'I'm no longer interested': Candidate gets roasted online for leaving interview where interviewing manager was late due to emergency

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 15, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

Things took an interesting turn in this post, where a candidate shared their story of leaving an interview after feeling that their time had been disrespected. 

The candidate recounted their experience of attending an interview where the interviewer was late to attend. They found themselves still waiting after the appointment had been scheduled to start. After being asked to wait for a moment, a representative of the organization returned, claiming that the interviewing manager had been delayed due to an emergency and would be out for the rest of the day. The candidate rejected a proposal to reschedule the interview, claiming that their time was valuable and had been wasted and that they were no longer interested in working for the organization.

Surprisingly, especially for a Reddit workplace community, where readers usually rally around the worker's narrative, the commenters were quick to call out the candidate for behavior that they deemed to be lacking professional courtesy. A large number of readers dogpiled the candidate in their own thread, condemning their actions and response to the situation. 

See the original post, along with some of these responses, below.

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  • 01
    Sleeve
    via Nastuh Abootalebi

    Craig Whitehead

  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Delicious-Tap-1277 3 hours ago Went for an interview and left after 5min Welp, I'm not hurting for a job in my industry or in my city as it is. But I scheduled an interview for a Sys Admin position for a medical group for 10AM this morning. I was there 10min early and the HR personnel asked me to wait a minute (no biggie since I'm early). She came back 5min later and informed me that the person that was supposed to be interviewing me left on an emergency 20min ago and was goin
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  • 03
    Font - So I told her "ok...well the interview was scheduled for 10AM this morning. It's unprofessional to not give someone a heads up even 10mins after leaving for said emergency." She replied with "I know I'm sorry, it's been a bit chaotic this morning." I understand it being chaotic. I work in IT. But HR should have reached out promptly after knowing the interviewer left.
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  • 04
    Font - She then proceeded to ask me to reschedule for tomorrow to which I replied that my day was planned around this interview today and to reschedule on such a short notice may not be doable since I do have clients that had scheduled appointments tomorrow. She said "well I can let him know that and he'll reach out tomorrow to schedule it tomorrow." I simply said "if he wants to reschedule, it'll have to be next week. My time is valuable to me. If the interview wasn't important enough to even s
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  • 05
    Font - And walked away. If they can't even send a f email that takes 10sec to type up, I don't want to imagine how that dept is ran and how poorly the employees are treated when it comes to their off time. Edit to this amazing conversational piece. I found out the reason: According to the interviewer (who called me back around noon CST today to apologize), a tech at another site caused a loop in the network and left on a smoke and no one could find him. He said he told the
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  • 06
    Font - HR woman to reach out to me and let me know he'd be back later today but she didn't and said he was out for the day. HR woman dropped the ball according to him. I work in IT, so I understand the situation and cause for concern. IT isn't treated the best by most depts so HR dropping the ball is what is always frustrating I'm still an aOle guys I get it lol this was just my vent about miscommunication and expectancy to readjust for a job I didn't even seek out. They sought me out. It is wha
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    Font - 5footfilly 2 hr. ago It's entirely possible that the emergency was such that the interviewer didn't notify HR they were leaving. For example, I was once interviewing someone for an admin position when my aunt called. The only reason I picked up the call was because it was really strange for my aunt to call in the middle of the day. My cousin was rushed to the hospital and not expected to live.
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  • 08
    Font - You better believe I beat a hasty retreat. I did apologize to the candidate, but the only reason HR knew I was leaving was because her office was next to the interview room. My cousin was dying. I wasn't stopping to notify people. I would have called from the road. Anyway, consider the possibility that it was a real emergency and sometimes things happen. Vote Reply Share
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    Font - Sarcastic_Troll 3 hr. ago Imma little torn on this. What if the interviewer were having a heart attack? Then that certainly would warrant a quick exit without email. I'm not saying that's what happened, and I guess you didn't see an ambulance to assume things got hectic from any kinda legit, life altering emergency. Just my two cents. 299 Reply Share
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  • 10
    Font - swords1010 2 hr. ago . No mate. You're in the wrong here. If the interviewer had a genuine emergency, it's not going to be anyone's priority, anywhere on planet Earth, to drop you a quick email. Especially considering you're due to arrive in a few minutes. Your comments were way over the line and completely unjustified. Vote Reply Share billwrtr 1 hr. ago Agreed. YTA. ✩ Vote . Reply Share
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    Font - redriveroftears. 2 hr. ago YTA. Oh wait, wrong group lolol Vote Reply Share BlueRex8 1 hr. ago . This was exactly my first response as well, actually wondered why nobody else had said it. There are so many variables here that can completely change the story. I get OP was pd but ive had to leave work several times due to my son and medical conditions and not once have i gave a SO about anything else happening on the planet. My only thought is to get there as soon as possible for him.
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  • 12
    Font - Its a job Vs my son. The 5/10 minutes it may take to notify other people is 5/10 minutes extra he is distressed and thats 5/10 minutes too long. But this is the corporate world we live in and why i chose to leave it behind and go self employed. In saying that though, OP is quite right to feel how they do buuuut theres no need to be an ar✪ole just for the sake of it. Being polite and a bit more understanding (after all, would an email while you were on your way have been any better?) could
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  • 13
    Font - charrcheese 2 hr. ago I think they dodged a bullet on this one Reply Share Vote captivephotons . 1 hr. ago Indeed, I wouldn't be rushing to the phone to reschedule. W Vote Delicious-Tap-1277 OP 2 hr. ago . Same bro, same. Vote Reply Share Vote Reply Share rocketpastsix. 38 min. ago Woooooosh ●●● Reply Share
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  • 14
    Font - GenghisFrog 1 hr. ago This post is a what happens when a person thinks anything that seems like sticking it to the man will get them tons of points in this sub and it backfires Glad to see everyone in here is reasonable. Vote Reply Share Delicious-Tap-1277 OP 1 hr. ago Nah I'm a reasonable dude. the guy called me a little while ago and confirmed HR dropped the ball because he was onsite at another location. I wasn't sticking it to the man. I was more frustrated due to already reorganizing
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    Font - workerinamerica. 2 hr. ago I'm in IT as well. Never work for a medical industry. Maybe you're still new in the IT world so heed my advice. Never work for medical or large corporation IT. Best IT jobs are medium size companies. Yes, they will be more dysfunctional and you will most certainly be paid a bit under market but they have no problem when you don't answer your phone for 83 year old susie who can't get to her outlook.com email at 7am on a sunday because her $9.95 rural dsl service
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  • 16
    Font - punchybot 3 hr. ago Eh. I get being inconvenienced but this seems a little too much of expectations from you. They were not disrespectful to you personally. Something came up and they explained why. 118 Reply Share
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  • 17
    Font - Fun-Result-6343 3 hr. ago edited 3 hr. ago Sorry, professional courtesy cuts both ways. You acted like a complete snot. Whether you like it or not, the whole time you're in the building you're being judged - not just in the interview. If there was a genuine emergency it's entirely possible that the HR person was somehow wrapped up in the chaos/emotion around it. All you've done is leave behind a grim, maybe heartless impression of yourself. I guess that finishing schools aren't a thing an
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  • 18
    Font - feltsandwich. 2 hr. ago And you brought this to reddit? Why? You very much overreacted. And you behaved like a jO I'm certain she said to herself "Dodged a bullet on that one" as you exited. Vote Reply Share
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  • 19
    Font - foxx-hunter 3 hr. ago 20 mins is too small of a time to notify you. Plus you were 10 mins early. I don't think in case of an emergency, you would be a top priority for them. I would have let it go and rescheduled for another day. 68 Reply Share Delicious-Tap-1277 OP 3 hr. ago True. But then again, it wasn't HR that got pulled away in an emergency. The woman that scheduled the interview was the woman that greeted me up front. The interview was at 10. I got there at
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  • 20
    Font - 10:50ish give or take a minute or two. And she informed me that he left 20min before I got there. So total about 30min. HR could have easily sent an email since they knew about him going to another site on the emergency. Like I said, sho happens and I get that. HOI've had to reschedule appointments 30min before they happen as well on short notice. But I reschedule. And I wasn't rode imho (though everyone else here sees it as rode so I'll take that verdict), I was just direct. If they want
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