This was a test wasn't it?

[LadyIrisBarclay]

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

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 - 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

I've had something similar. Most HGV interviews are "Clean licence? Working eyes? Not pissed this very second?". The driving assessment is the real test, and it works both ways. I was asked to get into a vehicle that stank. The seat looked like leather from the amount of dirt. I asked for something to put on it. I was asked, and this is verbatim, "are you some sort of poofter? We employ real men here". I just laughed. I had a bigger one the following year when he was convicted of flytipping biowaste and got six months, not before one of his "real men" had torched his car over short wages.

I would definitely be lettng someone higher up in the company know about this. Absolutely.

I agree with the first response - they sound awful!
The first meeting I had with my current boss was in his office. When I stood up I noticed a dodgy brownish stain on the chair which looked like a period stain. I was utterly mortified - part of me thinking "That wasn't me, was it?" even though I knew it couldn't have been.
That wasn't a test, it was just a manifestation of two men in an office having a chair with a period stain on it and just not noticing. It's still there. Bless.

I’m waiting for the post “candidate complained her chair was wet AIBU?”

Please write and complain OP, that’s a shockingly poor way to treat candidates. I know it’s too outing to say the company but is this financial company a household name? I wouldn’t do business with a company that I knew treated people like this!

I think Pengggwyn’s email is brilliant but I agree it’s not the one you should send, tempting though that would be. I would email HR, setting out what happened and asking them to confirm whether in the circumstances they would like you to attend a rescheduled interview.

That’s if you want the job. If you never want to see them again - and who could blame you - you do at least have an entertaining story to dine out on for years to come.

These twatty interview techniques get on my nerves. the only people that do them, that have the time to think them up, are wanker types, full of their own importance, that spend too much time in the pub at lunchtime and think it's big and clever to humiliate people. Seriously, they are unprofessional playing at being the boss.

I think I would have sat on the floor, had the interview and turned down the role if I had got it.

OP, I agree that you were very badly treated today. I find it hard to believe that it was a test, but either way, their behaviour was poor. Like others have said, you need to consider if you would have wanted to work for such people and I expect you know the answer. Very much hoping a new opportunity comes your way very soon.

I think it is a test to see how the candidates deal with rude/hostile people. There are shitty people everywhere, some of them might be the company's clients.

I don't know what the interviewers expect, but maybe you could have asked for a few minutes to get a chair from outside? I don't think it is humiliating, it is just particularly unnerving because it is part of an interview.

If it were me I would ring up and ask for clarification of what happened in a neutral, fact finding way. But I can see that most on here wouldn't agree.

unbelievable. I used to work for a large bank and interviewed candidates to our division but this would never, ever have happened. I don't think it can be a test, they were probably just rude and couldn't be bothered. Sexist, too. I would send a note to HR with feedback so they know it is unacceptable. But you definitely don't want that job.

I agree KHFC2018

Wow. That sounds bizarre. I really hope they just didn’t realise it was wet, rather than being deliberately rude or wacky

They sound awful; lucky escape.

Does the job involve dealing with people who are likely to be obnoxious, self-important... or incontinent? if so, I could just about believe that this was a way of seeing how you would deal with 'difficult' customers or situations, but it's still a stupid and unpleasant way to conduct an interview.

If that wasn't what they were up to then it's an indication that they don't give a toss about their employees - or the panel themselves are too useless to be able to process the idea that they need to remove a wet chair and fetch a dry one. So, not a company you want to work for.

(About 30 years ago, someone told me a story of interviewing job applicants at an ad agency - this was the era when this sort of nonsense was just coming in. it was also an era when people could and did smoke at work. He had lit a cigarette earlier, shoved his lighter back in his pocket and it had malfunctioned to the extent that it set fire to his pocket. Smoke began to pour from his pocket and, eventually, he realised, and leapt up screaming and extinguished the fire. The candidate said, Oh, I thought it was a test as to whether I could ignore strange things and get on with my work...)

I would have sat down in the damp spot and joked on the way down, “This chair has a damp spot, just to let you know I’m not that nervous” or something of that nature.

I wouldn’t have made a fuss and started crying.

I bet it was a test. A stupid demeaning test but one nonetheless .

I'm studying HR and we have looked into this type of interview as well as ones where the interviewee is made do silly stuff like put shaving cream on their head or hula hoop in the middle of the meeting and film it to hopefully make it viral. It's pure bullshit and I would walk right out the door too.

Good for you Charolais! Most others would prefer not to get up looking like we'd wet ourselves!

Nope, not a chance would I put up with that. Walking out was really your only option.

Utterly bizarre and unprofessional behaviour from them, not somewhere you would want to work anyway.

I don't have time for such bullshit and wouldn't work anywhere that did.

You should go to the papers with this OP. They would lap it up if it's a well known company.

Do it anonymously though (just tip off, they'll find someone willing to speak) if you're still in the market for a new job!

If I'd set that as a test Charolais anyone who sat on it would be an instant fail.

Charolais I would think less of someone who was prepared to sit in potential piss, really don’t think that would be a good approach in an interview.

I too doubt it was a test. It just sounds too odd.

I think that maybe on their side there was a misunderstanding. There is a different between "damp" (not great but liveable with) and "wet" (not sitting on that). If you said damp, they may have thought you were mistaken or were exaggerating.

Plus we don't know how it was wet. If the chair was dry at the start of interviews and no one spilt anything before you that they saw, if you were the panel you would probably just think it was a bit odd. The only option then would be a prior candidate either wet themselves or had some "leakage" - which no one would really expect.

I would write to them but NOT in the way outlined above.

I'd just be short and factual - explain what happened as you have in your post just facts - but say the seat was wet not "damp". apologise for leaving but explain why - in particular include the part about not wanting to sit on an unidentifed wet patch (it could have been urine) or feel humiliated leaving with a big wet patch.

And then ask them for an explanation as to why a seat for a candidate was wet and why it wasn't possible to get a dry seat.

At the very least you should find out what the hell was going on. in case they didn't get it, you will have properly explained your actions (which if they didn't believe you or didn't realise how wet it was would look a bit extreme - walking out) and you'll be letting them know that actually isn't an acceptable way to interview.

I think a couple of pp's have suggested what I was thinking too, that they had a favoured candidate and wanted to take any other candidates out of the running.
So sorry OP that you had such a shitty experience.
I would be tempted to write an email saying how disappointed you were to not actually be given a fair interview and would appreciate it if they could reschedule when a dry chair can be found.

There are plenty of employers out there that treat people with respect and don't make them cry with stupid tests or shitty behaviour in interviews. There was absolutely no need to continue with it after they wouldn't even countenance a new chair, and being upset at the weirdness after you thought it was going to be an ideal job is a perfectly reasonable reaction.

I'm honestly boggled that some of you would have sat in a wet chair when a) it's a wet chair!, b) you've no idea what it's wet with, and c) you risk ruining your nice interview clothes just for the sake of half an hour with a company that you then wouldn't accept an offer from anyway.

Really Charolais, I'd like to think that I'd have enough self-respect to do as the OP did.
And I could feel tears building up isn't the same as crying about it BTW.

theyre not american are they

souonds like some wanky shit they do over there