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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that when I drop everything to turn up for a job interview with 45 minutes bloody notice

51 replies

colditz · 27/11/2007 19:52

that the interviewer should not proceed to interigate me for 20 minutes about childcare?

I stated very pleasantly that should I be successful in getting the job, I would engage a child minder.

He wanted to know how soon I could engage a child minder, how reliable that child minder would be, how often she would be sick, I would be sick, the children would be sick .... etc.

Eventually I said "I'm afraid I can't answer in any more detail, as obviously until I have a job I don't have a child minder, so I don't know her, so I don't know how reliable she will be. Sorry!"

he didn't look very pleased but I rally didn't know what else to say, the situation is as the situation is, and it was splattered all over the application form that I have small children and would be engaging a child minder - quite what else he wanted me to say I really don't know!

He had no interest in anything else about me!

OP posts:
WideWebWitch · 27/11/2007 19:53

Very bad practice imo. Tosser, do you want to work for him anyway?

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 27/11/2007 19:54

Not convinced what he did was even legal.

JenT · 27/11/2007 19:54

I believe that this level of questioning is illegal.. he wouldn't have asked these questions to a man.
if you are happy to say - what kind of job is it? (no that that should matter)

Pennies · 27/11/2007 19:54

I'm not sure he can legally ask those kind of questions. Why is that information relevant to the job? Would he have asked the same question to a bloke?

ChristmasShinySnowflakes · 27/11/2007 19:55

That is SO not in line with Emplyment Law

RubySlippers · 27/11/2007 19:55

i wouldn't want to work for them

it is none of their business about your home life - you say "i have my childcare sorted" and it is end of discussion

he is on very shaky ground with this line of questioning to a woman

LoveMyGirls · 27/11/2007 19:55

What a twat! Take he has no children of his own.

I'm very chuffed to hear you are after a childminder as opposed to a nursery

ruddynorah · 27/11/2007 19:55

illegal. would he have asked a man with children the same questions?

funnypeculiar · 27/11/2007 19:56

Is it technically legal to question someone about their childcare provision (just thinking about that siralan thing on The Apprentice with katie... sure there were threads on here saying it came close to sex discrimiation...

NB What he wanted you to say is 'I will arrange for a backup plan so that, if at all possible, in the event of any sickness, I would hope still to be able to work' or something similar.

kd73 · 27/11/2007 19:56

I would consider making a formal complaint! That was such bad practice and I think you are owed an apology.

crunchie · 27/11/2007 19:56

colditz that is blatent sexual discrimination and I would really think hard as to whether you want to go further with this.

You could possibly sue, but prob don't want to. Hwever a well worded letter to the MD would be worth a shot

CarGirl · 27/11/2007 19:57

I also think these questions were illegal and if you don't get offered the job you can sue him for some reason (can't remember what but it's really dodgy, or is just if you're pregnant....)

rantinghousewife · 27/11/2007 19:58

I'd have asked him if he interrogated all his male employees in this way! There is no PC way to say this, so I'll just say it....What a Prick!

JenT · 27/11/2007 19:58

Sorry it is long - just found this on a site about good interviewing practice.

Discriminatory: questions about childcare, domestic and personal circumstances and health e.g. ?Do you have childcare responsibilities??

Such questions tend to be viewed as discriminatory because they assume that childcare and other family commitments may have a negative impact on a woman's motivation, commitment to the job, attendance or availability to work overtime. Because such discriminatory assumptions would not be likely to be made about male candidates, questions of this nature are viewed as discriminatory on the grounds of sex.

If, for example, the position includes the requirement to work weekends and/or evenings explain this to all candidates and ask whether this would be a problem.

IntergalacticWalrus · 27/11/2007 19:58

He sounds like a nobbo

Do you rea;ly want to work fore someone like that?

Entirely reasonable to ask what they are planning to do with the chiddlers while you work (presumably to make sutre you aren'y locking them up in the coalshed) but that level of questioning is wrong a pointless.

Youi should have asked him how often he goes for a shit each day, and how that affectys his productivitiy (if you'll pardon the pun)

Asking how often a child or anyone else is going to be ill isn;t a questiion you can give a quantifiable ansmer to anyway

Original poster
colditz · 27/11/2007 20:25

Thing is, I need a job. The KFC one has been put off until January (nobs!), and this one is school hours, Monday to Friday.

I have heard bad things about the place anyway, like them not paying the legal minimum wage to teenagers etc, but i figured I am savvy enough to make sure I am treated legally, if not well.

He was nobbish about it though. It was all he seemed able to focus on.

OP posts:
LoveMyGirls · 27/11/2007 20:36

Not with this nob though, can you imagine the first time you have to call in sick or the kids are ill, you won't hear the end of it and it will be more stress than its worth. It's hard enough working and runnign a house without guilt trips.

Unfitmother · 27/11/2007 20:45

You have clear grounds for complaint if you don't get the post.

Original poster
colditz · 27/11/2007 20:45

Oh I wouldn't feel guilty, it's a sandwich shop for Chrissake, nobody will die if I don't come in.

It's SUBWAY, by the way! Not some local pissant!

OP posts:
Original poster
colditz · 27/11/2007 23:36

And a cross bump because I am actually quite indignant and not in the best mood anyway.

OP posts:
aaaargh · 27/11/2007 23:55

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!!
yeah gads he is stoopid

CripleH · 28/11/2007 00:00

Totally crossing the line on that one. I highly doubt he'd ask a bloke the same questions.

That's sexual discrimination that is...

LazyLinePainterJane · 28/11/2007 07:20

nobbins

mummytheresa · 28/11/2007 07:37

You reminded me that some years ago I went for an interview in a jewellery manufacturing place, as a clerk only, no manual handling.
I was about 20 and the boss quizzed me incessantly about getting married and starting a family!
Being the sort of obnoxious and right on girl that I used to be I took it for a while then told him unless he was proposing that it had nothing to do with him.
I then refused the job as though it had been offered to me - even though it was not and complained about him to the agency that had sent me.

I dont think I could be so brash now though

Wordsmith · 28/11/2007 07:45

What a great reply MummyT. I remember being asked something similar at the age of about 25 and didn't quite know what to say.

Colditz - those questions are definitely illegal. And anyway, given it's a school hours job, is childcare really that relevant?

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