AIBU to find supermarket job interviews oddly demanding and irrelevant?

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I am a so called professional who has just had enough of one restructuring after another. I have handed my notice in.

I want a part-time job in a supermarket not as a manger but as a shop floor/warehouse worker.

Last month I had to do a psychometric test I kid you not, and was emailed to say I was through to the interview stage and I had to book an interview. All of the interview slots however had been taken in spite of the email only having been sent fifteen minutes before!

Having complained I was offered an interview but for a store a little further than I wanted.

There were three of us, we were given a little tour, then a group exercise, a small Functional skills test, then individual interview.

The questions:
Hobbies etc
One thing others would be surprised about me.
What would I do if I won the lottery.

Seriously, what bearing would these answers have on how I could do this job?

What would you say to the question about something someone would be surprised by me. I had absolutely no idea.

What answers would you have given?

What are they looking for? What answers do they want?

I disagree.

They're easy in that they don't require much brain power but, depending on what you do, they can be physically exhausting, mind-numbing and mentally draining.

I'm not saying those things don't exist, but let's not pretend stacking shelves and lugging boxes around for 8 hours is easy. I worked on the hot food counter for years and I was physically wiped at the end of a shift. It was hot, relentless work and I often had sore knees, sore hips and a sore back from doing constant twisting, turning and heavy lifting.

It might be easy if you're sat on a chair at the tills all day but most of retail just isn't like that.

Group exercises are useful, random questions not so much, but can prompt a question or two, animal might be a dog, loyal, energetic and reliable, that sort of thing. If you want the job, you need to commit to the process. Any whiff of ‘why are you asking me this’ might be a predictor of future (undesirable) behaviour it might not but probably not worth taking the risk.

Nah, all those jobs are easy, and I spent 4 years doing them working through university. You might be on your feet but it's real brain-off stuff. Anyone can walk around a carpark pushing trollies about or stacking shelves, they really can.

Some of the newbies we had were bloody useless. Putting cat food in the dog food. There is a picture of cats or dogs on the pet food!!!

Didn’t know the order of months in a year. Sometimes things like block cheese, we got a case with a date a month shorter than the longest date, they put these behind all the stock on the shelf

Like others have said, it's how you answer as it's preparing you for all the stupid questions you'll get from customers.

Do you show confusion/annoyance or are you quick on your feet and answer as if you already knew the question.

I've got a good fake face and can make stuff up on the go pretty quick, so a customer asking a ridiculous question will be met with a smile and seemingly thought out answer, even if inwardly thinking wtf.

How long ago did you do this job

The surprise question is totally make something up.

It doesn’t say it has to be about you - but what would surprise someone about you.

So what would surprise someone about you? Dance, sing? What is so unlike you it would be a shock! Have fun with it!

If you win the lottery one - again - have some fun. You love yoga so you’d build a whole summer house in your mansion garden for yoga! Buy yoga pants in all colours of the rainbow.

They don’t actually give a shit about the answers - more that you are sociable, can work in a team, converse well and are manageable.

You're overthinking it, its not about the answers its the difference between someone being confident and able to think on their feet and someone sat rolling their eyes thinking their above it

Dd worked pt in a supermarket whilst studying for her degree. She was soon left in charge even though she was on minimum wage and just a regular employee. She was run off her feet. She had to organise breaks, run the huge self check outs, attend parcel collection/ returns and be a runner, which means racing up and down the store getting price checks etc for cashiers.
She also got asked about products as in ‘ Is this pudding nice, will I like it?’
‘You don’t have any x bottles of wine, go and look in your stock room and get me one.’
’Why Don’t you have any Mini egg Easter eggs left, I want 3 for my children, why have you sold them all? Are you happy now?’ Said at 9pm the day before Easter Sunday.
One man came in 3 times as he had bought the wrong toilet rolls. His wife was sat in the car. He asked Dd ‘I keep picking the wrong ones, which ones does my wife mean?’
It’s not an easy job.

Years and years ago I went for an interview at Tesco for a part time shop assistant to fit around uni
It was a group interview that I believe lasted at least 3 hours and for part of it we had to make up a TV advert in groups for a product (think we had fruit juice) and act it out in front of everyone else
I absolutely hate shit like that so I probably came across as quiet and did not get the job 😂

I do agree though that passing an interview doesn’t mean that you are the best candidate for the job.

Years ago I went for a job as a teaching assistant in a primary school. I had experience and qualifications in all areas of child development.
I had to prepare a lesson plan and deliver it. Then had a long interview. At the end of the interview the interviewers told me rather casually that it would be expected that I stay behind every Friday for ‘ an hour or so, unpaid!’ They slipped in that the person leaving had basically told them that she would no longer be working unpaid and doing this.
I mean come on! You get paid less than a dustbin man and you are expected to work unpaid on top of that. This would reduced your wage to less than minimum wage. I apparently came a close runner up but frankly would not have even bothered going for the interviews if they had explained this beforehand.
Talk about misleading.

I was completely honest about it from the start and they did employ students so that wasnt unusual.

Except they can’t - lots of people find it way too physically demanding and can’t manage it.

Did you answer 'an amoeba, so I don't have to answer stupid questions?'

In my current role we do team building events. I dread them. It’s alway the same few obnoxious twats who take over the task, guffawing as though building a bridge out of spaghetti and golden syrup is the most interesting thing they have done.
Tou want me to feel happy? Give me the day off or some hard cash.

Years ago my DS applied online for a p/t role at Next when he was in sixth form. Didn’t get past that stage, I saw some of the questions and was 🤷‍♀️
He got a job through word of mouth, also retail but a small concern that didn’t have a shitty process and was there on and off for about 3 years.
I was once asked some bizzare question at a second interview for a charity job. I wasn’t prepared for that and didn’t get the job.

Stupid questions I have been asked in my last job:
. Do you know what washing liquid my wife buys? Obviously does not do the laundry.
. Is this (meat feast pizza) vegetarian? Asked by a regular who checks the reduced section.
. (On Dec 17th) Do you have any advent calendars left? Why would you ask that when got a week left and we sold out Nov 30

I could write a book of these stupid questions

You’re overthinking it, the subject of the questions are largely irrelevant by design. The interview is to test if you can meet social norms (dress, attitude, behaviour) and the questions are to see if you have basic intelligence, are able to chat to strangers comfortably and are pleasant to work with.

Some of the quirkier questions test if you can handle unexpected scenarios graciously. Supermarkets are full of customers asking ridiculous questions. If you’re coming from a high powered job or seem overqualified, they’re also likely checking your attitude in case you think the work or your colleagues are beneath you.

That doesn't make being a trolley porter a difficult job, especially given the vast majority of entry level jobs in retail are taken up by 18 year olds who will be perfectly able to walk about a bit.

Being a teacher is hard. Being a doctor is hard. Walking around a carpark is not difficult. You really don't even cover that much distance really.

Haha, just when you think you've heard them all, someone always comes along with a stranger than fiction question 🤣.

Nonplussed face is a skill 😅.

Also on my days off I went into other shops in the area. Customers recognised me from my previous job and asked me where things are. I said ask someone in uniform of the shop.

A few took it personally that I couldn’t answer their question.

Do they think shop workers have instant knowledge of product location in every shop?

I was once asked how my friends describe me.

Odd question. I have no idea how my friends describe me, I'm not there!

I regularly did 20k steps a day in retail.

Just because a job isn’t mentally challenging doesn’t mean it’s easy.