over 25 minutes late to my interview. While I waited for her, the front desk staff ignored me while they talked crap about the techs, manager, and clients.”

“The manager said they did not believe in referring to any specialists, because ‘Dr. A is a specialist in everything from grizzly bears to canaries.’ He was not, he hadn’t even done a rotating internship and definitely had not done any type of residency program.”

“I had already worked in a toxic clinic, but at least the doctors were competent. When she asked if I had any questions, I just asked if I could have my resume back, so I didn’t waste the paper.” — Karbar049

This one was, well, just bizarre.

“Applied for a software developer position for an online retailer. First round of interviews was a traditional technical skills and whiteboard coding session, second round was a cultural fit interview with HR.”

“I assumed it would be an one on one interview with HR, it was a room with 20 something people applying for anything from legal to finance.”

“They asked us to stand up, then crawl into a ball and pretend we were flowers opening. At this point I honestly thought it was some kind of prank, then I saw everybody around me doing it.”

“I just said thanks for the opportunity and left.” — neolabaque

Another case came down to timing. 

“I once went to a job interview for a large welding shop, in the middle of a rain storm. After talking to the interviewer for 30 or so minutes, he walked me out to the shop floor to take a welding test. The machine we went to was in decent condition, but was literally sitting in a puddle of water.”

“The welding table’s legs were rusty and not grounded well, and also in said puddle. Over half the shop was flooded. I turned around and said ‘No thank you.’ Then proceeded to walk out the door. My life is worth more than $20 an hour.” — Alpha_Hellhound

This Redditor played with nothing to lose. 

“I should have; I stayed there out of morbid curiosity to see how low they would go, but I had made the decision I wasn’t gonna work there early in the process.”

“I’m glad I stayed. The last thing that happened in the interview was the CEO personally asking us all to promise that, if we ever make a mistake, the company will calculate how much that mistake cost us, and we will voluntarily pay the company that amount.” — Oudeis16

And of course, there was the guy selling snake oil. 

“I was approached at work (bagger for a major grocery store chain when I was 16) by a guy who asked me if I would be interested in making $1100 a week. He told me to meet him at one of the empty businesses in the same plaza after work.”

“He went on this long spiel about the melaleuka tree from Australia and how his company made soaps and shampoo out of it. Then he told me for $500 he would train me how to sell the products. I just turned and walked out the door with him yelling behind me that I would never amount to anything with my attitude.” — DeusEx-Machinist

This person strayed slightly from the prompt, but what a story. 

“Slightly different – I actually interviewed and was hiring by a call center that focused on getting donations for a variety of non-profit organizations (I was desperate). It was on a Thursday, and I was told to show up the following Monday.”

“When I showed up Monday morning, the entire business unit was completely empty. Like, stripped to the floor, wires hanging from the roof empty.”

“When I was there the week before, I saw around 20-25 cubicles of people all working diligently, a managers desk at the far back, and waiting area chairs with a table, all in one large room. To this day I have no idea what happened, I just know they got out of there quick in 3 days time.” — Digideegs

This Redditor found out how to have a good time regardless.

“Pyramid scheme advertised as ‘sales and marketing.’ “

“It was a group interview. They served wine for fu**s sake! They had obvious stooges initiating conversation about how great this opportunity was.”

“I got very drunk and stopped being polite about it.” — wonderbrawl

For most of us, interviews are pretty standard fare.

But should they turn out like one of these, feel free to show yourself out.