'We prefer workers who sit at desks in chairs': Candidate with back problems gets kicked out of Zoom interview because he wasn't sitting at a desk

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 4, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

We've all been given radio silence from recruiters before, but this is a new level of savage ghosting from a potential employer. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/antiwork subreddit by u/DentistThink4578, who opened up about a horrible Zoom interview experience he had recently.

 

The original poster has serious back problems that make sitting in an office chair hard to do (hence, the need to work remotely). During the interview, he set up his laptop on a lap desk and used a neutral background. It was about as professional as it could be given his condition, but no less than two minutes into the interview, the Redditor found himself cut off mid-sentence. He checked to see what happened and learned that he had been kicked out of the Zoom interview and blocked with a single departing message explaining that "we prefer workers who sit at desks in chairs." The audacity of this interviewer to go about it this way rather than politely ask if there was a reason for the Redditor's setup just goes to show how tone-deaf employers are these days.

 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the suggestions people made in the comments about what he should do next! For more, here's another story of an interview process gone wrong.

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  • 01
    Computer - "We prefer workers who sit at desks in chairs" A w S . R ▼
    via Chris Montgomery
  • 02
    Font - r/antiwork. Posted by u/DentistThink4578 10 hours ago Today I had my first "what the actual moment at a job interview I do most of my current work through freelance and freelance sites. Today I got invited to interview for a short term data entry job. I had the availability and the skills that were being looked for so I inquired for more info.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 03
    Font - Now a little backstory before this next part. I have some pretty serious back issues that make it so it's hard for me to sit in an office chair for long periods of time, so I tend to do my work where I am the most comfortable. If I don't have to be on camera, sometimes that's my couch, my recliner, or my bed. During meetings and interviews, if I'm unable to get comfortable in the office chair, then at minimum I always do my best to sit with a neutral background behind me.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 04
    Font - View from shoulders up, looking professional even if I'm not sitting in an office chair necessarily. In this case, I was sitting with my back against the wall, nothing behind me, laptop on a lap desk and camera straight on with shoulders up. Pretty neutral, and nothing that would give any cause for concern.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 05
    Font - Guy asks me a couple base questions, then wants to get on zoom. I hop in there, after some very awkward introductions he asked me a couple more questions about my experience.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 06
    Font - I Anyway. I'm in the middle of answering this guy's question and you not, mid sentence, he kicks me out of the zoom room, blocked me on the freelance site, and then I get a decline notice saying that "we prefer workers who sit at desks in chairs".
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 07
    Font - Now, that in the and of itself is not what I have an issue with. If that's what is preferred, than you do you. What baffles me is the total lack of professionalism on his part. He could have said "hey I don't think this is a good fit" and left it at that. Technically, he could have asked if I had a more ergonomic set up, a desk and chair to work at, as it was rather tedious work. No. This dude had to literally kick me out of the room mid-sentence and block me. There's a right way to go ab
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 08
    Font - Dodged a bullet with that one, I think. But good grief. Maybe I'll use a virtual background next time.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 09
    Font - Update: reported them to the freelance site they found me on and I'm looking for other avenues to report them as well, directly, besides LinkedIn and glassdoor, etc. they seem to be very small, so I'm not sure how much luck I will have, but I'm working to raise awareness of the issue in any case.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 10
    Font - The back issue wasn't brought up in the interview because I wasn't given the chance to. The time from when I got on the zoom meeting to when I was blocked, was maybe two minutes if that.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 11
    Font - They could have simply asked, and I would've told him that it was for a medical reason, but they didn't, they just kicked me out and blocked me.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 12
    Font - I'm honestly more pissed off about the way it was handled over anything else. I may have a case for a suit, I may not. I have a consult with a lawyer tomorrow morning. It can't hurt to ask at least.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 13
    Font - jdeezy 10 hr. ago Even if you don't want the job, find his manager on LinkedIn and complain that you were denied a position because of a medical condition, and given no chance to explain or talk about it. 2.5k Reply Share
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 14
    Font - DentistThink4578 OP. 10 hr. ago Good idea. I should do that. I did already report him to the freelance site that he found me on so there's that. ↑ 1.5k Reply
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 15
    Font - Vlad Dracul89 10 hr. ago Some HR people are absolute lunatics, regardless of country or position. One was testing people by sudden reveal of Lego and orders them to build something. Management position interview. 237 Reply Share
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 16
    Font - RunKind4141- 6 hr. ago Terribly unprofessional, takes notes, so you never have to deal with the company or recruiter again.
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 17
    Font - Khemoshi 3 hr. ago I have been experiencing some of this very "remote ableist" discrimination while trying to find work as well. Anything outside of their "norm", they would prefer to just move on to someone who is worse than me (what I'm applying for, I am head and shoulders above my peers), despite no material impact at all to me starting and getting the job underway. It is incredibly defeating. My mobility doesn't allow me to fulfil some of the onboarding processes, but there are very
    via u/DentistThink4578
  • 18
    Rectangle - DentistThink4578 OP 2 hr. ago Thanks! I'm thankful that my other contracts don't give a rip what I do as long as I'm comfortable but it's definitely frustrating
    via u/DentistThink4578

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work stories toxic-workplace work reddit thread Reddit job interview interview toxic-work-environment
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