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Original poster

ds just ruined my telephone interview

253 replies

stuckinthewrongbody · 12/08/2019 11:40

Just had a telephone interview with a job i wanted so badly DS has just ruined it! i put dd in her cot to have her nap and i gave ds some snacks and his ipad.

I go sit in the back and close the door he follows me starts screaming hitting his toy gun up the door i tell her i would call her back which i did and she just didnt seem interested after.

Feeling very crap about myself dont think i will ever get back in to work at this rate.

OP posts:
Passthecherrycoke · 13/08/2019 13:20

The school won’t book a supply teacher for a few hours. Don’t you know any teachers?

DarlingNikita · 13/08/2019 13:20

Head, it's a bit of a straw man, your argument, isn't it. The OP's DH is a scaffolder and logistically unable to come home for a short period because his job involves working in a large area.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 13:24

I do indeed. As I say, it happens quite frequently. In primary, TA’s can manage a class for a couple of hours, and secondary there’ll be someone capable of supervising the class for a couple of hours if not directly teaching.
Do you know any teachers? Do you have kids at school?

Passthecherrycoke · 13/08/2019 13:25

Yes I’m a school governor. All my family are teacher or ex teachers.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 13:28

I think it was your argument, Nikita? Grin You said it was a “howlingly stupid and ill informed thing to say” (to Bluntness)
But hey, blame me, I’m fine with it.

TheCatInAHat · 13/08/2019 13:37

When I worked as a pharmacist for a popular large chain multiple I had to book my holidays in week blocks 18 months in advance. There was zero flexibility whatsoever and any short notice request for leave would be laughed at.

gearandloathing · 13/08/2019 13:41

|Rightly or wrongly most interviewers would judge an interviewee in this situation. I interview and I know I would. You have to be whiter than white when interviewing/competing for jobs. Anything to put the interviewer off is a no no! The job hunting world is brutal.. you have to give yourself all the help you can.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 13:44

If they genuinely couldn’t have managed without you, catinhat, they’d made themselves stupidly vulnerable.
I suspect, though, if you’d simply not shown up one morning citing a family emergency they’d have continued to operate with no great drama.

TheCatInAHat · 13/08/2019 13:47

Head as sole pharmacist the shop wasn’t able to open without me no shows do cause a fair amount of inconvenience to patients needing potentially urgent medication.

DarlingNikita · 13/08/2019 13:47

No, Head, you're arguing that teachers and doctors are easily filled in for, when the OP's husband's job makes it hard/impossible for him to pop home for a bit for its own, job-specific reasons.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 13:56

I was actually arguing against your extremely rude comment to Bluntness, Nikita, but you don’t seem to understand; accusing me of creating a straw man.
Let’s leave it, this is boring.

GrumbleBumble · 13/08/2019 13:57

Bit tricky for my DH to pop home for an hour when he's serving in Afghanistan, the Falklands or Cyprus! Even when he is in the UK I often can't contact him for long periods let alone expect him to be able to pop home. We have had to deal with a recall from overseas but that was for a death in the family. Someone having an interview is not an emergency - if I failed to turn up to my fairly flexible part time office role because DH had an interview it would cause raised eyebrows. If I fail to turn up because I'd been in a car accident it wouldn't - one is an unforeseen circumstance the other isn't.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 14:01

Fair enough, Cat

DarlingNikita · 13/08/2019 14:07

At the risk of continuing to be 'boring' Grin, 'extremely rude' – please. We're a bunch of adults typing things to each other. We can probably take it.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 14:10

Sure, we can Grin. Pax

Dungeondragon15 · 13/08/2019 15:14

There are a lot of drs etc who wouldn’t be able to take time off in the short notice period given for a telephone interview, because their patients would be book in a number of weeks in advance. Doesn’t mean they can’t take annual leave, just that they couldn't take it with a weeks notice

Seriously? Many of my friends and family are doctors and they can usually book annual leave with a weeks notice.

Dungeondragon15 · 13/08/2019 15:18

Head as sole pharmacist the shop wasn’t able to open without me no shows do cause a fair amount of inconvenience to patients needing potentially urgent medication.

Yes, but with a weeks notice they could easily book a locum to cover the shop.

Passthecherrycoke · 13/08/2019 15:18

What about when your clinic is full for a month, with a long waiting list? When you and your partners rotate leave and there is no cover? I’ve a GP friend who can’t get any cover at all at her practise because of the GP shortage. It does depend what sort of work you do, but it’s not always straight forward

Passthecherrycoke · 13/08/2019 15:20

Also a quick read of the junior doctors thread here revealed that once rota’d (months in advance) they were unable to take leave, although presumably could try and arrange a swap.

But all this hassle, for a quick phone interview? Their partner could have LOADS before they get a job. It’s a bit dramatic isn’t it?

Dungeondragon15 · 13/08/2019 15:29

What about when your clinic is full for a month, with a long waiting list? When you and your partners rotate leave and there is no cover? I’ve a GP friend who can’t get any cover at all at her practise because of the GP shortage. It does depend what sort of work you do, but it’s not always straight forward

I agree it isn't always straightforward but they can and do usually get annual leave with a bit of notice i.e. a week or two rather than months.

But all this hassle, for a quick phone interview? Their partner could have LOADS before they get a job. It’s a bit dramatic isn’t it?

I think job interviews are quite important and something a partner should support if at all possible. Obviously if OP was going to loads and not getting anywhere I can see that a partner would want to keep taking time off but if it is the first one and may lead to a job it seems a bit off to see applying for annual leave as too much hassle.

Mesmermancer · 13/08/2019 15:40

Honestly, many people in this country do not have flexibility at work. It doesn't mean that they don't care about their families

What do you do when your children are too sick to go into childcare/school if neither of you can have time off without 4 weeks notice?

DecomposingComposers · 13/08/2019 15:44

Nobody is, or should be, so vital to an organisation that they can’t take a couple of hours off. What if they’re in a car crash on the way to work? What if they have a heart attack?
It may cause a bit of inconvenience but the world will continue to turn.

Going on sick leave is different to taking a couple of hours off in the middle of the day.

I cannot take part days as holiday, nor can my husband. Our leave systems just don't work like that and can you honestly imagine the impact of a hospital consultant cancelling an out patient clinic, that patients might have waited months for, so that he can pop home while his wife has an interview?

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 15:44

They take the day off, of course. And no companies grind to a halt without them, however indispensable they’d like think they are.

HeadintheiClouds · 13/08/2019 15:46

To be fair, if your dh is a hospital consultant you probably wouldn’t be scrabbling around for childcare in the first place.

DecomposingComposers · 13/08/2019 15:49

I think it was your argument, Nikita? grin You said it was a “howlingly stupid and ill informed thing to say” (to Bluntness)

What Bluntness said was howlingly stupid because she said that everyone can take a couple of hours, or a half day off and that simply isn't true.

Lots of people can and lots of people can't. It's ridiculous to condemn people just because their job doesn't allow them to do what you think is the norm.