To feel a bit annoyed this is why I got rejected?

[ToeSucker]

I completed 5 rounds of interviews for a company. For the final interview, I had to travel across the country for an in-person meeting.

At this meeting (I met the whole team) there was a coffee break where we popped out to the local coffee shop.

The hiring manager asked me what I wanted. She also asked me what the team members next to me wanted. She paid for everyone's drinks.

Today I received a call from HR saying I was rejected, but mentioning I owe the hiring manager £3.70 for a coffee.

I'm shocked by this. I'm not sure I should be. I should have offered to pay I suppose but you're not in a normal frame of mind during interviews. I'm more annoyed I had to pay almost £240 for the train tickets and got rejected with this seemingly contributing to why.

I'm not at all saying I agree with it. It's an enormous waste of time. But it is the norm.

Is this not a final test to see how you react ? I very much doubt they told you you failed because you accepted the offer of a drink , it could be to gauge your response in relation to your expenditure. I’d point out you are disappointed after such a lengthy recruitment process and becoming more interested in the role to have been unsuccessful but also point out you were so focussed on the role you paid out £240 on rail fares so it feels inappropriate to be chased for the cost of a coffee that was offered

Urgh sounds like one of those dreadful recruitment ‘tests’ employers used to do to try and bamboozle people or trip them up.
you’re definitely better off out of it, treat the lost train fare as a small price to pay for saving you from some kind of 90s motivational speaker hellhole

Hmmmm.

That's not five rounds of interviews though. That's akin to an assessment centre which has long been usual for jobs like graduate jobs with a trade off of a high starting salary.

This but only send £3.69

I too wondered if this was a silly final round to decide who gets the job offer based on the response to this email. It’s ridiculous I’d just not reply.

I don't think that is what she said, they told her she hadn't got the job and then mentioned that she owed the manager for her coffee - very petty.

@ToeSucker I think you dodged a bullet, albeit an expensive one.

The behaviour from the employer is wildly unprofessional, and your shock is completely reasonable. The £3.70 request isn’t normal, it isn’t appropriate, and it signals a culture you’re better off not joining.

The problem isn’t the coffee. It’s the message it sends. A hiring manager inviting a candidate out for coffee during an interview is implicitly hosting. In professional settings, the inviter pays. That’s standard etiquette across the UK, Europe, and the US. For them to:

• invite you
• order for the team
• pay at the time
• then later have HR tell you that you “owe” £3.70

…is not just odd. It’s a red flag about their internal culture, their communication, and their respect for candidates.

Should you have offered to pay? No. Not in this context. During interviews, you’re not in a social situation among equals - you’re in a power‑imbalanced, evaluative environment. The hiring manager sets the tone. If they invite you and pay, the correct response is simply “thank you”. You didn’t do anything wrong.

This was literally my point, which is why I said the OP has dodged a bullet

I quite agree, I'm appalled!

That’s wild - on what earth do they think that’s a reasonable thing to drop into interview feedback.

Wow no, that is completely inappropriate.
when I’ve been flown out for an interview it was paid for by the company, as well as meals.
what a horrible way to treat prospective employees.
I wouldn’t pay them back- they can expense account that.

can you send them a bill for your train fare? (Minus the coffee price 🙄)

Post it, but don’t pay for postage. The tight fisted gits will need to pay the fine for no postage when they collect it. Preferably the hiring manager.

As above, surely the manager who paid for the coffees would be expensing it anyway?

I'd be seething. Ignore the request for coffee money and move on. Don't reply at all.

Did they give you any actual feedback on why you didn't get the role? They damn well should have after all that faff around.

No-one seriously thinks the OP should be invoicing for train tickets? How silly 🙄 Unless paid travel is specified in your interview emails, don’t do this.

Just ignore the request for the £3.70. Most of the suggestions on here are childish and you don’t want to be seen like that in the professional world where people talk to one another.

Absoloutely agree.

Them making this request signals a nasty, predatory workplace culture. Be very glad that you aren't working there!

Sounds like some awful trap to test if you are a team player. Reminds me of an interview I had where we were put in a windowless room they called "the cell" to complete an unexpected written assignment to test how we coped under pressure. This was interviewing for an admin job at a charity not to join MI5!

I'd ignore the email and be glad I don't have to work for them.

that is so offputting. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere near that hiring manager. If they didn’t want to buy you a coffee they shouldn’t have offered.

It is completely inappropriate to expect a job candidate to spend their own money during a directed part of the interview process. If they'd set you free for an hour to get your own lunch, or told you your were welcome to get yourself a coffee, that's one thing (though also pretty tight), taking you to a coffee shop and getting coffee in a group, asking you what you want and paying for it - that's on them.

I would respond telling them the request is inappropriate, you were unaware you'd be expected to cover the cost of something they offered to you and you will not be paying. I can think of a lot more I'd want to say, but it wouldn't be very professional and even though you aren't going to be working there, it's best not to blow off at people in your industry, even if they behave badly.

HRTFT but I assume it was a test planned all along. Would you really want to work for such a company?
Not quite the same, but DH is on the committee of an organisation that before even considering a new member will take them out to socialise for the evening. The prospective candidate last week has no idea that his behaviour that night means his application will not progress. I have no sympathy for him. He made a racist comment, one he was very unlikely to have made under interview conditions.

Never heard of that!
I'm curious if that is only done with female applicants.

Oh yes, it's a thing. For all interviewees not just women.

Tell them they will get the money for the coffee when you get the £240 for a wasted journey.