Ya know, I often said those kinds of things out loud. I once answered the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” with “On a tropical island after becoming a successful author.”
HR interviewer actually laughed out loud.
I have this mental defect whereby I really don’t much care what power people think they might hold over me. If anything, it just emboldens me. 🤣
Interviewing is really the beginning of the performative nature of work 😐
Related to your story, here's a real one for you (which actually happened): A good-humored team of managers I worked with was conducting interviews for a position. They came across this one young guy and they asked him "why do you want this job?” He was a bit too young to understand the nuances of interviewing so he went with the honest approach. Him: “well….. I really like girls. And taking them on dates gets kind of expensive so I need a good job”. Little did he know that answer was well received by this team of managers. They loved it! And they hired him!
These are fantastic. An interviewer recently asked me about work life balance and when I said I wanted to be home nights and weekends to be there for my daughter's homework and activities he said, "Oh my wife does all of that. Maybe this isn't for you." You are correct sir. Your poor children.
Oof. Yeah, work-life balance is super important to me. I once worked somewhere where the director basically said our job was more important than family. She burned out in 6 months and went on leave for a year. All of us saw that coming. 🤣
I have had the exact same experience at past jobs where I found out later people who told me I was wrong eventually burned out too! I absolutely hope for the best for them but I'm human so...I felt a little I told ya soish. lol
Someone posted a screenshot on Twitter that started off with, "Did I seriously just interview someone today, and I asked them why they wanted the job, and they said 'to be transparent, it's for the money'?"
Some idiot replied "It's understood it's for the money. The question implies why you applied for this particular job instead of something else"
So I replied to him, "INSTEAD of something else? No. I applied for this job AND something else. I'll take whichever job offer I get or (if I'm lucky enough to have options) the highest paying one."
And then I had a different idiot call me socially inept and yet another one say that I look desperate that way.
And where exactly did I say that I actually say any of that out loud? 🙄
I think the people who can't understand what a ridiculous dog and pony show for ass kissing liars this whole system is are even more annoying than the HR clowns doing the interviews.
My favourite was: “What office appliance would you identify with?”
I think it was a variation of: “What animal do you consider to represent your character?”, or maybe that is my overinterpretation.
Either way, I ended up saying something blunt, but to this day I regret not following my heart and responding: “A printer, because I like to be unpredictable!”
I'm so glad you and your mom can make each other laugh. I have a friend who's now a 105. She grew up on the poor farm in Downey. Her dad was a butcher, and she swore she'd never marry a butcher. But she did; they ended up having a successful life. She took up golf because he loved it. Every year for vacation, they'd golf up and down the coast of California.
I can see why your mom would not like camping.
I really enjoy your writings and look forward to them each day.
And I pray you'll find a job that needs your skills, but doesn't tax your body.
I’m glad you enjoy my writing. I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve really shared non-fiction writing in a forum like this, but I’m enjoying it.
LOL thank you so much for sharing this. I loved your and your mother’s banter. 🤭 I can feel every single one of these answers burning on the tip of my tongue in almost any interview I’ve ever had.
If only we could be truthful and actually down to earth with people in interviews and still be hired for our experiences, rather than the clapping monkey show we perform, just so they can report back to the higher ups that they got the warm and fuzzies they were looking for - we might all just end up at the right companies that don’t disintegrate us from the inside out 🫠.
Ya know, I often said those kinds of things out loud. I once answered the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” with “On a tropical island after becoming a successful author.”
HR interviewer actually laughed out loud.
I have this mental defect whereby I really don’t much care what power people think they might hold over me. If anything, it just emboldens me. 🤣
Probably good that I’m “retired.”
Interviewing is really the beginning of the performative nature of work 😐
Related to your story, here's a real one for you (which actually happened): A good-humored team of managers I worked with was conducting interviews for a position. They came across this one young guy and they asked him "why do you want this job?” He was a bit too young to understand the nuances of interviewing so he went with the honest approach. Him: “well….. I really like girls. And taking them on dates gets kind of expensive so I need a good job”. Little did he know that answer was well received by this team of managers. They loved it! And they hired him!
I love this. ❤️
These are fantastic. An interviewer recently asked me about work life balance and when I said I wanted to be home nights and weekends to be there for my daughter's homework and activities he said, "Oh my wife does all of that. Maybe this isn't for you." You are correct sir. Your poor children.
Oof. Yeah, work-life balance is super important to me. I once worked somewhere where the director basically said our job was more important than family. She burned out in 6 months and went on leave for a year. All of us saw that coming. 🤣
I have had the exact same experience at past jobs where I found out later people who told me I was wrong eventually burned out too! I absolutely hope for the best for them but I'm human so...I felt a little I told ya soish. lol
I am a Quality Assurance Engineer. I get “told ya so” moments quite often when management decides to ignore QA. 🤣
Love that for you.
It is one perk to a highly stressful job.
That was funny. :)
Someone posted a screenshot on Twitter that started off with, "Did I seriously just interview someone today, and I asked them why they wanted the job, and they said 'to be transparent, it's for the money'?"
Some idiot replied "It's understood it's for the money. The question implies why you applied for this particular job instead of something else"
So I replied to him, "INSTEAD of something else? No. I applied for this job AND something else. I'll take whichever job offer I get or (if I'm lucky enough to have options) the highest paying one."
And then I had a different idiot call me socially inept and yet another one say that I look desperate that way.
And where exactly did I say that I actually say any of that out loud? 🙄
I think the people who can't understand what a ridiculous dog and pony show for ass kissing liars this whole system is are even more annoying than the HR clowns doing the interviews.
My favourite was: “What office appliance would you identify with?”
I think it was a variation of: “What animal do you consider to represent your character?”, or maybe that is my overinterpretation.
Either way, I ended up saying something blunt, but to this day I regret not following my heart and responding: “A printer, because I like to be unpredictable!”
Thanks for this, I had a nice laugh :)
The crux of it is the one you had in the middle...
Q: Why do you want to work here?
A: I don't....
Reminds me of our exchange the other day. Oh, the things I'd do if I could photosynthesize instead of paying for food! 😂😭
I'm so glad you and your mom can make each other laugh. I have a friend who's now a 105. She grew up on the poor farm in Downey. Her dad was a butcher, and she swore she'd never marry a butcher. But she did; they ended up having a successful life. She took up golf because he loved it. Every year for vacation, they'd golf up and down the coast of California.
I can see why your mom would not like camping.
I really enjoy your writings and look forward to them each day.
And I pray you'll find a job that needs your skills, but doesn't tax your body.
I’m glad you enjoy my writing. I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve really shared non-fiction writing in a forum like this, but I’m enjoying it.
Excellent!
“I enjoy not being poor” is probably the most honest answer anyone could give 😂
It’s wild how interviews reward performance over honesty — and then we double down on that in follow-ups with emails that sound even less real.
I’ve been experimenting with keeping post-interview emails closer to how I’d actually talk: https://thankyouemail.online
LOL thank you so much for sharing this. I loved your and your mother’s banter. 🤭 I can feel every single one of these answers burning on the tip of my tongue in almost any interview I’ve ever had.
If only we could be truthful and actually down to earth with people in interviews and still be hired for our experiences, rather than the clapping monkey show we perform, just so they can report back to the higher ups that they got the warm and fuzzies they were looking for - we might all just end up at the right companies that don’t disintegrate us from the inside out 🫠.
Thank you god that made me laugh hahaha
I was giggling as I wrote it. LOL.
Sometimes you just gotta laugh 😂😂
Ahhh I love this SO much. And such great examples of the lame, generic questions asked during interviews! Infuriating 😤
There have been times where I’ve started my reply with “That’s a good question” to give the snark in my brain time to dissipate. 😆