To not have waited longer for job interview

[LondonLady29]

I work in a freelance industry so have interviews fairly regularly, contracts are generally about three months long. The day before yesterday I had a call from someone wanting to meet me for a job which sounded quite interesting. I’m working somewhere else at the moment so had to get permission to go out of the office today for the meeting. It was half an hour away from where I work in a hotel. I got to the hotel and sent a text to the person saying I had arrived and was waiting in reception, I was ten minutes early. Twenty five minutes later when they were fifteen minutes late I rang them, the phone rang out and I left a voicemail saying I was in the reception area and would see them soon. I was conscious of being out of my office for too long as work had done me a favour letting me go to the meeting. The person I was due to meet knows I am working somewhere else at the moment. I had no response to the text or phone call and genuinely began to question if I had the right day. I asked the hotel reception if the person I was meeting had booked a room or left a message, nothing. When they were 30 mins late I left and came back to work. When I had already left I had a text from the person I was due to meet saying they were in the ‘business area’. The text was 35 mins after we were due to meet. I responded saying: “Sorry I have left I thought you couldn’t make it and I had to egt back to work for an afternoon meeting.” Some people at work think I should have waited longer. AIBU to have left? I’m quite annoyed because any job interview is quite important but I genuinely thought the person wasn’t turning up. What would you have done? Thank you.

They were in the 'business area'? No 'sorry, I'm running really late, I will be with you in around 20 minutes, my sincere apologies for keeping you waiting'?

Sod that. You don't want to work for someone who is either a)that disorganised or b)has little respect for the interviewee. You had another job to go back to and didn't want to be away for too long, and rightly so. YANBU.

Unless it was your dream job paying £oodles?

If they were on time and actually there they would have responded to first email saying where they were so you could find each other - I think what you did entirely appropriate

YANBU, there's no point in working with someone like that. I find that sort of behaviour infuriating.

I wouldn't have even waited as long as you did if I'm honest.

You've done yourself a favour, never work for anyone who is so lax. They obviously weren't anywhere near the hotel and it appears they only chose the hotel to meet in make some sort of impression.

Imagine trying to get your remuneration from someone who acted like that.

Not really the kind of person I would want to work with/for!

YANBU!

Yanbu and to be honest after that I wouldn't want to work for them anyway

Thank you all for your responses. I thought the job sounded good but it wasn’t my ‘dream’ job, my main concern is being considered unreasonable by the woman I was due to meet because word gets around in this industry and reputation means a lot. Unfortunately the power is often in the hands of the employer rather than the employee. Howeever in this case I was so annoyed by the rudeness. If I had had a message to say she was running late I would have waited but to wait indefinitely in a hotel (in an office I would have at least have had a receptionist saying what was going on) meant I thought she wasn’t even turning up. Some people’s behaviour just astonishes me. She has since sent me a text saying ‘Maybe we could try to reschedule, have a great weekend” and “she’s sorry to have missed me”. She didn’t ‘miss me’, she was 35 minutes late. Shouldn’t she be saying ‘I’m sorry I was so late and wasted your time”?

Yep - that's exactly what she should be saying. Do you know anything about her? Is she a bit flaky and genuinely doesn't think being late is a big deal, or is she a quite arrogant?

I don't know anything about her she was just a potential employer and we had a brief phone chat where she seemed fine. Her reaction to the whole situation made me question myself though as she seemed very offish when she found out I had gone and didn't attempt to make efforts to rearrange the meeting.

No, you definitely did the right thing. Most people don't like being late and keeping others waiting - the fact she seemed offish suggests she isn't someone who would be great to work for. Good luck with your job hunt and in your next job