20+ Job interviews that could not have gone worse: '[I] had a guy take almost every pen in the room'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Feb 16, 2025 3:00 PM EST

Why do job candidates apply to be a lifeguard at a pool if they can't swim? Why do other job candidates apply to be coders when they can't fix a single bug? And most importantly, why do these candidates keep showing up in sweatpants, taking phone calls mid-interview, or bringing mom along to the first meeting?! 

If you've interviewed even once, you know how high the pressure is in these situations. Even when you're doing really well, you're still nervous and trying to impress these random people you've never met. The worst is when they ask you a question that you have no answer to. You have to pretend to know it anyway, so you just start blabbering and hoping the answer will come out of your mouth at some point, but you never know if the interviewer will see through this or not. 

Think about your worst interview mistakes before you scroll down to read these stories. Got it? Great! No matter what, I guarantee you these people have done much, much worse during their meetings with hiring managers. 

Up next, read about a 19-year-old retail worker who accidentally uncovered a wild scheme that their manager was secretly pulling off. 

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  • 01
    'I asked her about her interest in real estate, and she replied with, "I really like playing The| Sims, and I'm a real estate agent in it." No call back.'
    via Ahmet Kurt For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    Managers of reddit, what are the worst job interviews you have conducted?
    via u/d00d1234
  • 03

    He was committing to the bit

    MangoFlavored M... Interviewee fell asleep while telling a rather boring story from his past.
    via u/MangoFlavoredMangos
  • 04
    unmoderated I was hiring someone for the bookshop, and this older Russian gentlemen came in for an interview. I looked at his resume, which included a degree in Physics from a Russian university, 10 years working for the Russian government, 2 years "fixing submarines," and most recently, janitor at the local high school.
    via u/unmoderated
  • 05
    I asked him why he wanted the job and he said "Do you not vant me to have job? Do you need persuading perhaps?" . . . "I'm just kidding, friend. I just need you to sign paper saying I was here so I can get more unemployment."
    via u/unmoderated
  • 06
    ServerGeek I am not a manager, but I feel like I have something to add. At my old job, a dude came in for an interview and he brought his mom with him to meet the people he was interviewing with. He said he didn't have a car, so his mom had to give him a ride.. which is understandable.
    via u/ServerGeek
  • 07
    But none of us could figure out why you would be stupid enough to bring her into the interview room with you.
    via u/ServerGeek
  • 08

    Assert dominance!

    2badYourA Got... Had a guy take almost every pen in the room. Not that I'd want them back since he had them in his mouth for most of the interview.
    via u/2badYourA**GotSacked
  • 09
    doolf I once had a girl hand in a resume for a cooking job. She put in her interests "reading, Writing, Hanging out with friends, and real estate". I asked her about her interest in real estate, and she replied with "I really like playing The Sims, and I'm a real estate agent in it" No call back.
    via u/doolf
  • 10
    Dovienya I was a restaurant manager and was interviewing a guy who was laid off as a construction worker. He outright said, "Yeah, I don't want this job, I just need the money. As soon as I get a better offer anywhere else, I'm out of here."
    via u/Dovienya
  • 11
    Yeah, that's the kind of attitude we were looking for, buddy. Right on. We totally want to waste our labor hours training you and then have you ditch us with no one to cover for you. That'll be awesome.
    via u/Dovienya
  • 12
    unconundrum My boss asked me to interview somebody on Halloween. I said, "I'm dressed like a ninja; can't we do this any other day?" Was told, Nope, do it now. So I did. Poor nervous dude kept twitching like he thought I was going to hurl a shuriken at him. But he had nothing resembling the qualifications for the job.
    via u/unconundrum
  • 13
    MGeten A long time ago, when I was assistant managing an upscale men's clothing store, I interviewed potential new hires. We had a standard list of questions to ask applicants, and we were required to write down their responses, even if it became abundantly clear that they wouldn't be a good fit for the position.
    via u/MGeten
  • 14
    I was conducting a dismal interview with a twenty- something redneck dude who showed up in sweatpants, breezing through the interview process as quickly as I could... his answers were subpar in almost every field, but nothing prepared me for his response to my final question.
    via u/MGeten
  • 15
    "Tell me about a time," I said, "when you had to make a quick decision regarding a crucial problem." "Well... um... huh," he mumbled, "I guess I can think of one time. Once, I was sittin' on my couch using scissors to cut up some coupons, and I slipped and cut my finger pretty bad."
    via u/MGeten
  • 16
    He showed me his index. finger, which was scarred at the last knuckle. "Okay," I said, "so what was the decision you had to make?" "Well," he said, "I had to figure out if I should yell at my brother to get the Band- Aids or get them myself and maybe blod on the carpet."
    via u/MGeten
  • 17
    "And what did you decide to do?" I asked from behind the interview form, which I was using to attempt to hide my uncontrollable silent laughter, my eyes watering. "I got the Band-Aids."
    via u/MGeten
  • 18
    the_berg I had a guy pick up his mobile when it rang. Then he picked his nose. I, on the other hand, didn't pick him.
    via u/the_berg
  • 19
    W... Once had a guy apply at my company who submitted amazing code and bullshitted his way through the interview. His first day: Me: Can you fix a bug on "x" site, some idiot used post instead of get variables
    via u/wimpykid
  • 20
    Him: what's a get variable again? Gtfo... Turns out he had submitted some open source stuff. My bad for not checking really.
    via u/wimpykid
  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 10468454400
    via Toa Heftiba For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 22
    guynamedjames Back when I managed a waterpark we used to get the real dregs of the town applying for lifeguard positions. They would come in with a face full of piercings, wearing a tapout shirt and hoodie and tell us they haven't worked in 2 years, or they lost their last job for cursing out their boss. Then at the end we
    via u/guynamedjames
  • 23
    would ask if they could swim and without fail about half would say they could not. Always wondered how they thought that would play out TLDR: People applying to work as lifeguards often can't swim
    via u/guynamedjames
  • 24

    This Mom is going to cost her son so many interviews if she keeps this up

    mcanerin One incident that I remember was after I'd decided not to hire some kid because he had done very badly at the interview. This was back when I was a hiring manager for McDonalds. His MOM then phoned up and demanded to know why her precious wasn't hired. I started with the "he didn't
    via u/mcanerin
  • 25
    meet our needs" polite cop- out but that wasn't good enough for her. Eventually I just told her that he didn't answer most of the questions, was ride and had a poor attidute, and failed most of the "common sense" test questions. "What do you do if a little kid drops their ice cream cone shortly after buying it". I'll accept answers like
    via u/mcanerin
  • 26
    'replace the cone for free" "get a manager", and so on. They are not expected to know the corporate answer, but the answer should show a desire to provide good customer service. His answer was "make her clean it up and buy a new one". This was just one example. So then his mom goes on a rant about how McDonalds S ks and is a terrible place to work and how her little
    via u/mcanerin
  • 27
    angel wouldn't work there if we begged him, etc. As if she hadn't just been demanding we give him a job. I feel sorry for that kid, any place he ever gets a job at, and any customers he ever interacts with.
    via u/mcanerin
  • 28
    Lokabf3 Interviewed a candidate that was sent to me by a headhunter. It became pretty obvious within about 2 minutes of asking questions that she had pretty much no experience, education, or qualification for the job role. For interviews, i predefine a series of questions with a scorecard, so that I can
    via u/Lokabf3
  • 29
    objectively compare each candidate, and have documentation in case my selections were ever questioned. In this case, after about 5 minutes, i stopped the interview, as we had already gone through 1/2 the questions with her receiving the lowest possible score and said that I think she might have been sent to the wrong interview.
    via u/Lokabf3
  • 30
    She agreed and said she knew she was in trouble as soon as i had finished describing the role at the beginning of the interview, but didn't know what to do. She was actually very happy that I had stopped the interview rather than pushing on through the whole thing. We wished each other well and I sent her on her way. I later confirmed that the
    via u/Lokabf3
  • 31
    headhunter indeed did screw up and send her to the wrong interview. TL;DR Headhunter sent me a candidate for the wrong job.
    via u/Lokabf3
  • 32
    [deleted] Before the economy took a crop and jobs were plentiful, I was on an interview panel for my employer when an interviewee who was qualified on paper turned out to be anything but. Not only did he not have the requisite knowledge, he was also not confident at all. Between the standard questions and followups, we actually ended up almost
    via u/[deleted]
  • 33
    making him cry, although not on purpose. After he left, we saw a flash outside out window, I turned to look and it was the same guy, running out to his car; how often does that happen, I thought. I felt a bit bad for the guy but I wasn't the one who applied for the job without the necessary qualifications. Two weeks later, I was on another panel (on loan to
    via u/[deleted]
  • 34
    another employer) and the same guy shows up. You should've seen the look on his face when he saw me on the panel. After the first one he probably thought "I'm glad I'll never see those guys again" and here I was. I didn't torture him; the look on his face was plenty for me. We gave him his fair shot, but although he was a bit more qualified for the second position, he still didn't fare well.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 35
    tl;dr Poorly qualified interviewee has the misfortune of seeing the same person on two interview panels in two different places.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 36

    I adore your resume, Julie

    Micosilver Not really interviews, but two interactions from the days when I worked at a corporate Sprint store (2005): A guy comes in, and asks: "Is Y'all hiring?" A girls comes in, and asks to apply for a job. We tell her that she has to give us her
    via u/Micosilver
  • 37
    resume first. She pulls a piece of paper, a pencil, and writes: "I would like a job. Thanks, Julie"
    via u/Micosilver
  • 38
    Gnarlyfoodman I was interviewed for a management position some time ago, and to my delight received the position. A while later I was settled into the role and with several subordinate positions available was ready to hire. Turns out one of the subordinates was someone who I beat in the initial management interview - I know because he told us so
    via u/Gnarlyfoodman
  • 39
    initially, which I didn't take to be a bad thing, but rather as an indication that he was ambitious. I was soon proven wrong, as after a horribly awkward interview in which none of the questions asked were answered, we reached the question/comment period. He then asked me why I thought I was more qualified than him and how much luck
    via u/Gnarlyfoodman
  • 40
    did I think was involved in beating him for my current position. Being a little surprised at the question I bumbled a bit in response with "ah...well...." took a deep breath to give him a straight up response and put him in his place. During this time, and throughout my following answer, he would interject with
    via u/Gnarlyfoodman
  • 41
    "ya? mmhmm? yeah Im sure. yup. thats what I thought" Upon informing him he wasn't being given the position a week later he thanked me for the position. repeatedly and asked when he could begin working. So. Awkward.
    via u/Gnarlyfoodman
  • 42
    swandi I sat-in on an interview where the other interviewer was basically screening the potential employee to see if she would fit in with their little clique. Even asked about going out drinking after work, and complaining about the previous worker to see if the new one would agree with her. If I was ever on an interview like that, I'd probably walk out.
    via u/swandi
  • 43
    W.. Q: Why do you want to be a software engineer? A: Because writing code and seeing it work is the closest a man can become to being god-like since man cannot give birth to child. Edit: hired and still holds the position. Extremely weird, hard working, smart, but frustrating to work together with.
    via u/Woodszy

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