Bizarre Interview Stories

[Starfish81]

Does anyone have any weird interview stories?

Here's mine. (http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/forums/showthread.php?p=106088&highlight=rope#post106088)

And here's more. (http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/forums/showthread.php?p=106397&highlight=rope#post106397)

[hoodie]

My only interview for a teaching job was pretty bizarre, I guess, just not in a good way. I spent months doing resumes and applications online before my boss at the catering company I was working told me to submit an application to a district where a friend of her sister's was the principal. So I did. A few weeks later, I got a call for an interview and set one up, June 10th. I was so excited, I bought a nice outfit, got my hair cut, the whole shebang.

Then on the morning of the interview, my dad wakes me up at 4 a.m. and tells me my mom, who was going to drive out to the interview with me (moral support, and its an hour away, its just a hike) might not come. Still groggy and confused I asked why and I got an answer I'll never forget. Our close family friends who live on the next street, people we grew up with like family, apparently their oldest son had died of a suicide that night. My stomach dropped, I was awake instantly, and I got up to get ready. At 4.

Just to get my mind off what was going on, I threw myself into it, I looked fantastic, I even shined my shoes, yet interestingly, I could have cared two shits about what I was saying. When I got to the interview, I talked and talked and talked but I can't remember a single question I was asked or anything that I said. It's like I watched someone else do the interview. Just by the sheer inability to control or even remember what I talked about, I figured I blew it. And in the whole mess that was going on, I didn't even care.

The day of our friend's visitation, I got a phone call. They were offering me the job. I took it, and here I am.

It just seemed like a really weird way to put things in perpective, yet somehow it still worked out. I dunno. Bizarre yeah, but probably depressing and pretty damn long. Sorry!

[steph78]

I did have one once where the guy interviewing me was cursing up a storm the entire time, it was kind of surreal. I mean, this guy was the president of a small consulting engineering firm where I was applying for a job as a structural engineer - he was middle-aged, very well educated with a Ph.D and everything, generally very well-spoken and courteous, but every other sentence out of his mouth included profanity for no apparent reason! He wasn't visibly upset about anything, he was just talking about some of their clients.

He offered me a job on the spot, which I really could have used because the job market for engineers at the time was NOT great, but I was not about to work with this guy...if he talked about his clients like that I don't want to know how he would talk to me on a daily basis. Very unprofessional. So I turned it down, and good thing - my very next interview was with the company I work for now which is such a great environment.

[jrwilheim]

About a year ago, when I was looking for my first paralegal job, I went on an interview with a temp agency. They wanted to refer me to a firm whose biggest concerns were a) that I be willing to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week (a big no-no, since I can't work on Saturdays for religious reasons) and b) that I be willing to be followed to the bathroom for security reasons!!!!. As I was leaving, the interviewer told me he needed additional references. Needless to say, he didn't get them.

The same day, I made contact with an alum from my school who showed great concern for my well-being and ultimately got me a job at his firm, for no other reason than that I went to the same school as him. So I'd say I saw the best and worst of the job market in the course of one day!

[GetMeOuttaDC]

This really cool-sounding, small international company interviewed me... their office was in an old warehouse, so far out of the way of any other offices, that had been cleaned up and decorated in animal prints and velvet. I was the only one there who was not in a superexpensive suit and lots of gold/diamond jewlery. I was also told I'd be the first US citizen that they'd hire. I'm sure I'm not doing the place justice, but it was BIZARRE and just reeked of "we're doing something shady and illegal."

[HereComes30]

Not for me...but for someone I recently met at a presentation I was giving at my alma mater.

She was in the front row and was on crutches. After the presentation we got to talking and I asked her what happened. She said that she got frostbite. I was kind of surprised and said something like "wow...that has to suck." The rest of the dialog was as follows...

"Yeah...it especially sucks when you get the frostbite on a job interview."

"Oh you were interviewing for a ski instructor position or something like that," I inquired.

"No, a sales position," she said.

"I'm sorry...you have me confused."

She then told the saga, "I went on an interview for a sales position. Being that it was a job interview and for a position in sales I dressed professionally with a business suit and heels...the typical business attire. I was told by the interviewers that they wanted to see how I would perform in the field which meant going door to door to sell subscriptions to their services. So in the 10 degree weather with a wind chill, I was dropped off in an area I did not know and was supposed to go door to door. And that is how I ended up getting frostbite."

I was AMAZED when I heard this story that she would not have been better prepped for what she was about to experience. I would think they would be open to a lawsuit with this one. But I have told this story at least a dozen times now...absolutely CRAZY!

[blueyes]

Yes, really.

At my prior job, for the interview, my (soon-to-be) boss gave me a little box of stuff (paper clips, molecule building pieces, felt scraps, etc) and asked me how I thought I could put together a short educational program. I can't for the life of me remember what I did because of what happened next. She pulled out another little box and it had two types of what looked like rubber bouncy balls - black ones and white ones. the black ones had little sad faces on them and the white ones had happy faces. the white ones bounced and the black ones didn't (turned out to be density). And my boss was like 'why are some of them happy and some of them sad?'

WTF.

I think I told her something along the lines of 'the happy ones are happy because they liked my educational presentation - see they're even bouncing they're so happy! and the sad ones didn't like my presentation because they don't believe in science.'

I got the job, but at least once or twice a year my boss would drag out the 'sad balls don't believe in science' story. (NOTE: my previous job was as an educational science program presenter for K-8; this means I was given some training and lots of chemicals and lit things on fire and blew things up and froze things and generally had lots of fun.)

[WeirdBrake]

She pulled out another little box and it had two types of what looked like rubber bouncy balls - black ones and white ones. the black ones had little sad faces on them and the white ones had happy faces. the white ones bounced and the black ones didn't (turned out to be density). And my boss was like 'why are some of them happy and some of them sad?'

Because the black ones are victims of racism, that's why.

[heatherf]

Because I kicked a guy in the scrotum on my way in.....those must be his? :googly:

[cornflakegirl]

i know i've told this before but here goes.

i interviewed for my current job last august. the interview part went really well & i was pretty excited about it. my now boss said the next step would be to have me come in & view an abortion procedure. she told me "well we don't normally do it the same day as the interview, but if you want to . . ." without really thinking about it, i said sure.

and then i fainted, in the procedure. i felt like such an ass. it was my first & only time fainting & that experience, in itself, was very weird. i thought i screwed my chances for the job, but my boss told me 1/5 or so people faint the first time & it is something i can overcome if i want to. needless to say, i have become desensitized to it all & love my job.

[Starfish81]

I have told this story at least a dozen times now...absolutely CRAZY!

You can tell it at least 13 times now, because that's what happened to me, excluding the frostbite.