HR boss rejects one candidate for being 2 minutes early to the interview instead of 5 minutes, rejects another for wearing brown shoes with a black belt: 'These people had better qualifications than our current team.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jul 26, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

Job interviews are a lot like dates…a lot of times, people are actively looking for a reason to reject someone instead of looking for reasons to stick with them. For dating, a lot of this comes down to that initial feeling of attraction. If you don't feel attracted to someone in the first moments of meeting them, but you feel guilty about that because they're nice enough, you might find yourself searching for arbitrary reasons to reject them. I certainly do this! One time, I pretended to be offended that someone from one of my classes asked me out over Instagram DMs instead of in person, but in reality, I didn't think they were that attractive. The same kind of logic applies in job interviews. Someone can have everything right on paper, but if a hiring manager doesn't "vibe" with them, they will reject them over the smallest thing. 

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  • With dating, it's more neutral to reject people over small things if you're not into them. With hiring employees, it can move talented candidates away from a company where they're very much needed. This story is a classic case of the latter, with a power-crazed boss rejecting candidates over the smallest things.

  • 01

    Real things my boss has disqualified candidates over.

    So I work in HR and my boss has rejected perfectly good candidates for the dumbest reasons.
    via u/Xandit
  • 02
    Guy wore brown shoes with a black belt. "Shows poor attention to detail" Woman asked about work/life balance during the interview. Apparently that means she's "not committed"
    via u/Xandit
  • 03
    Cheezburger Image 10534273280
    via Ervan M Wirawan

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

  • 04
    Someone said "um" twice while answering a technical question. "Poor communication skills" Candidate was 2 minutes early instead of exactly 5 minutes early. "Can't follow simple instructions"
    via u/Xandit
  • 05
    5)
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • 06
    Person brought a coffee into the interview. "Unprofessional" The kicker? Half these people had better qualifications than our current team. But sure, let's hire based on shoe color instead of actual skills.
    via u/Xandit
  • 07
    Cheezburger Image 10534264576
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • 08
    wongatronus Has there been any actual discussion/debate on these "deficiencies" or is it a 1 way conversation? I suspect the latter.
    via u/wongatronus
  • 09
    Xandit OP Oh it's 100% a one way thing. I've tried pushing back a few times with "but they have 2-5 years of experience and great references" and he just doubles down. Says these "small details" reveal character flaws that'll show up later. Meanwhile we're short staffed and complaining about how hard it is to hire good people. Go figure.
    via u/Xandit
  • 10
    jorhey14 Probably gets a bonus for keeping the budget under a certain cost and what's the best way to do that? by being understaffed..
    via u/jorhey14
  • 11
    SS_wypipo Sounds like dude read some motivational "alpha male guide to business" type book and decided that's going to be his personality. The unfortunate part is that this isn't that rare.
    via u/SS_wypipo
  • 12
    butter_lover i've worked on teams where these minor 'deficiencies' were strangely only found with certain types of candidates and ignored with other types of candidates
    via u/butter_lover
  • 13
    bikesexually Bosses have to pretend that they have some secret insight into what makes a good employee rather than the regular things that everyone can see. Otherwise why are they the boss? Company sabotage in the name of 'I'm so special so I get paid more'
    via u/bikesexually
  • 14
    Xandit OP My boss acts like spotting mismatched accessories is some kind of genius level talent assessment. It's wild how some managers would rather feel important than actually build a decent team.
    via u/Xandit
  • 15
    NEU_Throwaway1 I have the completely opposite opinion Imao. I'm disqualifying someone if they are way too about tiny mismatched accessories. I'm not saying that attention to detail is bad, but if you're going to criticize me on just my belt and my shoes as the main point of focus, it says to me that all you care about is bulls optics and lip service and won't pay attention to the overall picture.
    via u/NEU_Throwaway1
  • 16
    sgtslaughterTV Hate to say it, but I'm sure we all know that one guy at work who is telling everybody what to do, while he himself doesn't do all that much. That guy gets promoted because he can see the bigger picture and knows what everyone should be doing. I worked for a guy like that who smoked wed at work all the time, but he was one of the cofounders at the last company where I worked.
    via u/sgtslaughterTV
  • 17
    And that guy who does more work than anyone else at the company, shows exemplary behavior and kindness to everyone and is a model employee? Well, the company doesn't promote him because they need someone at the bottom who does all of that "heavy lifting."
    via u/sgtslaughterTV
  • 18
    The8uLove2Hate_ My super misanthropic take: you say these people were more qualified than the team you do have. Lots of these useless middle-management types know well they'd never have gotten so far if it were only down to competence, so when they see someone whose competence scares them, they get rid of them. These don't sound like real reasons to me (though I know people this petty exist, don't get me wrong); these all sound like some bulls reasons he pulled out on the fly to avoid hiring peo
    via u/The8uLove2Hate_
  • 19
    Xandit OP You're probably spot on. I've seen this exact pattern before, he gets visibly uncomfortable when candidates clearly outshine him during interviews.
    via u/Xandit
  • 20
    Alikona_05 I was included in the interviews for a temp that would be filling in for me while I was on medical leave. One of the candidates asked if it was ok if she could be off 1 Friday during my leave because she had made prior plans and had tickets to an event she was really excited to go to and couldn't cancel.
    via u/Alikona_05
  • 21
    My coworker pressed her into explaining what this event was. It was a comic con and she explained how she had VIP tickets to see one of her favorite star trek actors. I thought this women was well spoken, intelligent, friendly and came off as outgoing. She had the technical skills needed for my position as well. My coworker (a boomer) told me he didn't like her and didn't think she would fit into our work culture because “the whole comic con thing is really weird”.
    via u/Alikona_05
  • 22
    That day enforced my belief that you should never share your personal sh at work. This guy would probably fall over de d if he knew the types of audiobooks or music I listen to at work, the fact that I like to play video games in my free time, or that my upstairs bathtub has dinosaur anti slip stickers in it because "lol why not, dinosaurs are awesome". None of that sh affects how well I do my job.
    via u/Alikona_05
  • 23
    Xandit OP Your coworker missed out on someone qualified because she likes Star Trek?
    via u/Xandit
  • 24
    BeanBurritoJr If you haven't noticed yet, the absolutely dumbest people run the world right now. Top to bottom. Capitalism has selectively bread super confident, outspoken, morons with a lack of empathy and who don't know how a thing works. -sure, idiots to The most ungrateful, presumptive, ever draw breath. They aren't in every leadership position, for sure. But the the entire system is infested with them.
    via u/BeanBurritoJr
  • 25
    Muncleman They are in desperate need of selection and hiring training. I have seen similar things during my 15 years of managing people and it drives me crazy as most of these were panel interviews requiring consensus to advanced someone.
    via u/Muncleman
  • 26
    Xandit OP The panel consensus thing makes it 10x worse. One person's weird hangup about coffee becomes everyone's problem. I've started documenting these rejections because honestly, some of this stuff feels like it could become a legal issue if the wrong person notices the pattern.
    via u/Xandit
  • 27
    AmbiguousFrijoles Bring it up sooner rather than later. You are the person who found it and realizes it could very well be a problem, it's a now problem that needs to be addressed. Escalation is in order. From your wording, I believe that you want to protect the company from legal mismanagement. HR is there to protect the company, this is an instance when HR should be brought in.
    via u/AmbiguousFrijoles

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job interviews boss bosses work interviews reddit story human resources workplace Horrible Bosses bad bosses Reddit job interview interview workplace stories workplace story
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