Customer Gets Mistaken for Job Applicant, Interviewers Break Law

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Aug 15, 2020 7:00 PM EDT

This person was just trying to get their machine repaired when some less than professional employees ended up trying to interview them, then reject them from said job. Kind of a strange situation for a customer to be in. For a customer who made it further up the fake professional ladder, this dude impersonated a store manager to boot a horrible customer.

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  • 01
    Text - r/IDontWorkHereLady · Posted by u/ligamentary 18 hours ago Manager reveals illegal hiring practices when mistaking me for applicant XXXXL Names have been altered out of consideration for the business owner. I'm a bit older (I've got grandkids in high school, let's put it that way.) So I've been especially cautious about staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of that has, unfortunately, meant indefinitely cutting out my regular trips to the gym. So I invested in a couple pieces of
    via ligamentary
  • 02
    Text - But then, one of the machines broke. I called them up and all of a sudden, they were a lot more difficult to get on the phone than they were during the sales process. Wouldn't commit to a repair date, technicians never in, customer service always putting me on hold for ridiculous amounts of time even though it was a small local store, just endless. Finally I decided to go over and sort it out in person. At this point our state was only just beginning to open up, so things like fitness equ
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  • 03
    Text - I figured that made sense for the kind of clientele whose first order of business after a nationwide shutdown would be to get to the gym equipment store. I didn't really think much else of it at the time. I was just coming from a full morning of (Zoom) meetings so I was wearing business appropriate attire. Dress pants, pearls, knit turtleneck, the works. I came in and saw a line of buff, meaty guys lingering around near a counter, looking as though they'd also just come from work, and fig
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  • 04
    Text - After a few moments I realized the employees were calling the buff meaty guys by name and taking them into a back office to deal with their concerns, and I figured it was a social distancing measure. So I went over to a guy wearing a store uniform calling names and asked, "Excuse me, do I have to take a ticket or get my name on a list or something?" He seemed surprised too, but again, I chalked it up to age. He said to wait a minute. I asked if I should get started on any paperwork (a lot
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  • 05
    Text - Meanwhile, a more senior guy kept surfacing every few minutes calling for people to talk to him in the back, "Brett, Tony,-" but then the more junior guy pulled him to the side and pointed me out. I waved. The more senior guy came over and asked “Hi Ma'm are, uh, are you sure you're in the right place?" And I replied, "Oh, definitely, I've been planning to come down here all week." And he said, "Alright, then, we can chat right now. You want to come on back, you ready?" The beefy guys wer
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  • 06
    Text - But he just shook his head, going, "Well, before you fill anything out, why don't we talk first?" And off we went. I sat down in a small back office, across from these two men at a desk. It seemed like quite the to-do over scheduling a simple repair, but, I figured this was life in the "new normal." So they looked at each other as though neither quite knew what to say, and I'm thinking, "Is this both their first day on the job? Let's get on with it here." Finally, the more senior one caut
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  • 07
    Text - Now I'm thinking they're trying to find reason to put me at fault and void my warranty or otherwise upsell me, so I shoot back the curt but truthful answer, “I've been working out every day for longer than at least one of you has been alive. I can look at any model on your floor and tell you what they do, why, and which features are necessary versus which features are just extra flash designed to line your pockets, and I definitely know a working machine from a broken one so I don't even
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  • 08
    Text - There was no universe in which he needed that information to get a repair tech to my house. I was really and truly lost at that point. Was he coming onto me? Was he insinuating there was no use in fixing my machine because I'd be dead soon enough anyways? "WHAT? What could that possibly have to do with anything? You have no right to ask me that." The more junior guy whispers "Hey, yah, I don't think you're legally allowed to ask that." So, that's when it all starts to click for me. The se
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  • 09
    Text - The junior guy gasps, in pained dismay, “Bro, no–" and turns to me, switching into professional mode from night to day in an instant, “What my colleague meant to convey is that we are targeting a certain demographic, and..." He ran out of buzzwords with that sentence alone. They realized the situation was getting away from them at that point as I sat in silence, staring daggers into them. Finally fully understanding that I'd walked into a pool of job applicants and been mistaken for one,
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  • 10
    Text - The senior guy definitely thought he had the situation handled as he exclaimed, "It's really not about us, Ma'm, we're trying to keep you safe, you know. We're not saying you can't work here, like that you're incapable. Just that you shouldn't, like, we're doing you a favor by not considering you, really. There's a lot of heavy lifting that's not safe for older people. Your bone density decreases hand over fist as you age, haven't you noticed that? And you'd be in the store alone sometime
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  • 11
    Text - So I went, "Well, thanks for your concern. But times are tough and I'm qualified for this position so I'd still like to fill out an application." The junior guy looked like he wanted to give me one just to make this end, but the senior guy said firmly, "For all the reasons I just outlined, I don't think that's a good idea." I'd heard enough. No way this infant sweat stain owned and operated a business, so I asked to speak to the owner. They said the owner wasn't reachable by phone. There
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  • 12
    Text - Mmhmm. I found his real card and took it for my records. I didn't want to give the guy any opportunities to hide behind those bogus excuses, so as I turned to leave, I concluded a final time with feeling, "Just so we're clear, you're saying you will not even let me apply for the job, because you won't consider me based on my age and gender?" He tried to stay silent at first, but eventually cracked under the pressure and babbled, "Look, it is what it is ma'm." While his clueless junior cou
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  • 13
    Text - I had no sympathy for the junior one either though, because he didn't give me an application back at the beginning when I still thought I was in line for customer service. He took one look at me and got his boss instead to weed me out. So I left shortly after that point and exchanged emails with the owner. I explained what had happened, not only that their people utilized discriminatory hiring practices, but that I'd arrived as a customer and no one greeted me or asked how they could help
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  • 14
    Text - I still didn't get a job application, but that's quite alright, my current employer probably wouldn't be too thrilled to hear I was shopping other offers. What I did get was swift, hassle free repair of my machine and a direct number to contact for the future. The owner also later called to personally apologize and informed me the senior quy had been let go and the younger one disciplined. The kicker? The business owner was a woman!
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customer service wtf job strange wierd story interview mistake
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