Job interview akward or funny situations.

[Dirge Eterna]

So at my job I am not a receptionist or security guard but I do sit at the front desk from time to time to take over when someone is out sick. So today there was a guy who showed up for an interview an hour before he was scheduled. I can see the calender for the day in order to let in people that are supposed to be there, I work in a secure building you need a badge or be on the list to gain admission without an escort. So I tell the guy he is way to early as the people he was interviewing with took another candidate up less than 5 minutes before he arrived. He wants to sit in the lobby which is against the rules so I suggest he can either wait outside or in his car. He chooses to go back to his car and wait, his appointment time comes up and he is no where to be seen. I am asked to go out to the parking lot and see if I can find him, I voted to just cross him off the list but I was outranked. I search the visitor area and find him in his car asleep after umm taking care of some stress relief I believe based upon his dishevelment. So I had to wake this schmuck up and tell him to get cleaned up and inside the building asap. That was a fun conversation to say the least. He didn't get the job thank goodness as there is no way he would have ever lived that one down.

Another time we had a disabled guy in a wheelchair come in for a position, which in and of itself isn't anything out of the ordinary. Except our building is 2 floors without an elevator. The way we get things up to the 2nd floor is a forklift out the back fo the building into a set of double doors. I was praying they would interview him downstairs as I could see a lawsuit coming. Luckily they did and they didn't hire him but there was a Americans with disabilities act complaint made against us which I fully support as we should have an elevator.

So what is the weirdest/awkwardest thing that has happened to you or at your job concerning job interviews?

 

[thebakedpotato]

Having to explain to the interviewer that I had gotten arrested for bashing someone's door in with a tire iron. While in my underwear.

 

[teqrevisited]

I went to a group interview once. That was awkward enough already, but I was sat next to this girl who was just completely destroyed by nerves. She didn't look up from the floor once and her answers were barely audible to even me. I didn't know where to look when the interviewer was questioning her.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

Never been to a group interview, from what I know they are mostly reserved for pyramid scheme or door to door sales jobs. personally the most embarrassing interview for me was going to an interview and realizing I had grabbed mismatched socks in my hurry to get out the door. Traffic around where I live is super unpredictable, it can take me anywhere between 35min to and hour and a half to drive to my current job so I wanted to get there a few minutes early. The interviewer actually noticed before I did and joked about it, I didn't get a call back lol.

 

[Ultress]

Went to an interview and was asked what's the biggest deceased person I picked up(613 pounds). Now I'm not in the best of shape and that pretty obvious but then the guy with a straight face asks if I did it by myself.I also name dropped the author of Time of Eve.

 

[Rellik San]

I was 18 and needed a Christmas temp job, so I applied at the local Disney Store, they're were 5 of us who turned up to the interview and before it began we were all asked to pick any product from the shop floor to come into the interview with. So I picked a remote control Black Pearl with firing canons.

So the interview begins and everyone else is incredibly quiet, we're asked to talk about ourselves a bit so I give the usual spiel; "I'm a massive animation fan, studying fine art, etc etc." then we're asked to talk about the products we've picked and how we'd sell it, some have picked a dvd, one person had chosen some stationary and they all gave some half arsed spiel, practically looking into their own navel. So I go pro-active, I raise the thing above my head and claim it to be the best toy of the season, with amazing box art, kids, big kids and collectors would go nuts for this sort of thing and that they should have it really, front and centre display.

Well the interview goes on as such, and then the moment arrives, the store manager and area manager thanks us for our attendance and asks if we have any questions, no one raises their hand, so I figured I'd show off some of my obscure Disney lore and ask them: "Is Walt really frozen under the castle at Florida?"... Everyone looks horrified except the store manager who bursts out laughing, reminds me it's just his head under the pirates ride and that she hopes to god it is.

Needless to say, I didn't get the job, although doing some Christmas shopping later that month, the manager remembered me and applied her staff discount to my purchases and told me that were it up to her alone, I'd have got the job simply for asking that question. Ah well, C'est la vie.

 

[NoMercy Rider]

Nothing incredibly strange, but I once had a self-conducted interview. Went into a conference room with about ten "interviewers" and I sit at the head of the table. One of the interviewers hands me a sheet of paper with ten questions on the list and instruct me to conduct the interview any way I feel, but they will not be asking the questions. I was a bit taken aback and since I wasn't really prepared for this kind of interview, I just read through the list in order and answered them appropriately. When I finished, the interviewer that gave me instructions said "thanks" and led me out of the room. In total, there were probably twenty words uttered by the one man and no one else.

Needless to say, I didn't get the job, but it is good since the whole interview felt "cold." Spoke with other interviewees and they all had the same experience.

 

[Foolery]

A few years back I had a job interview for a position at a hotel. The manager there had a big red mark on his face. Not wanting to be rude, I didn't say anything about it. Just as the interview ended, I finally decided to ask anyway.

"So, I have a quick question for you. What's up with your face? It looks pretty red. Did you get hit with something recently?"

The manager, set his book on the counter, and glared at me.

"No. It's a birthmark."

Me. "Oh. Well uh, see ya."

And I never got the job.

 

[vIRL Nightmare]

After the formalities etc. the question came, "why is your GPA a 2.8?". I then stated how horribly atrocious the current education system is based on brute-force memorization for tests, punishing and crushing creativity among other important traits that let us advance in learning and the pursuit of knowledge it self. We then spent the rest of the interview discussing how things should be and methods of improving things in general, started talking about the processing of minerals for a while, then I had to leave because of time constraints. I had gotten that internship that day. It was great.

 

[Vegosiux]

I was asked what 12*7 was at one, and the guy conducting the interview was amazed I took less than a second answering correctly. I didn't get the job (or even a negative answer, mind), but...yeah.

 

[shootthebandit]

Ive not had many interviews and most jobs ive been interviewed for ive got. I was once interviewed and basically told the guy i didnt want the job. At the time i was waiting to start my current job (i applied in july/august and started in the new year) so i applied for everything and anything in the mean time got to one job that was £5 an hour (i was 17 so that was minimum wage) working 10-15 hours a week (bearing mind i was already getting £50 a week in benefits). I got to the interview and he said "why do you want to work in retail?" At that point i froze and genuinely couldnt think of anything good about working retail so i replied "i dont particulary want to work in retail i just want to get paid while i look for something more fulfilling". Needless to say honesty is not the best policy.

The other two jobs ive not been interviewed but instead just went for a chat. One of them i walked in and the guy showed me round and he just asked me about my quals and then he was like "you ok to start at 8:30 tomorrow"

My current job i went through 2 phone interviews, 1 interview, an aptitude test, 2 separate security clearances and a medical

 

[Miyenne]

Most awkward for me was three days after I'd been let go of my previous job. The day I'd been fired I'd gone home and sat out on the deck with my cat, just for warm sun, kitty and calm.

The neighbours let their giant chocolate lab run around their yard without a leash. There was no fence between our yards.

Dog sees cat. Dog runs for cat. My cat panics and freezes in place. I panic. Lift the cat above my head to protect him. Dog circles me and barks. Cat then decides he needs to run away. Tries to run away through my face.

My family and the neighbours come around to see why a cat is screaming, a dog is barking and I'm yelling like a madwoman.

I calmly hand the cat to my sister, neighbour takes the dog away. Other neighbour and my mom start yelling. I'm cupping my hands under my face thinking I don't want the blood to get all over the deck and stain it.

My face was mangled. They all thought I'd gone blind as I had rents over my eyes, blood was everywhere. They started panicking about taking me to the hospital and calling a plastic surgeon.

I could see, my cat had missed my eyeballs by literally about two millimeters. I didn't know why everyone was freaking out so bad. We got me cleaned up and it was all fine.

Next day, my face is swollen up so badly I look like an Orc extra from LotR. I go and get antibiotics as pus has started leading out of my scalp, cheeks and eyebrows. A steady oozing of whitish green pus and blood.

The following day I'm still leaking pus and blood, and now horribly bruised. And I go downtown for a job interview looking like that. I kept my sunglasses on the entire time, as I knew they didn't want to see my face.

They didn't hire me.

 

[Little Woodsman]

When I applied for a job at Whole Foods the interview went normally enough, then at the end the young lady interviewing me asked "So who's your favorite superhero?". Caught off-balance I hemmed and hawed for a few moments, then answered "Um, 'Mazin man I guess...." which led to a very strange look from the interviewer and a lengthy explanation about who/what 'Mazin man was. Didn't get that job.

 

[Lightknight]

In the business interview arena is currently a practice called stress interviewing. The purpose is literally to try and upset the interviewee to see how they handle unexpected stress or pressure. This can have hilarious implications. I remember walking into one such interview when I was first looking for a job after college. They complained to me that my resume wasn't in the appropriate format (not only was it absolutely in a standard format as the College of Business I attended had multiple classes on the subject but there also isn't any one format aside from recommended resume styles). When I explained this she demanded to know the name of the individuals at the college who taught me this format so that they could report the people to the government for possible revocation of their "licenses".

It was over the top, insane. I laughed and stated that I understood this was a stress interview but had no desire to work for a company that believed this was an acceptable hiring practice. I thought the whole thing was funny and the moment I mentioned that this was a stress interview they changed their tone and said, "Oh, ok." and then wanted me to proceed with the rest of the interview such as demonstrating the ability to read. I stuck to my guns that a company who did this was not likely to be nice to their employees later and thanked them for their time and left. They even tried to hire me even though I didn't finish the interview. Weird as heck. Maybe they respected it.

Fortunately I got hired for a real job shortly after that from people who know how to treat their employees and prospective employees.

 

[Stasisesque]

I once interviewed someone when I worked at Game, who said his favourite game was Resident Evil 5, because "you get to shoot black people". Needless to say, he was not hired.

 

[Gizmo1990]

While at uni I was at a party, met this girl and about an hour later we were in her room. Not something I normaly do but I had been drinking and she was really hot. Anyway 2 days later I go for an interview and I enter the room and the manager says the interview will start in a few mins as we were waiting on a seconds person.

And guess who walk into the room. The girl I slept with 2 days before. I know that people say that if you are nervous you should picture the interviewers naked but having actually seen one of them naked did not help me keep carm. To say nothing of how bad my nerves got knowing one of the interviwers has seen ME naked.

Anyway my nerves were so bad that I did not get the job. However, after the interview the girl came to apologize for making me nervous, I asked her out and we have now been together for over 2 years. So it was both the best and worst interview of my life.

 

[arkady]

This wasn't something that happened to me.

This was me happening to someone else. >

I can't remember the title I'd applied for, but I do remember getting to the place and thinking it looked an awful lot like some a door-to-door sales setup. Not wanting to waste my time (or the interviewers) I straight up asked if they did door to door sales and was directly told it wasn't, and so agreed to come back the next day for a second round of interviewing.

For this round I was buddied with an employee and ... spent the day following her around as she knocked door to door trying to sell subscriptions to something.

Not happy.

I then, at the end of the day - and quite late, as well* I was, angry and tired, put in for an actual interview with the guy before.

I decided to do everything I could to sabotage it.

HIM: "What's your biggest weakness?"
ME: "I have a drink problem ... I mean a coke problem! ... I mean, I drink too much coca-cola." *Shift as awkwardly as I can and avoid eye contact, with full 'I just screwed up' look on my face.*

And on.

I actually called him out on straight up lying to me, and then dragging me out on an 11 hour day on the back of the lie, but he made excuses (it wasn't, strictly speaking, sales...) and then STILL OFFERED ME THE STUPID JOB!

* The day started at 11am. I'd made plans to meet friends at 8pm, but the day didn't finish until 10pm, and we'd been driven out somewhere, so I had to wait. In hindsight I should have called a taxi and charged it back to the company, but I didn't have the muscle to fight back if they refused to pay, and could barely afford the taxi fare in the first place.

Having to explain to the interviewer that I had gotten arrested for bashing someone's door in with a tire iron. While in my underwear.

Okay ... why were you bashing someone's door in with a tire iron? While in your underwear?

 

[Comocat]

When I applied for a teaching position the principal of one school asked me "What would you do if a student asked you on a date?" I just sort of awkwardly sat there as the question totally caught me off guard since no one in the history of my life had randomly asked me for a date. After that they asked me "if I would ever go a to a club with a group of students." It was totally surreal because I thought I was going to be grilled about pedgagogy and content, when really they were only wanting to know if I would admit to wanting to score with 16 year old girls.

My next interview the principal asked me to teach a lesson. Not "how" I would teach a lesson, but to actually teach him something. It was just him and myself in the office so I laughed it off. He was actually serious though so I got up and just sort of rambled about science for 5 minutes. I didnt get that job either.

 

[Mr Mystery Guest]

My interviewer held out his hand to shake mine and i handed him my coat and walked past him. Still got the job though.