Job hunting can be a stressful and anxiety-inducing process, especially when you are in urgent need of some money. Landing an interview can make you feel like you are on top of the world. Unfortunately, nothing dampens the excitement of a job opportunity more than discovering that your potential employer is a tyrant, maniac, or sleazeball.
People on Reddit shared their worst job interview experiences, from uncomfortable workplaces to difficult bosses and deceptive wages.
What a Waste of Time
I was told multiple times the starting wage was $16 per hour plus medical/dental. Basic warehouse work pretty much. Loading freight, very physical and not a problem for me.
So, I'm in an interview with the manager and a couple supervisors. Everything went really well until they asked me how much I make, which at the time was $14 an hour.
"Why are you willing to take a step down in pay to work for us?".
What? I said, "The offer was $16 an hour, that's why I'm here."
They actually laughed and said, "Oh no, you can get up to $16 an hour maximum pending performance reviews." They wanted to pay me minimum wage.
I said, "Sorry to waste your time, but this is wasting mine." I got up and left.
| ajramone
Shortest Interview of My Life
This was a life insurance company. I applied to be a financial analyst intern after I graduated college. The first thing they said after I introduced myself was:
“Your compensation will be entirely commission based. We’ve found in the past that employees who target their family and friends have the highest sales.”
I stood up, said I didn’t think I would be a good fit for the company, shook hands with the interviewer, and walked straight to my car.
The whole thing lasted a total of 10 minutes, including the time I parked to the time I left. Shortest interview of my life.
| 4peak
Assistant with Benefits
I went to interview for an executive assistant position for a doctor who did a lot of work from his house.
He seemed impressed with my resume, and eventually the interview grew more casual. He offered me a glass of some decent whiskey.
Being young and somewhat naive and also desperate for a job, I accepted. When he offered the second round, I politely declined and left soon after.
Later that night, I got a text saying he wanted to hire me and was hoping for a friends-with-benefits situation with him and his wife.
That was definitely not the job I thought I was applying for.
What a Way to Make a Living
I work as a software engineer. I always ask how often the team works overtime. One interview they responded with, "Well, you'd be salary, so that doesn't matter."
I followed up with, "How often do the people on your team work more than 40 hours in a week?" This felt like rephrasing the question, but I really wanted an answer.
"Oh, I don't think anyone has ever worked less than 50 hours as long as I have been here. Sometimes it is closer to 80, but that is just the biz, you know?"
Yes. I do know. I doubled my asking salary and they didn't seem interested. Go figure.
| akdoug
Help Wanted
Went in for an "Office Manager" position. When I arrived, there were 20 other people waiting for interviews with me. That raised a major red flag, but I thought I'd roll with it and see what was going on.
One-by-one I started seeing people emerging from the interviewer's office looking confused and dejected.
They pulled me in for my appointment and said the position was cold-calling insurance sales.
I confronted them about it immediately, and even pulled up the job description on my phone. They said, "Well, if you sell really good, you can get a promotion to office manager." Get a promotion to be a glorified receptionist?
No way.
I flat-out told them they were unethical for lying to desperate people during a bad economy and walked out.
Influencers Wanted
Interviewed for a job at a firm when I had just moved to the country.
They proceeded to bring up my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter on the screen in front of me.
They laughed at me over photos of me in a dress at a Christmas party. They also said I didn't have any endorsements on LinkedIn, which was really important to them for some reason. And I only had 20 Twitter followers which they felt they needed to bring up.
I had all the required experience for the position, they were just so ridiculously caught up in social media profiles that they felt like they needed to belittle me from the get go.
They told me to send through some references, but I was so embarrassed and disheartened by the interview, it drained any interest of working for them at all.
A face for TV, a personality for scamming
I once got an interview for what I thought was a home security company. I had a great first interview. I was told that they were very interested in hiring me for a position that hadn't been advertised.
He said, "You have the perfect personality for what we want. You'd be helping us advertise through TV and radio!" Of course I was beyond excited. I set up a day for my second interview and left.
The day I showed up for the next interview, I'm dressed in office clothes and heels, fully expecting to be in the office. Nope! I'm sent out "into the field."
Turns out, we were going door-to-door scamming low-income families into giving us their credit card information. I left.
He suckered the suckers
Answered an ad for a receptionist. End up at a table with 10 other people. Then the guy starts pitching a multi-level marketing scheme. I'm angry, but it's summer and their air-conditioning is top notch, so I decide to chill there for the duration.
Eventually the guy calls me on my nonparticipation. "What's the matter? You look like someone ran over your dog."
"Well, guy, the matter is that you've pulled a bait-and-switch, I've driven an hour for nothing and now you're talking to me when all I want is to chill under this winter wonderland AC vent." Then I walked out.
Class act
I applied for a position with a company that usually gets students right out of college, only I was 30 at the time.
They had me bring in my high school transcripts (nothing about college, mind you) and started going through them asking about my grades in particular classes in depth.
I joked of course that it was not quite as relevant as my experience since then that made me a very strong candidate for the position, but they kept going, even after I asked them, "You realize this was almost 15 years ago, right?"
I soon told them they were looking for someone else and just left. Smart move on my part.
| cibman
Another kind of working from home
Twenty years ago I interviewed for a telemarketer position. Fundraising for a "disabled sports" event. It was a brand-new charity, very generic name, nobody had heard of it and this was the inaugural event.
Arrived at the interview.
It's a family home in a residential neighborhood. Their call center was literally four phones on a table in their living room. The call list was pages photocopied straight from the Whitepages directory. And the sales pitch was an entire sheet of single-space text.
They couldn't understand why it was nearly impossible to read out that much text in the two seconds before a person would hang up. I pruned the text and got in trouble for it. Walked out after four hours "for a break" and just kept on walking straight to the nearest bus stop.
You think you’re better than Tom Brady?
After filling out paperwork for the pre-interview, the employer comes in and brings me back to his office. He asks how I'm doing.
Now, it was pouring down raining that day, so I say I’m doing great, but wish the weather was a little better. He stops and goes, “Well, what’s wrong with the rain?” I reply that there is nothing wrong, I just wished it was nicer out.
He then asks if I like sports. After saying I do, he asks if I think Tom Brady is paid a million dollars a year to not play in the rain. I’m not sure how I responded to that, but weird question, right?
So then, he looks at my resume and goes, “so I see you’ve worked at Burger King the last three years.” I replied that, no, I actually worked at a full service restaurant as a waiter during college.
His reply: “Same thing.”
At this point, he tells me it’s not going to be a good fit. I told him I agreed and that he needed to work on his interviewing skills. Then I called him a jerk and walked out.
That’s a mic-drop moment
I went in for an interview and after a few minutes of waiting the receptionist told me I could go into the office to meet the manager.
As I walked in, he was on the phone so he motioned for me to have a seat.
He then proceeded to talk on the phone for 10 minutes. It was clearly a personal call and not business related. He just let me sit there while he talked. When the call was done he didn't say anything, he just opened up a folder and started filling out some papers.
After about five minutes of him doing paperwork, I asked if there was anything I could help with. I was just looking to break the awkward silence. He said, "Nope, be with you shortly." And he went back to work.
Another several minutes went by and he finally finished. He then looked at me and said, "Why do you want to work here?" I said, "I don't think I do."
He then asked what I meant and I told him, "If you are going to act like a jerk towards me before we have even spoken, I can't imagine what it must be like to actually work for you." With that, I got up and left.
| kane55
Employer or prison warden?
I was 18 years old and applying for a sales job at a large retail store that was just about to open.
The very first sentence this woman said to me during the interview was, "We work on a demerit points system here, this should keep you in line, and if it doesn't, you're out after your fourth demerit.
No excuses."
Literally no introducing herself, shaking my hand, nothing. She just looked at me and immediately said that.
I thanked her for her time and walked out of the building. No thanks. I was looking for employment, not a detention center.
| catona
Rubbed the wrong way
I interviewed for a receptionist position. The owner of the business was interviewing me.
Everything was going great. He told me about how he started his own business, his work history, normal interview stuff.
He proceeds to ask me if I'm willing to work hard. I said yes.
"Even if that means giving your boss a massage sometimes?"
Confused, I asked him what he meant by that. He explained that sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get far in life. I told him I'm not comfortable with that and he said, "Well, I don't think this will work then" and I left.
3 jobs, 1 salary
"We're actually looking for someone that can write and knows all the rules of SEO, that can shoot and edit videos quickly, and who is a master with Photoshop."
Not only I don't have the skills for the last two (at least not professionally), but also in my line of work it's a clear indicator that they expect the person to do the work of three persons for the salary of one, with very short deadlines.
Meaning: You'll be overworked, underpaid and absolutely miserable.
I didn't walk out of the interview, I don't have enough courage for that, I just sabotaged the interview by giving evasive answers.
| Anonymous
One of us, one of us
Was interviewing for some kind of a marketing company that did something for big clients. Never really understood what it was they did.
During the interview, the manager kept dropping all these buzzwords like "synergy" and whatnot. I tried asking some clarifying questions about the specifics of the job, and she just kept giving me generic answers.
I then interviewed with a few more employees there and got the impression like I was being inducted into a cult. They were all weird, some had a manic glint in their eyes when they talked about the "awesome opportunities" at the workplace.
I politely declined any further information and left. To this day I still don't know what that company does.
| Anonymous
Interview that didn’t have a 'happily ever after'
Guy asked me which of the seven dwarves I most closely identified with.
That should have been a red flag, but I answered "Doc" and we moved on.
After telling him I wanted a part-time job for a little extra spending cash, he asked me if it was because I was pregnant.
I got pretty testy with him about that, because I was not pregnant. Ended up making an excuse to leave mid interview.
They called me a day or so later to tell me I got the job. Took the job despite knowing better. Horrible things happened. I quit two weeks later.
| Anonymous
Just a rat in a cage
There was a promotions company that needed a graphic designer to add to their team of four.
We were walking and interviewing, so they could show me the office, and they got to where I would be working.
It was a closet.
There were four people in there, desks pushed along every wall. The back of their chairs touched, they were so crammed close together. Their MacBook screens were edge to edge all the way around. There were no lights.
I repeat: literally no lights.
They looked up at us as we opened the door with giant computer screen glowing eyeballs. It was the creepiest and most bizarre workspace I'd ever seen. When we started walking back to the interviewer's office, I basically said I had to go.
| Anonymous
But how did she really feel?
I interviewed for a position at a company and it went great: The job seemed similar to what I was already doing but for much more money. The interviewer told me she wanted to bring me back for a second interview with my direct supervisor.
I show up. The lady spent an entire 10-15 minutes looking down at her hands, speaking very quietly, constantly looking over her shoulder.
She basically told me that no sane person would want this position, and that the people she worked under were awful, horrible bosses: unorganized, never in the office, relied on her for everything, expected her to work overtime with no notice and so on.
I thanked her for her time, called my recruiter and asked them to take my name out of consideration for the position.
Those cushy government jobs
"We'd like to bring you on as a full time District Attorney. Due to budget constraints we will not be able to provide relocation compensation or compensation the first year. Budget permitting, we will consider compensation and benefits after the first year."
"So, you want me to relocate across the country, work for free for a year without promise of paid employment after that year?"
"We understand if this isn't for everyone."
"I appreciate the opportunity to interview. Please let me know if your search expands to include paid employment for a District Attorney."
And with that I hung up. Shortest interview ever.
When no really means no
I was doing a phone interview with a company in Florida. My interviewer tells me that I would be expected to fly out to Florida on my own dime for an in-person interview.
Then he asked, "Can you fly out Wednesday?" It was Friday, so I was like, "Five days from now?" When he said yes, I started laughing and said, "Are you kidding me?" He snapped at me, "Yes, I'm serious!
We are trying to get this position filled as fast as possible! If you're not serious, maybe you're not right for the position!"
To which I replied, "You're right, I don't think I'm right for this position."
He immediately softened and started saying stuff like, "Well, wait a minute, let's talk about this." And when I kept saying, "Look, I am clearly not a good choice for your company —" he kept cutting me off and insisting that we continue the interview.
A few days later, I got a call from the company again, informing me that I was one of the top three candidates. So when should they expect me for my interview?
Cue another five minutes of insisting that I didn't want the job, before finally cutting them off and hanging up.
Juggling a lot of duties
When I was 20 this woman tried to hire me for "juggling lessons" for her 17-year-old autistic son. I perform at a music therapy event every year and do a group lesson for all the kids, most of which suffer from some disability.
So I drive 45 minutes to her house and she starts talking about how, "This is a full-time job, we need to to be on call all the time, you are going to have to stop taking college classes, your duties include helping him wipe and giving him a bath every night and the pay is $8 an hour."
Yeah, no thanks, lady.
| justlowt
The candidate just wasn't sold
I was brought into an interview with the information that the company was looking to hire administrative assistants.
I sat through about five minutes of my interview when the interviewer says to me, "Before we get started, how quickly can you purchase a vehicle?"
Confused, I explain, "I am currently unemployed, so purchasing a vehicle is out of the question. Does the administrative position require errands as part of the duties?"
Interviewer says, "Oh, we hired the administrative positions already, but we felt you would be perfect for sales." I let them know they had completely wasted my time and it was incredibly unprofessional and left.
Entry level, executive exit
I found a job looking to hire someone for a "management" position at a sales company. Before I applied, I called them up and asked if this was actually for an entry level job. They assured me it was not.
When I got there for the "interview" I was led into a room with about 20 other "interviewees." We then watched a product demo video about whatever junk they were selling.
After the video they started to tell us about how much of the product we were expected to sell. I politely interrupted the speaker and asked if this position was a sales job or a management job.
The speaker gave me a subtle, "Oops, you got me" look and confirmed that it actually was a sales job.
I stood up and walked out of the conference room without looking back.
A really old profession
I was 18 when I interviewed for a receptionist position at a law firm. I thought it was strange that they'd even interview me, and even stranger that it paid so well.
I also thought it was strange when I showed up and there were half a dozen other young, pretty girls in the lobby waiting to be seen, and the woman who took me to the back mentioned they were looking to fill "several" positions.
How many receptionists does one law firm need?
The interview lasted several hours and consisted of questions surrounding how comfortable I was among strangers, how social I considered myself and if I'd ever waited tables before.
Eventually it was relayed to me that I wouldn't be the firm receptionist so much as I'd be the managing partner's hostess for private events at his home. I would need to be willing to devote my weekends to "interacting" with his "colleagues in the industry" and providing "entertainment."
I thanked him for his time and basically ran to the elevator.
Talk about a loser
[I] interviewed to be a journalist for a small newspaper in my hometown. The editor was just a complete condescending jerk.
He said he didn't believe my resume. I was pretty young and had done a lot of work, as I had been supporting my family since I was 14 years old.
He told me to write 28 samples right in front of him (the interview had gone over for about an hour already) and that he would read them and decide if I was good enough.
I reluctantly started to write and he said, "Just because you have experience doesn't mean you're not a loser without a degree."
Walked out.
Must be willing to act as personal therapist
I once had an interview with the owner of a small company. I thought it was going well, we were wrapping up and eventually getting to innocuous chit chat. But it didn't stop. She just kept going.
Eventually she starts telling me about how disappointing her employees all are, how hard she works and no one appreciates her.
Then it starts getting personal, she starts telling me about her ex-husband, her current dating situation and how she resents her father. She starts crying. She finally excuses herself for a minute.
She returns, sees me out and calls me back two hours later. I didn't answer. She left a voicemail offering me the job, and she was crying again. I never called back.
| spacific
Filtering out candidates
I was out of university for a few months and was looking for any kind of job since staying home was horrendously boring. I surf the web and find a job where I'd get paid $15 an hour for selling water filters.
I apply and get the interview. The interviewer confirms what the job post said regarding the payment, and then gets the applicants into a room to watch a lengthy presentation about the company.
Afterwards, we all got sheets to finalize everything and insert our desired working times. That is where I notice it. The sheet says something along the lines of, "Employees will only be paid AFTER a filtering unit has been successfully sold" and that we'd only get paid AFTER a month of working.
80% of the interviewees just walked out, including myself.
| warmice
Math majors need not apply
It was a sales position at an air filter company. He liked me enough to start talking salary, but that's when it took a bad turn.
Basically, I could make UP TO a certain amount, but really realistically I'd be making less than minimum wage.
He kind of got red-faced when I kept saying, "But wait, this means I'll be making like $5 and hour. I must not be understanding this right because you advertised this position as $40,000 year.
Can you explain?"
The employer would rope people in with bad math and false promises and got people to agree to work under false pretenses. They'd quit and the cycle began again.
Once this became clear, I politely declined and left.
Shady shysters being shady
It was actually after the interview. It was an insurance broker/sales team and I had some reservations because insurance sales people are THE WORST.
At the interview they said all the sales came from good leads, that people had filled out a questionnaire online and wanted to hear from us. I was assured that we provided a great service to people that were actively seeking us out.
First day on the job, I went on a ride along with a current employee. When I saw the demographics they were targeting and how they purposefully tried to scare poor people into thinking they needed insurance (when they could barely afford rent), it just made me ill.
A little unhinged
The interviewer shouted at me. He explained that my day-to-day would be colleagues sending me tickets and I do what they want, to the letter, within a set timeframe. No communication.
I asked politely if there was any room for collaboration or giving input, and he slammed his fists on the desk. "THAT'S NOT HOW WE WORK HERE!" I laughed (I couldn't help it, it was so unexpected) and told him I don't think this role is for me.
He sent me a rejection email a week later.
/D-1-S-C-0
Last one in, first one up
I had an interview for a teacher training position and was still recovering from a pretty major surgery, so was still on crutches. I arrived 30 minutes early, and they then told me that the interview was taking place in a different building on the opposite end of the campus.
When I asked if they had any form of help with transport, I got a weird look and they said "It takes less than 10 minutes to walk there." It took me nearly half an hour.
When I got there the two other candidates were already there with the head of faculty, who welcomed me with a "glad you decided to finally join us.”
We had to do presentations and I was told "it's only fair, last one in first one up". I did my presentation, then went in for my individual interview. The first question was: "do you make it a habit to be the last one everywhere?"
I'd had enough. I asked them if they made it a habit to discriminate against people with disabilities (they'd have had no idea it was just surgery recovery), and iterated that I had no interest in being educated by an establishment that ridiculed people for something they had no control over, then I hobbled out.
A week later they offered me a place on the course.
I rejected, wrote in with my grievances, and never heard back.
/IdgePidge
Voicemail freakout
I showed up five minutes before the appointed time and checked in with reception to notify my interviewer of my arrival. I was told to have a seat.
After 20 minutes, I confirmed with reception that my interviewer was aware that I had arrived. After 20 more minutes, I started wondering about their professionalism and whether I wanted to work there.
At the hour mark I stood up and left. Even if there had been some sort of crisis, there was nothing to stop them from telling me they were dealing with something and would not be able to go ahead with the interview.
This was before mobile phones were common. I got home to find the light on my answering machine blinking. The message was the interviewer screaming at me for having wasted her time. She promised I would never work in the industry and she would make it her mission to ruin my career.
So glad I walked away.
/VH5150OU812
No free labor for you!
I had a telephone interview for an IT technician position for a design company. They mentioned the next stages would be two more interviews and a full day trial shift.
I ended the call and emailed the recruiter saying it wasn't for me.
/willuminati91
I can't answer that
I had a call with an internal recruiter about a remote role. When I started questioning about the role and how many people would be supporting me, he started apologizing saying he wasn’t sure. Every single question I asked after, he said the same...
that he can’t answer and it would be covered when I come to the interview.
When I told him I thought he said it was remote-based, he said "Oh, no, the role is office-based."
I told him that next time he pretends to have a first stage interview (which is what he said in his email) he should include all the facts. He started to get annoyed and changed his tone, so I sarcastically laughed and thanked him for wasting my time.
The job is still up with the same info.
/No-Detective1810
Shameless weight shaming
This happened virtually as it was over Zoom. The interview was with a tech company in the health sector, specifically a company that wanted to create and produce wearables to help people with weight loss, BMI readings, etc.
I was very interested, because I myself was chubby and I was keen to even use it myself.
I log on to Zoom, the guy is a bit abrupt, but nothing out of the ordinary. I attributed it to nerves.
He goes: “Let me start with a bit of info and history about our company and how it will affect the health sector.”
He pauses for a second thinking how to start. “Don't take this the wrong way, but do you know what I see when I look at your chubby face? BMI and an early death. Our wearables could help…” that's where my mind stopped working for a few seconds before interrupting him and going “I'm sorry, this isn't the role for me, thanks” and straight up closed the Zoom call before he could respond.
/Moment_37
Tiny budget, big dream
Once when I worked in marketing an employer sent me a pre-interview test. It was a “hypothetical” scenario where a new fashion brand wanted to launch in Europe. I needed to put together a budget and proposal.
I budgeted to launch in Europe saying this brand would need to spend between £600k and £1m to get the kind of sales they wanted. Fashion is one of the most competitive environments.
In the interview the employer berated me for my budget estimates. It turns out this was a real client they had at the time, and the client only had £10k a month to spend on marketing.
Turns out that this company was promising this brand stupid levels of sales with a tiny budget.
I immediately got up and left. What this company was promising was impossible and I knew it. I didn’t want to work for a stupid, deluded company.
/SnooGoats1557
I'd Google it
They had asked me to prepare a 15-minute presentation (standard in that field) . When I walked in, they announced they'd changed their mind and only wanted five slides. I cracked a small joke saying, “I hope the title slide didn't count.” Silence.
I was using one of their laptops and she'd left Skype on, so message notifications were pinging up throughout the presentation.
We got through the presentation and then they shared me with an output from an experimental methodology I didn't know how to do (which they must have known). They asked me to interpret it.
I know the basic principles, so explained what I was looking at but wasn't able to get into the real detail. They scoffingly asked how I'd expect to manage the job. I looked the lead dead in the eye and said "I'd Google it.
With a PhD from Oxbridge and years of research experience, I'm more than capable of looking up a new technique.”
One of the other interviewers got very offended, stood up and got right in my face and said "analyze it." I walked out. The door opened outwards, and I must have pushed it quite hard open because it closed quite hard and bumped open again, just as I loudly muttered "twats."
I've regretted how I handled a few situations in my career, but not this one.
/ACatGod
Zero preparation
I walked out of an interview with the Department for International Development.
It was so insultingly obvious that none of the three people conducting the interview had read my CV, or knew anything about the 20 years of experience that I had in my field, that I – politely, I hope – called a halt to a question after 20 minutes or so.
I apologized for leaving early, but said that I felt it was very clear that they hadn't prepared for the meeting.
They looked a little taken aback. I gave them a couple of seconds to say something. None of them did. I left. That's it. It was a mid-senior role in a comms/marketing capacity.
/guernican
Lowball lies
Yeah, multi-stage interview, got to final stage, gave a 20-minute presentation on what I’d do to drive business etc. and then they lowballed me on salary by £8k compared to what I said in the initial telephone interview about six weeks before that.
They were like “oh we would love you to start with us, we were really impressed with your ideas and the approach you mapped out” and then lowballed me. I asked if they had got me mixed up with another candidate, they said no, so I said I’d said a figure £8k above that and they just replied “we aren’t willing to pay that.” So I walked out.
/njt1986
Just kidding, it’s hybrid
The position was advertised as fully remote. Then at the interview, they say that the role is actually hybrid (three days a week in the office). They only advertised it as remote to get a bigger pool of applicants.
I showed no shade, and said that I would be writing reviews on Glassdoor, Google and Indeed explaining that this organization does not operate with honesty and integrity, and that my experience should be a warning to others who might be attracted to so-called "remote" positions.
I then walked out.
/FreeMule901
Too little, too late
I was a fresh computer science graduate looking for my first job out of university, and I decided to apply for this job for a small company. In the next few days I got a phone call asking me to come in.
When I pulled into the small car park next, I pulled up next to a gold plated BMW i8. Clearly, the company is not doing badly.
I go through the normal interview stuff for about 15 minutes, then get asked the dreaded question, "What is your salary expectation?" I fumble around trying to not give exact figures. The CEO hates this and very bluntly tells me to name a figure.
I say £35k. He laughed.
I'm a little confused as this is the number listed on the advert. He proceeded to give a lecture on how much recruitment agencies inflate the price and warp graduates' brains to expect higher salaries, and that I clearly didn't know my worth and I would be lucky to get a job with that salary.
So I asked how much he would be willing to pay me. After insulting my github portfolio saying I should only have working software on there, he said £20k. At this point I got up, shook his hand, thanked him for the time and ended the interview.
I still got a formal offer in the form of a text message, minutes after leaving. I replied that, unfortunately, I already had an offer for over double the salary offered, so I will not be considering them any further.
It felt good.
/notABadGuy3
Book quiz gone wrong
I decided to apply to be a clerk at a bookstore down the street, as it's well established and eccentric enough that it makes a news story every few years.
The clerk who gave me the application warned me it had a test attached and I'd need to make extra time. I didn't have anywhere to be so I stuck around. The packet in total took me close to an hour.
After the general application questions were literature questions that honestly made me feel unenlightened. They asked about the regions Eudora Welty wrote about, Button Gwinnett's occupation, Bible verses. What Alfred Stieglitz did, even though his name was misspelled on the test.
Surely they were all famous names, but the majority were titles and authors I just hadn't encountered yet.
The clerk got the manager after I was finished. The first thing she did was to glance at my application and say, "Oh, you're at X school? We don't usually hire students because we have day shifts.
What days are you available?"
At this point I was pretty irritated. Why wouldn't a bookstore hire students from next door?
The manager looked me in the eye for the first time and said, "Well, I'm asking you." At this point I politely asked for my bag from behind the counter and said I was leaving.
I was thrilled to walk out of that place.
/watercolorfxg
I’ll pass on the poverty wages, thanks…
I’m job hunting and interviewing out of state because I plan on moving soon. I was making $27/hr as a medical assistant at my last job, but thought I’d get back into transport.
I walked into the interview and the guy immediately started talking about how they hire absolutely NO AMR employees because they hate AMR. Then he proceeded to tell me that he just got finished firing a new guy on the spot for dinging a mirror.
He did not ask me any questions about myself or my experiences, spent 30 minutes talking about how much their company makes, then asked me if I’d be okay with $14/hr.
I asked for $16 and then he brought it down to $13.75. The job listing stated $17-$23. I laughed and told him I’d probably fare better at McDonald’s.
/JodieBella
I came, I saw, I left
Three minutes into the interview, a floor staff member comes in and asks when the boss will be done, because there is a customer who needs something.
No. "sorry, I am busy" or "tell X to deal with it"
...straight into "Jesus christ! It's SUNDAY and I am INTERVIEWING can't anyone DO ANYTHING themselves here!" in that just bordering-on-shouting voice.
So I stood up, and said "I do not want to work for someone like you" and I left.
/AceBv1
Putting out fires
The interviewer gets on the Zoom call and immediately makes a point about how he "only has 30 minutes" for this interview – but then right as he ends that sentence, as if on cue – he gets a call, supposedly from a client.
He bumbles out something about having to "put out a fire," then places me on mute, but leaves his video on.
After watching him happily (and with zero apparent urgency) yap at whoever it was for approximately seven minutes, I hung up. Felt damn good too, because that was the first time I ever did that, and can remember a time when I would have continued sitting there.
A whole 40 minutes later, I get an email with the subject "Apologies," where he reiterates his apparent (and vague) need to "put out a fire" but reassures me that he is now ready for the interview.
I simply wrote back "no thanks," when I really wanted to write back how much of an inconsiderate prick he is.
/FuzzyBear1982
Hope that suit wasn’t too expensive…
Going for a graduate job in London post-university, I was shortlisted by a leading market research company and asked to prepare a presentation for an interview.
I did a lot of prep, bought a nice suit, and traveled to London with nervous excitement.
Two minutes into my presentation, I noticed the interviewer was apparently doing the New York Times crossword. I paused and asked if he was following my presentation.
He nodded but didn’t look up from his newspaper. I carried on talking about my subject for another couple of minutes, but could see he was still doing the crossword, so thanked him and left.
I explained the situation to the recruiter running the open day, and she rolled her eyes as if to say “Oh, this again.” I got a letter a week later refusing to cover my travel expenses as I had walked out of the interview.
/Missy_Agg-a-ravation
Double win for OP
I walked out of the interview for my current job. Towards the middle of the interview, my now manager said that, due to my experience, I wouldn’t be getting the advertised pay of £36k. They offered £28k instead.
I replied that my experience tells me I should be paid £36k, thanked him and the director for wasting my time, and left.
Later that evening I got a call from the manager – he apologized and asked if I wanted the job if the pay was £36k. I accepted and negotiated a couple extras for me.
I’m still here almost a year later.
/LowChemical8735
Unforgettably uncomfortable
I walked out of one as a very young woman (many many moons ago). I was on a training scheme for a couple of years and at the end, they set you up with interviews to move on to once you were qualified.
The guy in the interview was asking questions I thought were far too personal: are you in a relationship?, do you see yourself having kids in the future?, etc etc.
Noped right out of that, reported him to my mentor back at the provider.
/blindedbythesparkles
No thanks, I don’t wanna die!
Manual worker here. I went to a new job, and there were six other guys there who were starting. Crazy stuff, it was just glossed over like it was normal.
The first thing that made me stand up and literally nope out of there were them saying, "We've had an increase in workers getting shot with air rifles, just leave and return later in the day." The second was when they said, "People are purposely causing fires and putting them in our vehicles."
/Vegetable-Acadia
Door-to-door bait and switch
I went for a company interview and was asked back for a quick tour, where I found out all new potential hires had been brought in to do some teaming up with current employees to see how they get on.
What I thought was a telesales role turned out to be door-to-door sales. We had to pay for our own transport to some part of the city 45 minutes away from the office, to walk around in the not-so-great weather trying to get people to get wall cavity insulation.
All unpaid of course. The role was 100% commission – no salary as well.
I noped right outta there.
/87oldben
Have you been painting?
Approximately 15 years ago, my partner went for an interview for the position of secretary at a small family run mortgage company. She went into the interview room and was asked the usual questions. Midway through one of her answers he cut her off to ask her if she'd "been painting" prior to the interview.
She asked why he thought this and he replied, "because of the brown spots on your arms".
My partner has what I would call 'beauty spots' and this genius thought they were paint splatters.
Needless to say the interview didn't go any further.
/kamarak
The clock is ticking!
I was asked (with no prior warning) to do 3D surface modeling on a certain software. It's a software I use, but I wouldn't use it for surface modeling – I'd do that in another software and then import it.
I could figure it out if it were a challenge I was given to do in my own time, but I wasn't – they said I have 15 minutes, not enough time for even the most skilled surface modeler to do a good job.
I explained my concerns, and explained that even a 24-hour time frame would be OK, but it was like talking to a brick wall.
I just said, “I don't think this workplace is for me.”
/Marsmanic
Biohazard zone
I politely left an interview at a pharmaceutical company when I saw they had open syringes on the conference room table. I kept gesturing towards them and eventually said, “You maybe want to do something about that?”
I knew something was up the second I pulled into the parking lot and saw workers outside smoking cigarettes in their clean suits.
About a week later they got shut down and the CEO got charged with 100 cases of murder. The medical steroids they were manufacturing were infected with fungal meningitis.
So glad I walked out of that interview.
/getonboardman42
Go for an interview, end up at a cult meeting
In the first year that I set up my business, an advert came up for a graphic designer two days a week on a reasonable wage.
So I applied and got an interview. I went to the address on the allotted time and date, and was directed to take a seat in a room only to find tables of people. The doors were shut and it turned out to be bloody Scientologists trying to recruit!
No escape until we heard their spiel and then we were made to do an IQ test!
They then left us shut in the room while they scored the tests. After 15 minutes or so they said people who scored over 120 could leave now, and fortunately I was one of them.
/GraphicDesignerSam
Surprise group interview
I showed up to my interview this morning only to walk into a room of 10 people who were all clearly waiting for the same interview as myself.
The hiring manager pushed an application form in my hands and was pleasant enough. Admittedly, my face probably already said everything.
Something snapped in me. Rather than grin and bear it, I just pushed the forms back into his hands and asked for a word in private. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I would not be participating in a group interview and that I felt annoyed, uncomfortable and misled as this had not been mentioned during our initial screening.
He was dumbfounded and stumbled over an attempt at an apology but I was already out the door and gone.
At the very least if you can't do me the courtesy of a one-on-one interview then you're not a place I want to work.
/JacuzziPigeonpq
Dodged a bullet
I walked out due to a very caustic manager I would be reporting to. He was openly hostile and demeaning, and was shouting a lot about "liars" and how much he hated them.
No idea why it even came up. I just started laughing at him, then I got up and walked out while his eyes bugged out.
/very_undeliverable
Nothing gained, nothing lost
I walked out of an interview when I heard who the area accounts manager was. I’d had dealings with them in the past and knew them to be a complete asshat to staff.
/kieronj624
Unprofessionalism and disrespect
They had me waiting at the entrance to the back for almost an hour. When the manager finally arrived, I followed her to the back. She was walking really fast and I had a hard time keeping up because I was in dress shoes.
She kept commenting on my speed saying I would have to learn to walk faster if I want to work there.
When we got to her office, she asked two questions. One of them was about my employment gap. You know, during the recession. She then got up and just left. No reason was given at all.
Just left. Five minutes later, a random employee showed up and said that there's going to be a second interview in about an hour. I told the employee that I'm just going to use the bathroom, and instead I just left.
Two hours later, I received a voice-mail from the manager berating me about my "unprofessionalism and disrespect." I deleted the voicemail and laughed. A few days later, I found a job with much more respectful managers, a little bit better pay, but more hours.
/This account has been deactivated
A unique lead capture method
During my time as an insurance broker, I was approached by a company that promised me better benefits and a competitive salary.
It wasn't until I got there that I realized it was a group interview. I was already surprised that they didn't mention it to me. Their first request was to write on a sheet of paper the names and phone numbers of 10 references, friends and family members that they could contact to sell insurance.
In addition, they told us that people would be contacted whether we were selected or not.
I left the interview at that point. I think they were looking for customers more than employees.
/yannve
Minimum wage, maximum work
I was told multiple times the starting wage was $16 per hour plus medical/dental. Basic warehouse work pretty much. Loading freight, very physical and not a problem for me.
So, I'm in an interview with the manager and a couple supervisors. Everything went really well until they asked me how much I make, which at the time was $14 an hour.
"Why are you willing to take a step down in pay to work for us?".
What? I said, "The offer was $16 an hour, that's why I'm here."
They actually laughed and said, "Oh no, you can get up to $16 an hour maximum pending performance reviews." They wanted to pay me minimum wage.
I said, "Sorry to waste your time, but this is wasting mine." I got up and left.
| ajramone
Sell out your parents
This was a life insurance company. I applied to be a financial analyst intern after I graduated college. The first thing they said after I introduced myself was:
“Your compensation will be entirely commission based. We’ve found in the past that employees who target their family and friends have the highest sales.”
I stood up, said I didn’t think I would be a good fit for the company, shook hands with the interviewer, and walked straight to my car.
The whole thing lasted a total of 10 minutes, including the time I parked to the time I left. Shortest interview of my life.
| 4peak
The love doctor
I went to interview for an executive assistant position for a doctor who did a lot of work from his house.
He seemed impressed with my resume, and eventually the interview grew more casual. He offered me a glass of some decent whiskey.
Being young and somewhat naive and also desperate for a job, I accepted. When he offered the second round, I politely declined and left soon after.
Later that night, I got a text saying he wanted to hire me and was hoping for a friends-with-benefits situation with him and his wife.
That was definitely not the job I thought I was applying for.
That’s just the biz, you know?
I work as a software engineer. I always ask how often the team works overtime. One interview they responded with, "Well, you'd be salary, so that doesn't matter."
I followed up with, "How often do the people on your team work more than 40 hours in a week?" This felt like rephrasing the question, but I really wanted an answer.
"Oh, I don't think anyone has ever worked less than 50 hours as long as I have been here. Sometimes it is closer to 80, but that is just the biz, you know?"
Yes. I do know. I doubled my asking salary and they didn't seem interested. Go figure.
| akdoug
Work your way up to receptionist
Went in for an "Office Manager" position. When I arrived, there were 20 other people waiting for interviews with me. That raised a major red flag, but I thought I'd roll with it and see what was going on.
One-by-one I started seeing people emerging from the interviewer's office looking confused and dejected.
They pulled me in for my appointment and said the position was cold-calling insurance sales.
I confronted them about it immediately, and even pulled up the job description on my phone. They said, "Well, if you sell really good, you can get a promotion to office manager." Get a promotion to be a glorified receptionist?
No way.
I flat-out told them they were unethical for lying to desperate people during a bad economy and walked out.
Antisocial media
Interviewed for a job at a firm when I had just moved to the country.
They proceeded to bring up my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter on the screen in front of me.
They laughed at me over photos of me in a dress at a Christmas party. They also said I didn't have any endorsements on LinkedIn, which was really important to them for some reason. And I only had 20 Twitter followers which they felt they needed to bring up.
I had all the required experience for the position, they were just so ridiculously caught up in social media profiles that they felt like they needed to belittle me from the get go.
They told me to send through some references, but I was so embarrassed and disheartened by the interview, it drained any interest of working for them at all.
A face for TV, a personality for scamming
I once got an interview for what I thought was a home security company. I had a great first interview. I was told that they were very interested in hiring me for a position that hadn't been advertised.
He said, "You have the perfect personality for what we want. You'd be helping us advertise through TV and radio!" Of course I was beyond excited. I set up a day for my second interview and left.
The day I showed up for the next interview, I'm dressed in office clothes and heels, fully expecting to be in the office. Nope! I'm sent out "into the field."
Turns out, we were going door-to-door scamming low-income families into giving us their credit card information. I left.
He suckered the suckers
Answered an ad for a receptionist. End up at a table with 10 other people. Then the guy starts pitching a multi-level marketing scheme. I'm angry, but it's summer and their air-conditioning is top notch, so I decide to chill there for the duration.
Eventually the guy calls me on my nonparticipation. "What's the matter? You look like someone ran over your dog."
"Well, guy, the matter is that you've pulled a bait-and-switch, I've driven an hour for nothing and now you're talking to me when all I want is to chill under this winter wonderland AC vent." Then I walked out.
Class act
I applied for a position with a company that usually gets students right out of college, only I was 30 at the time.
They had me bring in my high school transcripts (nothing about college, mind you) and started going through them asking about my grades in particular classes in depth.
I joked of course that it was not quite as relevant as my experience since then that made me a very strong candidate for the position, but they kept going, even after I asked them, "You realize this was almost 15 years ago, right?"
I soon told them they were looking for someone else and just left. Smart move on my part.
| cibman
Another kind of working from home
Twenty years ago I interviewed for a telemarketer position. Fundraising for a "disabled sports" event. It was a brand-new charity, very generic name, nobody had heard of it and this was the inaugural event.
Arrived at the interview.
It's a family home in a residential neighborhood. Their call center was literally four phones on a table in their living room. The call list was pages photocopied straight from the Whitepages directory. And the sales pitch was an entire sheet of single-space text.
They couldn't understand why it was nearly impossible to read out that much text in the two seconds before a person would hang up. I pruned the text and got in trouble for it. Walked out after four hours "for a break" and just kept on walking straight to the nearest bus stop.
You think you’re better than Tom Brady?
After filling out paperwork for the pre-interview, the employer comes in and brings me back to his office. He asks how I'm doing.
Now, it was pouring down raining that day, so I say I’m doing great, but wish the weather was a little better. He stops and goes, “Well, what’s wrong with the rain?” I reply that there is nothing wrong, I just wished it was nicer out.
He then asks if I like sports. After saying I do, he asks if I think Tom Brady is paid a million dollars a year to not play in the rain. I’m not sure how I responded to that, but weird question, right?
So then, he looks at my resume and goes, “so I see you’ve worked at Burger King the last three years.” I replied that, no, I actually worked at a full service restaurant as a waiter during college.
His reply: “Same thing.”
At this point, he tells me it’s not going to be a good fit. I told him I agreed and that he needed to work on his interviewing skills. Then I called him a jerk and walked out.
That’s a mic-drop moment
I went in for an interview and after a few minutes of waiting the receptionist told me I could go into the office to meet the manager.
As I walked in, he was on the phone so he motioned for me to have a seat.
He then proceeded to talk on the phone for 10 minutes. It was clearly a personal call and not business related. He just let me sit there while he talked. When the call was done he didn't say anything, he just opened up a folder and started filling out some papers.
After about 5 minutes of him doing paperwork, I asked if there was anything I could help with. I was just looking to break the awkward silence. He said, "Nope, be with you shortly." And he went back to work.
Another several minutes went by and he finally finished. He then looked at me and said, "Why do you want to work here?" I said, "I don't think I do."
He then asked what I meant and I told him, "If you are going to act like a jerk towards me before we have even spoken, I can't imagine what it must be like to actually work for you." With that, I got up and left.
| kane55
Employer or prison warden?
I was 18 years old and applying for a sales job at a large retail store that was just about to open.
The very first sentence this woman said to me during the interview was, "We work on a demerit points system here, this should keep you in line, and if it doesn't, you're out after your fourth demerit.
No excuses."
Literally no introducing herself, shaking my hand, nothing. She just looked at me and immediately said that.
I thanked her for her time and walked out of the building. No thanks. I was looking for employment, not a detention center.
| catona
Rubbed the wrong way
I interviewed for a receptionist position. The owner of the business was interviewing me.
Everything was going great. He told me about how he started his own business, his work history, normal interview stuff.
He proceeds to ask me if I'm willing to work hard. I said yes.
"Even if that means giving your boss a massage sometimes?"
Confused, I asked him what he meant by that. He explained that sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get far in life. I told him I'm not comfortable with that and he said, "Well, I don't think this will work then" and I left.
3 jobs, 1 salary
"We're actually looking for someone that can write and knows all the rules of SEO, that can shoot and edit videos quickly, and who is a master with Photoshop."
Not only I don't have the skills for the last two (at least not professionally), but also in my line of work it's a clear indicator that they expect the person to do the work of three persons for the salary of one, with very short deadlines.
Meaning: You'll be overworked, underpaid and absolutely miserable.
I didn't walk out of the interview, I don't have enough courage for that, I just sabotaged the interview by giving evasive answers.
| Anonymous
One of us, one of us
Was interviewing for some kind of a marketing company that did something for big clients. Never really understood what it was they did.
During the interview, the manager kept dropping all these buzzwords like "synergy" and whatnot. I tried asking some clarifying questions about the specifics of the job, and she just kept giving me generic answers.
I then interviewed with a few more employees there and got the impression like I was being inducted into a cult. They were all weird, some had a manic glint in their eyes when they talked about the "awesome opportunities" at the workplace.
I politely declined any further information and left. To this day I still don't know what that company does.
| Anonymous
Interview that didn’t have a 'happily ever after'
Guy asked me which of the seven dwarves I most closely identified with.
That should have been a red flag, but I answered "Doc" and we moved on.
After telling him I wanted a part-time job for a little extra spending cash, he asked me if it was because I was pregnant.
I got pretty testy with him about that, because I was not pregnant. Ended up making an excuse to leave mid interview.
They called me a day or so later to tell me I got the job. Took the job despite knowing better. Horrible things happened. I quit two weeks later.
| Anonymous
Just a rat in a cage
There was a promotions company that needed a graphic designer to add to their team of four.
We were walking and interviewing, so they could show me the office, and they got to where I would be working.
It was a closet.
There were four people in there, desks pushed along every wall. The back of their chairs touched, they were so crammed close together. Their MacBook screens were edge to edge all the way around. There were no lights.
I repeat: literally no lights.
They looked up at us as we opened the door with giant computer screen glowing eyeballs. It was the creepiest and most bizarre workspace I'd ever seen. When we started walking back to the interviewer's office, I basically said I had to go.
| Anonymous
But how did she really feel?
I interviewed for a position at a company and it went great: The job seemed similar to what I was already doing but for much more money. The interviewer told me she wanted to bring me back for a second interview with my direct supervisor.
I show up. The lady spent an entire 10-15 minutes looking down at her hands, speaking very quietly, constantly looking over her shoulder.
She basically told me that no sane person would want this position, and that the people she worked under were awful, horrible bosses: unorganized, never in the office, relied on her for everything, expected her to work overtime with no notice and so on.
I thanked her for her time, called my recruiter and asked them to take my name out of consideration for the position.
Those cushy government jobs
"We'd like to bring you on as a full time District Attorney. Due to budget constraints we will not be able to provide relocation compensation or compensation the first year. Budget permitting, we will consider compensation and benefits after the first year."
"So, you want me to relocate across the country, work for free for a year without promise of paid employment after that year?"
"We understand if this isn't for everyone."
"I appreciate the opportunity to interview. Please let me know if your search expands to include paid employment for a District Attorney."
And with that I hung up. Shortest interview ever.
When no really means no
I was doing a phone interview with a company in Florida. My interviewer tells me that I would be expected to fly out to Florida on my own dime for an in-person interview.
Then he asked, "Can you fly out Wednesday?" It was Friday, so I was like, "Five days from now?" When he said yes, I started laughing and said, "Are you kidding me?" He snapped at me, "Yes, I'm serious!
We are trying to get this position filled as fast as possible! If you're not serious, maybe you're not right for the position!"
To which I replied, "You're right, I don't think I'm right for this position."
He immediately softened and started saying stuff like, "Well, wait a minute, let's talk about this." And when I kept saying, "Look, I am clearly not a good choice for your company —" he kept cutting me off and insisting that we continue the interview.
A few days later, I got a call from the company again, informing me that I was one of the top three candidates. So when should they expect me for my interview?
Cue another five minutes of insisting that I didn't want the job, before finally cutting them off and hanging up.
Juggling a lot of duties
When I was 20 this woman tried to hire me for "juggling lessons" for her 17-year-old autistic son. I perform at a music therapy event every year and do a group lesson for all the kids, most of which suffer from some disability.
So I drive 45 minutes to her house and she starts talking about how, "This is a full-time job, we need to to be on call all the time, you are going to have to stop taking college classes, your duties include helping him wipe and giving him a bath every night and the pay is $8 an hour."
Yeah, no thanks, lady.
| justlowt
The candidate just wasn't sold
I was brought into an interview with the information that the company was looking to hire administrative assistants.
I sat through about five minutes of my interview when the interviewer says to me, "Before we get started, how quickly can you purchase a vehicle?"
Confused, I explain, "I am currently unemployed, so purchasing a vehicle is out of the question. Does the administrative position require errands as part of the duties?"
Interviewer says, "Oh, we hired the administrative positions already, but we felt you would be perfect for sales." I let them know they had completely wasted my time and it was incredibly unprofessional and left.
Entry level, executive exit
I found a job looking to hire someone for a "management" position at a sales company. Before I applied, I called them up and asked if this was actually for an entry level job. They assured me it was not.
When I got there for the "interview" I was led into a room with about 20 other "interviewees." We then watched a product demo video about whatever junk they were selling.
After the video they started to tell us about how much of the product we were expected to sell. I politely interrupted the speaker and asked if this position was a sales job or a management job.
The speaker gave me a subtle, "Oops, you got me" look and confirmed that it actually was a sales job.
I stood up and walked out of the conference room without looking back.
A really old profession
I was 18 when I interviewed for a receptionist position at a law firm. I thought it was strange that they'd even interview me, and even stranger that it paid so well.
I also thought it was strange when I showed up and there were half a dozen other young, pretty girls in the lobby waiting to be seen, and the woman who took me to the back mentioned they were looking to fill "several" positions.
How many receptionists does one law firm need?
The interview lasted several hours and consisted of questions surrounding how comfortable I was among strangers, how social I considered myself and if I'd ever waited tables before.
Eventually it was relayed to me that I wouldn't be the firm receptionist so much as I'd be the managing partner's hostess for private events at his home. I would need to be willing to devote my weekends to "interacting" with his "colleagues in the industry" and providing "entertainment."
I thanked him for his time and basically ran to the elevator.
Talk about a loser
[I] interviewed to be a journalist for a small newspaper in my hometown. The editor was just a complete condescending jerk.
He said he didn't believe my resume. I was pretty young and had done a lot of work, as I had been supporting my family since I was 14 years old.
He told me to write 28 samples right in front of him (the interview had gone over for about an hour already) and that he would read them and decide if I was good enough.
I reluctantly started to write and he said, "Just because you have experience doesn't mean you're not a loser without a degree."
Walked out.
Must be willing to act as personal therapist
I once had an interview with the owner of a small company. I thought it was going well, we were wrapping up and eventually getting to innocuous chit chat. But it didn't stop. She just kept going.
Eventually she starts telling me about how disappointing her employees all are, how hard she works and no one appreciates her.
Then it starts getting personal, she starts telling me about her ex-husband, her current dating situation and how she resents her father. She starts crying. She finally excuses herself for a minute.
She returns, sees me out and calls me back two hours later. I didn't answer. She left a voicemail offering me the job, and she was crying again. I never called back.
| spacific
Filtering out candidates
I was out of university for a few months and was looking for any kind of job since staying home was horrendously boring. I surf the web and find a job where I'd get paid $15 an hour for selling water filters.
I apply and get the interview. The interviewer confirms what the job post said regarding the payment, and then gets the applicants into a room to watch a lengthy presentation about the company.
Afterwards, we all got sheets to finalize everything and insert our desired working times. That is where I notice it. The sheet says something along the lines of, "Employees will only be paid AFTER a filtering unit has been successfully sold" and that we'd only get paid AFTER a month of working.
80% of the interviewees just walked out, including myself.
| warmice
Math majors need not apply
It was a sales position at an air filter company. He liked me enough to start talking salary, but that's when it took a bad turn.
Basically, I could make UP TO a certain amount, but really realistically I'd be making less than minimum wage.
He kind of got red-faced when I kept saying, "But wait, this means I'll be making like $5 and hour. I must not be understanding this right because you advertised this position as $40,000 year.
Can you explain?"
The employer would rope people in with bad math and false promises and got people to agree to work under false pretenses. They'd quit and the cycle began again.
Once this became clear, I politely declined and left.
Shady shysters being shady
It was actually after the interview. It was an insurance broker/sales team and I had some reservations because insurance sales people are THE WORST.
At the interview they said all the sales came from good leads, that people had filled out a questionnaire online and wanted to hear from us. I was assured that we provided a great service to people that were actively seeking us out.
First day on the job, I went on a ride along with a current employee. When I saw the demographics they were targeting and how they purposefully tried to scare poor people into thinking they needed insurance (when they could barely afford rent), it just made me ill.