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AIBU?

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Original poster

This was a test wasn't it?

542 replies

LadyIrisBarclay · 21/02/2018 20:55

And I obviously failed?

Had an interview for a job today. Really, really wanted it as it's my dream role and I so desperately need to get away from current organisation and arse of a boss

It was interview panel of 3 which I had kind of expected but I know my nerves got the better of me.

Anyway, I walked into the boardroom and the 3 interviewers were sat on opposite side of boardroom table. It was quite formal and I was trying not to hyperventilate Grin

On my side of the table there was just one chair plus a notepad and pencil and carafe and glass of water. So this was obviously where I was supposed to sit.

I walked in and we all shook hands and then the lady (possibly a PA?) invited me to take a seat - but here's where it all went tit's up!

My chair had a very large and noticeable wet patch on it. I have no idea what it was, possibly water or a spilt cup of tea? I touched it with my fingers and it was very damp.

So I pointed it out to the panel in a casual way, didn't want to make a fuss but just said 'oh dear, something has been spilt on this chair and it's still very damp'. I was assuming someone would offer to go and get another for me as there were no other chairs in the room other than the three they were sitting on.

But no-one offered so I asked whether a replacement could be found. I was told that none were available and the Manager then just asked whether I was ready to get started with the interview??????

I said that yes I was but I couldn't sit in the chair provided, I was really trying to keep it light and breezy, the manager just said that no other chairs were available. This is the UK HQ of a large global organisation in a state of the art building covering 5 floors. Of course there were other fucking chairs available??

I could feel tears building up at this point as there was no way I was going to humiliate myself by having a wet patch on my skirt after the interview.

So I walked out Sad - I can't remember now what I said but managed to keep it fairly polite still.

What the actual fuck was I supposed to do? Was this a test?

I have read about organisations such as Apple and Google asking really wanky questions at interviews that I just think is a pile of shite. This was a large organisation in the Financial Services sector though.

It did occur to me afterwards that maybe it was a test and I was supposed to show my initiative by using the notepad they'd provided to cover up the wet patch?

I can't be doing with such arsery though - so very fucking upset this evening Sad

OP posts:
64BooLane · 22/02/2018 10:44

Stories like these make me so glad to be self-employed. I mean, I’m broke most of the time, but the freedom from institutional bullshit is pretty great ...

ReanimatedSGB · 22/02/2018 10:47

It's definitely a shit organisation, as is any organisation that recruits via 'personality tests' (all of which are laughably easy to game anyway.) WTF is wrong with saying to a candidate, tell us about a time you dealt with a difficult client?

ElsieMc · 22/02/2018 10:52

Well you have dodged a bullet op. Years back I applied for a job I thought would be ideal at an organisation I respected (charity). It was a difficult interview with many tasks to be undertaken. At one stage, I thought they were actually getting people to do the work for them that had backed up! This was at a second interview stage.

I heard nothing that day until I received a phone call at 10 in the evening telling me that they could not decide between me and another candidate. Well, ring me when you have decided fgs. My dh said that on that basis alone, he wouldn't want to work for them.

I then heard nothing for another 48 hours when they rang and offered me the job. I asked if they had offered it to the other candidate first and he became flustered and admitted they had and she had turned it down. I said that I didn't want it either then. He couldn't believe it.

I just did not get a good feel for them at the interview and clearly me and the "successful" candidate were both of the same opinion.

You will get something else op, you did absolutely the right thing.

KatherinaMinola · 22/02/2018 10:55

Lucky escape OP. Complain in writing to their HR department (very mildly worded - you're writing to draw their attention to this serious lapse).

KatherinaMinola · 22/02/2018 10:57

I had a similar experience to Elsie about ten years ago - I clearly did a brilliant interview but they fannied about so much asking me to come back for extra tests and a presentation to the board (for not a particularly high-level job) that I withdrew my application, because I knew I couldn't work for people who fucked about so much. When I withdrew my application the chair hung up the phone on me Grin

sixteenapples · 22/02/2018 10:57

Give feedback. Unacceptable. Not a test. Would they pay for a ruined skirt??

frieda909 · 22/02/2018 10:58

Ah I read it that you were interviewed for twenty four hours straight.

Haha sorry, I did make it sound like that! Blush

To be honest, it felt like it! It was impossible to sleep in the hotel knowing that you were basically right in the middle of the interview process. I was a wreck afterwards!

OhHolyJesus · 22/02/2018 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

downthestrada · 22/02/2018 11:09

I had an interview where they wanted to hear how excitedly I could speak about their company and later they asked to hear me going "woop! woop!" because they said that's what they did to get themselves energised. There's was also loads of other weird things that made me feel uncomfortable with the company.

Told my DH afterwards that I felt like just getting up and leaving after the first 5 minutes. I really think I should have, wish I did.

Had another interview where he didn't like me for the role he had advertised (after personality tests and other bullshit), but thought I would be great in another front facing/public speaking type role as a "face" for the company, because he liked my voice and look and wanted the make the company look more "diversified" - yeah, said no to that one too.

I'm self employed at the moment, but would always stay away from companies who use these weird hiring techniques.

Emmageddon · 22/02/2018 11:09

I would have asked can you direct me to where I can get a replacement chair? Thank you.

Maybe it was a test. But well done for walking out.

lljkk · 22/02/2018 11:10

I really want to hear what they say when you contact them for "Interview feedback why didn't I get the job"?

I can't be arsed to deal with passive aggressive interview tactics. I could stand or ask them to swap chair with me since they thought it was not a problem to sit on.

amistillsexy · 22/02/2018 11:21

I was once interviewed for a specific, part time role teaching small groups in a school. Half way through the interview, the HT got exasperated and said that my answer was all very well, but it didn't help her to see how I would handle a class of 30. When I said that this wasn't the role I'd applied for, she told me crossly that her plan was to have the successful candidate take over a full time teaching role after a year.
She became even more exasperated when I withdrew my application 😕

UpstartCrow · 22/02/2018 11:21

Demeaning interview 'tests' are a form of bullying.

Original poster
LadyIrisBarclay · 22/02/2018 11:28

UpstartCrow

Demeaning interview 'tests' are a form of bullying

I agree with that too. I'm still not entirely convinced that they did it deliberately though. Perhaps just a case of handling an award situation really badly on their part. Although that doesn't really make sense either. Non of it did.

It felt as if I was invisible at that point though - really glad I walked now (having slept on it!).

OP posts:
Emmageddon · 22/02/2018 11:28

My daughter had to do personality tests online, then a group interview, then a face to face interview, for a 4 hour Saturday job in retail. Interviews these days often seem to be designed to get candidates to drop out of the process.

ignatiusjreilly · 22/02/2018 11:39

I once went to an interview where they handed me a pack of Smarties and asked me to do something with them

I would have eaten them one at a time, chewing slowly while staring intently at the interview panel. "Right, any more questions?"

Your response was much better though Grin

bettytaghetti · 22/02/2018 11:44

@Gabilan Oh Lord, please give me the confidence of a mediocre white man.

Why did you have to bring race into it? S0ph1a didn't mention colour. Wasn't the sexist crap enough for you?!

Vitalogy · 22/02/2018 11:46

Jeez that's some seriously messed up behaviour by those interviewers. You did good OP.

RoseWhiteTips · 22/02/2018 11:47

Whatever the reason, OP, you absolutely did the right thing. Good for you.

Foslady · 22/02/2018 11:48

I was asked at one interview by a second interviewer in the middle of a series of technical questions by the main interviewer what made me angry (the main interviewers wtf face will stay with me always!). The temptation to say ‘people asking unrelated stupid questions in the middle of a series of other questions’........(this was for a laboratory position in which I would have no interaction with customers - when I got the job I was told by interviewer two it was to see how I reacted under pressure Hmm)

Jux · 22/02/2018 11:59

I think the fact that they were not at all surprised by the wet chair and they were not interested in getting another for you shows that it was a test. A bloody silly one, which imo you passed, but they may think otherwise - which of us can realistically imagine how people like that think?

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 22/02/2018 12:02

I find it utterly bizarre that the interview panel did this - and almost more bizarre that some posters think that such behaviour is acceptable, and that the OP is being unreasonable or high maintenance for wanting a dry chair to sit on for her interview!!

"Self respect is not crying over a damp chair."

@Charolais - the OP said that she could 'feel tears building up' - she didn't say she cried.

Allthebestnamesareused · 22/02/2018 12:04

Why though did you assume the woman on the panel was a PA?

frieda909 · 22/02/2018 12:10

Why though did you assume the woman on the panel was a PA?

OP has already covered this. She didn’t assume anything. She just can’t recall exactly what the woman’s job title was but she thought it was something like a PA.

OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 22/02/2018 12:10

Ugh you're so high maintenance OP - I work in a company where we get put in stocks every alternative Thursday with rotten fruit thrown at our heads and I am GRATEFUL for the opportunity I tell you!

All kidding aside, the company are either cruel or incompetent neither of which is particularly appealing. I'd see it as a lucky escape and I'm just sorry that you had to waste your time attending.