These People Walked Out of Job Interviews and Never Looked Back

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 21, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

It takes a lot to get people to walk out of an interview, but it clearly happens more often than we think!

 

In this AskReddit thread, people shared exactly what compelled them to say "Nope! Say no more! It's time for me to GTFO." Maybe not in those words exactly, but you know what I mean. The reality is we should all have standards for what we're willing to put up with in our workplace environments. Maybe we should have been doing this all along. It's like dating. If you swiped right on someone and have a nice exchange that seems like you're a match, and then you walk into that first date and that person is absolutely nothing like what was advertised, it's not out of the question to know in that very moment that this is not for you. Why waste each other's time, right? The same goes for job interviews. 

 

Keep scrolling below for some of these truly ridiculous anecdotes. For more workplace drama, check out these jokes for those of you who are stuck in a career crisis. 

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  • 01
    Font - [deleted] Pyramid scheme advertised as "sales and marketing". It was a group interview. They served wine for sake! They had obvious stooges initiating conversation about how great this opportunity was. I got very drunk and stopped being polite about it. 14.3k Share
    via [deleted]
  • 02
    Font - SnowMiser26 I wasn't informed about the evidently very strict building security prior to the interview. The front door was practically unmarked, and you had to swipe a card to get in, but there was no intercom. The elevator required a card as well, but the stairs didn't. HOWEVER, no one informed me that the stairwells are locked from the outside, meaning I was locked in the stairwell with no way to get out. I called the recruiter over and over, and even called the front desk, but they jus
    via u/SnowMiser26
  • 03
    Font - I almost screamed, and asked her as calmly as I could manage if she had gotten any of the messages I left for her letting her know I was presently stuck in the stairwell with no way to get out. She said she hadn't, and said it was too late anyway because they had gone with another candidate. She almost hung up before I could yell (probably too loudly), "THEN CAN SOMEONE PLEASE COME FREE ME FROM THE STAIRWELL SO I CAN LEAVE??" They sent security to get me, and I was treated like a criminal
    via u/SnowMiser26
  • 04
    Font - lookssharp Sat down with the owner and the first thing he said was, I don't hire people with beards. I said okay, got up and walked out. 11.2k Share
    via u/lookssharp
  • 05
    Font - neolabaque. Applied for a software developer position for an online retailer. First round of interviews was a traditional technical skills and whiteboard coding session, second round was a cultural fit interview with HR. I assumed it would be an one on one interview with HR, it was a room with 20 something people applying for anything from legal to finance. hey asked us to stand up, then crawl into a ball and pretend we were flowers opening. At this point I honestly thought it was some ki
    via u/neolabaque
  • 06
    Font - [deleted] I once showed up for a job interview in a suit and tie after answering a newspaper ad for a "warehouse worker". Instead of a job interview at the warehouse, they had me get into a freezer truck with one of the employees who drove me a few hours away, pulled over in some random neighborhood, and explained to me that the job was going door-to-door trying to sell cuts of meat to people, unsolicited. I told him this was not the "warehouse worker" job that they had advertised and if
    via [deleted]
  • 07
    Font - cginc1 . It was a virtual interview and I ended it. The interviewer was a complete jerk, had an ego, and would make condescending remarks. Just told him that it sounds like he's not interested in working together so in the interest of both our time, we should just end the call. Edit: I didn't realize this would get so much attention. I want to put it out there that this is something that everyone should feel comfortable doing. Don't let anyone treat you poorly and walk away calmly with yo
    via u/cginc1
  • 08
    Font - is_this_funny2_u I had a phone interview one time and we had scheduled it for noon. He called me at 7am. I was still asleep, so when I answered the phone it took me a moment to figure out what the hell was going on. He said that in our line of work we should be ready for anything (lol). It was a 4 month position with fish and game doing carcass surveys (looking for dead salmon). He kept asking a lot of hypothetical questions like "if you're walking a stream and a guy jumps out of the bush
    via u/is_this_funny2_u
  • 09
    Font - Draxion1394. Man I had something similar, the interviewer (who was the CEO) was 25 minutes late, and right when I dropped out of the Webex, he called my cell and asked "oh you ran off so fast, you need to be more patent". I got back on the Webex, he didn't apologize, made fun of me for leaving "so quickly”. He asked me what he thought the position was, where I read him back the job description and said I actually had questions about it. His response was "everything you need to know is in
    via u/Draxion1394
  • 10
    Font - PapaGeorgieo. It was a commission based sales job selling kitchen knives. The interviewer pulled out a knife and it fell apart in his hands. I am also not a salespeson. 7.9k Share
    via u/PapaGeorgieo
  • 11
    Font - Throwmylifeaway190 Showed up and realized it was a pyramid scheme that involved door-to-door sales. Edit: Thank you to everyone sharing your own experiences with these in the replies! I actually really appreciate reading your stories. 46.9k Share
    via u/Throwmylifeaway190
  • 12
    Font - Alpha_Hellhound I once went to a job interview for a large welding shop, in the middle of a rain storm. After talking to the interviewer for 30 or so minutes, he walked me out to the shop floor to take a welding test. The machine we went to was in decent condition, but was literally sitting in a puddle of water. The welding table's legs were rusty and not grounded well, and also in said puddle. Over half the shop was flooded. I turned around and said "No thank you." Then proceeded to walk
    via u/Alpha_Hellhound
  • 13
    Font - lo Balrog229. Showed up and the manager practically bragged about how the job offered no breaks for an 8-10 hour shift, and if there was a food break it would be 5 mins max at a hip-height table with no chairs. She said that you'd be fired if you sat down even for 30 seconds. Im more than capable of doing that. I did that every day at my last job. But when you brag about how your employees are so over-worked that they don't get breaks or an option to rest their legs, it tells me all I nee
    via u/Balrog229
  • 14
    Font - Digideegs 1 Slightly different - I actually interviewed and was hiring by a call center that focused on getting donations for a variety of non-profit organizations (i was desperate). It was on a Thursday, and I was told to show up the following Monday. When I showed up Monday morning, the entire business unit was completely empty. Like, stripped to the floor, wires hanging from the roof empty. When I was there the week before, I saw around 20-25 cubicles of people all working diligently,
    via u/Digideegs
  • 15
    Font - Nixie9 Applied for a teaching job, my current at the time job was at a school for people with disabilities, this new school was a school for children gifted in a particular field. I was headhunted when one of my students from my current school was accepted to the new school. The woman interviewing asked why I wanted to work there, so I explained the above (including student with disability), she goes, with the most disgusted look on her face "we don't have students like that here". Should
    via u/Nixie9
  • 16
    Font - DeusEx-Machinist I was approached at work (bagger for a major grocery store chain when I was 16) by a guy who asked me if I would be interested in making $1100 a week. He told me to meet him at one of the empty businesses in the same plaza after work. He went on this long spiel about the melaleuka tree from Australia and how his company made soaps and shampoo out of it. Then he told me for $500 he would train me how to sell the products. I just turned and walked out the door with him yell
    via u/DeuxEx-Machinist
  • 17
    Font - FumbleMyEndzone. A jumped up security guard made me walk away before I even got in the building for an interview. I followed the instructions I was sent by the hiring manager which was to park in the designated guest spaces. Security guard came charging out of the building yelling at me when I was barely out of the car about how I couldn't park there, then when I raised my voice just to try and get him to listen he started yelling at me for yelling at him. Eventually when I got to tell hi
    via u/FumbleMyEndzone
  • 18
    Font - Army Of Dog It was for a management position, running a mail room. Something I'd done twice before. All the standard questions were asked. I felt like it was going well. Then he suddenly says to me, "I'm hearing a lot of "I" from you. I'm concerned, because we are about the team, and not the individual, here." The ? It's a job interview and you're concerned that I am answering questions you have asked specifically about me, with answers that address your questions about me. That's utterly
    via u/ArmyOfDog

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antiwork toxic-workplace job askreddit reddit thread Reddit job interview quitting
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