Construction And Washing Dishes Are Basically The Same, Right?
“The guy was 44 years old and had no relevant experience at all. It was for a kitchen porter job and all he had ever worked in was construction, but he figured ‘it would be easy and relaxed.’ He didn’t smell very good.
When I got there, he was already sitting so I couldn’t see his torso (this will be relevant later). As my husband explained that the job was basically just washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen, he asked if there would be many dishes. We answered that it’d be the normal amount for a 50-seat restaurant, and he kept on asking if that’s a lot of dishes, again and again.
Confused, I felt the need to specify that he doesn’t need to wash the dishes by hand; we have a machine for that and he just has to load the dishes into the machine. He said he knew that, but it still sounded like a hard job. At that point, we knew we weren’t going to hire him, but we finished the interview anyway out of politeness. We told him it was a full-time position, so 40 hours a week. He replied, ‘That’s a lot of hours.’ O…k.
Then he asked if he could work illegally so as to keep collecting unemployment. ‘Uh, absolutely not, and this interview is over.’ As he got up to leave, I saw he was wearing a button-up shirt…completely unbuttoned. I could see his navel fluff. Why, oh why?”
The Kid’s Takeaway Was The Exact Opposite Of What Was Intended
“I sat in on interviews with a manager at the restaurant I worked at. I remember one application he pulled specifically because the kid was from the same rough part of town he was from.
The manager went on a five minute rant about how much he hated scam artists trying to get money off decent people in the streets. Upon hearing that, the kid launched into a story about how he would tell people he locked his keys in the car with his wallet and just needed $20 for a locksmith. He said he could make $300 on a good day. The kicker? He didn’t have a car! He laughed about it while all of us stared at him, dumbfounded. My manager kicked him out and told him to get a job down the street.”
He Should’ve Kept His Silly Voices In The Shower
“My interviews typically last, on average, 6-8 minutes. One guy came in and interviewed with us for 44 minutes. Second question in, I asked, ‘What do you like to do during your free time?’
He spent the next 40 minutes doing terribly awful ‘impressions’ of celebrities and voices he made up on his own. Some of them were okay, but most of them were just unbearably bad. He said he was trying to become a famous voice over artist.
You may wonder why I let it go on for so long; I didn’t. I made six attempts to stop him and steer the interview in another direction. After the sixth attempt failed, it was just kind of funny watching him go on about his incredible voice-acting talent. Needless to say, he did not get the job…as a dishwasher, for the restaurant I was hiring for.”
Her Priorities Were Clearly Out Of Order
“I was managing a chain restaurant and had an interview with a young lady who’d applied for a server position. 10 minutes after her scheduled interview slot, she showed up and didn’t even acknowledge that she was late.
It turned out she was currently a host at another chain. After a couple questions, she basically told me that she wanted us to train her to be a server so she could get experience, and then her other job wouldn’t have an excuse to not make her a server there. Then she would quit our restaurant and be a server at her other job because she ‘liked that one better.’
So many things were obviously wrong, but the fact that she wanted to stay at the restaurant that refused to promote her blew my mind. Also, why would you tell me you plan on working at my restaurant for less than two months?”
Unfortunately For Him, They Had No Vacancies For The Role Of Disgusting Bigot
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“I’m a restaurant manager and one day I was training a new hourly manager, a black man named Garrett. I told him, ‘Sit in on this interview I’m about to have so you can get some experience in that area.’ Our guy came in, sat down, and I began asking my questions. I got to the part where I ask about his former employer.
Me: ‘What made you leave your last job?’
Interviewee: Nervously looks back and forth between Garrett and me. ‘Well, there were a lot of lazy black kids there and I didn’t want to be around them anymore so I figured I’d find someplace more white.’
Me: ‘…Well I think the position has been filled. Get out.'”
She Had A Very Hand’s On Approach To Customers
“I once had an interesting woman interview when I was the manager of a deli. She had previously worked at McDonald’s. I didn’t even ask her why she’d left because she basically volunteered the information.
She started telling the whole story about how a customer was rude to her and she ‘felt (she) was being disrespected,’ so she had to tell the customer ‘what’s up when you come around disrespecting me,’ and the altercation escalated until she reached over the counter and hit the customer with a tray and a fight broke out. The police came and she was arrested.
She got real animated while telling the story, like she was angry and reliving it all over again. Clearly, she had anger issues. I asked her, ‘This is food service job you are applying for. Customers can sometimes be frustrating. Don’t you think something like this could happen again?’
She basically said, ‘Long as them witches don’t be disrespecting me, we won’t have no problems.’ Needless to say, she wasn’t hired.”
To Her Credit, Most People Wouldn’t Have Even Gone Through With The Interview
“One time at a restaurant I used to work at, a woman coming in for an interview tried to park out front but somehow managed to hit the gas instead of the breaks. Actually, she didn’t just hit the gas, she floored it, causing her to crash what looked like a brand new Mazda into our patio, breaking one table and causing serious damage to a pillar, not to mention threatening the lives of pedestrians.
Horrified and embarrassed, she reparked the car, dealt with the police, gave her statement, and then proceeded to be interviewed. WHAT?! After what I imagine was a very awkward interview, it turned out she was simply ‘unqualified’ for the position. The best part about the whole thing is that apparently her departing statement was something along the lines of, ‘My husband said two things to me this morning: get a job and don’t wreck the new car.’ Yikes.”
He’d Never Felt More Disrespected Or Less Appreciated
“So in this situation, I was actually the interviewee. I’d applied for a job in the kitchen at Whole Foods since I had a culinary degree and experience working with USDA organics. I showed up for the interview and was told to wait until the boss was ready.
I sat there with my knife kit (since they told me I’d be demonstrating knife skills) for three freaking hours. Eventually someone said that the boss had forgotten about me. I left steaming. They called me the next day to do a phone interview. They asked me some really complex culinary questions, like proportions in a roux, French names of cuts, the proper process of making a sachet, and how to make stock. Also, I think the boss was reading the questions off a sheet, because she wasn’t a cook. In either case, I nailed every question. ‘Oh, awesome. We’ll hire you on to the taco station for $11 an hour.’ I laughed and hung up.”
He Has Zero Tolerance For That Type Of Criminal
“One time I was being interviewed for a head chef position at a restaurant and wanting to prepare, I did my research by looking the place up on Facebook. All seemed fine, until I saw a picture of the kitchen team. One of the lads was someone I went to collage with and I had tried to beat up many times (little guy’s a fast runner and I’m fat) because he is a convicted kid diddler that was caught with thousands of indecent images on his computer.
During the part of the interview where they asked if I had any questions, I informed them of the fact that they had a diddler on their staff. The manager was not happy about it, as she lived there with her husband and two kids. By the time I had my first day on the job, he was gone, never to return. Apparently, she went in and started casually talking to him, then mentioned that I was starting and he panicked. Then she screamed at him to get the heck out and he never came back. Last I heard, he’s back in jail, hopefully being viciously beaten for his crimes.”
Going Through The Resumes Was Just Facepalm After Facepalm
“I was recently screening resumes to hire a restaurant manager. I could not believe some of the rubbish I read. So many people forgot to delete little parts from the template they copied off the Internet. There was a student straight out of university who had never worked before. Someone else who was a trainee nail technician with no restaurant experience at all. Someone else admitted that they could barely speak the language.
If the job would’ve been for a waiter/waitress, that’d all be fair enough, and we’d probably give them a chance. However, restaurant manager is a huge responsibility. I have no idea what half these people were thinking.”
The Poor Kid’s Mom Wanted Total Control
“Toward the end of my senior year of high school, I had an interview with Wendy’s. My family doesn’t make much money, so I wanted to have a job to help pay for my college. The only problem was that my mom is extremely protective and doesn’t trust ‘non-arabs.’ After months of asking her to let me apply for a job, she finally said yes, but only if it was nearby since she didn’t want to drive me there (my parents didn’t want me to get a license fearing I might run away. I’m 19 and I still don’t have one).
After turning in a few applications, I managed to land an interview with Wendy’s. On the day of the interview, my mom said she got me a ‘congratulations gift,’ which was a bluetooth earpiece. Turned out she wanted me to go to the interview wearing it while she was on the call with me. Once I arrived, the hiring manager gave me a weird look but didn’t mention the earpiece.
The interview was going well, then toward the end, she started mentioning some of the requirements needed for the job, such as being able to talk to people, handle food, and pick up 50 pounds in weight. That’s when I heard the click of my mother’s phone being unmuted, followed by about two minutes of her screaming about how she didn’t want me to hurt my back, how the job was too dangerous, etc. I tried to maintain composure, but then my mom started telling me to get up and leave right away. I asked the manager to give me a moment and she said ok. I went to the bathroom and pleaded with my mom to let me stay to no avail. She told me to leave without saying a word because she was already outside waiting for me in her car. As I walked out, I gave the manager a sad look and waved goodbye to her without saying a word.”
It Seemed Like He Might’ve Eaten A ‘Special’ Brownie
“I was interviewing a man in his late 20s for a restaurant management position. We were a high volume store, so I needed someone with patience and experience. His resume looked good and he seemed pretty sharp. But then about 20 minutes into the interview his demeanor changed. His voice got quiet and scratchy, his eyes turned dark, and he started fidgeting a lot. Within a few minutes, he refused to make eye contact.
After a while, he said he needed to step out for some air, got up, walked outside, past his car, and just kept walking down the road. We watched him for a good 10 minutes before he rounded a corner and disappeared. His car was gone the next day and I never heard from him again.”
The Guy Didn’t Take The Hint That Federal Crimes Were A No-No
“I managed a restaurant a few years ago and once during an interview, I asked the applicant about why he left his last serving position. He replied, ‘I feel I can be straight with you…’ and then went on to admit to me that he changed the tip on a credit card slip one time and got caught when the customer complained.
Admitting to a federal crime was an immediate ‘NO.’ I gave him the generic line, ‘We are gathering applications and will discuss them in our manager’s meeting. We’ll call you on Tuesday if we would like to schedule another interview.’
He looked at me and said, ‘So…should I wait around for another interview?’
It was also awkward when I’d ask, ‘Why do you want to work here?’ and people would tell me they needed to make rent in a week. They were so clueless that it took two weeks of training before they would be waiting tables solo. They just thought they would walk in and be handed an apron.”
She Was A Sad Mess, But That Didn’t Excuse Her Behavior
“A girl came in with facial tattoos, one of a spider web on her chin and a couple of others I couldn’t really identify. It was for a server position. I hired her because she had a good resume and was personable enough. On her 3rd day, she just didn’t show up. Then she came in about two hours later, totally wasted, asking why we called in someone else. She called me some bad names and I told her she was no longer employed.
Then she came in two weeks later with her resume like she didn’t know she’d been fired. No one told me it was the same girl so when I sat down with her, I was surprised as heck. I told her she’d been fired before and it wasn’t an option to rehire her, and she literally did not remember working there for a few days or meeting me or anyone else at the restaurant.
It was super awkward because she cried for about 5 minutes. About a month later, a coworker said she saw her (kinda hard to hide the tattoos) with a sign near a freeway asking for money. I still feel bad, but c’mon, not showing up and being blacked out on your 3rd day?”
He Didn’t Realize His Resume Lie Included The Man He Was Talking To
“I was setting up a beverage program for a luxury hotel and I was looking for bartenders. We held a job fair and had hundreds of applicants. About two minutes into an interview I glanced at the person’s resume and saw that they allegedly helped me design my last project. It actually said ‘helped (my name) create and administer a successful craft beverage program at (name of the restaurant).’
I had only left that restaurant about a month prior and had been there since day one, which was 3 and a half years before that. I had never met this person, but I made a phone call to a former coworker and they explained to me that this guy started a few days after I left and was promptly terminated. I didn’t have the heart to tell the guy my name, but I’m sure that later down the road, he finally put it together. Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.”
He Was A Young Adult Yet Incredibly Naive
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“I was a general manager at a Chick-fil-a for a while. One day, a 19-year-old kid walked into the restaurant for an interview. He seemed nice enough and the interview was good, so I offered him a job on the spot. He immediately broke down in tears. At first I thought he was overly ecstatic and was merely happy crying. Odd, but some people are desperate.
But he kept crying and didn’t seem pleased, so I thought maybe the stress level of the interview was high, and he was relief/stress crying. Nope, this kid was extremely upset. Apparently, his parents had given him an ultimatum to either get a job or leave the house. But working fast food wasn’t what he wanted to do for with his life. He had an interview later that day at some video game store in town, which was his dream job.
That all seemed like it would be no big deal, but after talking to him (consoling him?) for five minutes, I realized he believed that once I offered him the job, he was forced to accept and had to begin working immediately. It seemed like he felt he was supposed to be fine working at a Chick-fil-a for the next 40 years until he retired, and that he had no choice in the matter.
I asked if his parents told him he had to accept the first offer, or if they were forcing him to keep a job for a few years to get a steady job history. Nope. He just really had no idea that people changed jobs. Both of his parents only ever talked about working at one place, so he assumed you worked your first job until you retired. How this kid made it all the way to 19 without realizing that people can have multiple jobs is beyond me.”
He Wanted To Laugh, But Also Wanted to Keep His Ability To Walk
“My uncle was a chef at a big restaurant in a hotel. One time, he was sitting down with this big guy, like 6’4”, 250lbs, to interview him for one of the line cook positions. He said the first thing he noticed wasn’t that he was well dressed, which he was, but that he had some of the worst tattoos my uncle had ever seen in his life. Also, my uncle later went to prison, so that’s saying something. They looked like children’s drawings, but in tattoo form.
At the end of the interview, he couldn’t help but say, ‘I notice you have a few tattoos.’ The guy got really excited and said, ‘Do you like them?! My mom did them!’ He said it took everything in him not to burst into laughter because 1) he wanted to be professional, and 2) he didn’t want the guy to potentially get offended and kick his butt.”
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