20+ Job candidates who walked out of their interviews: 'I was not paid for... my wasted time'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 20, 2025 11:00 AM EST

Sometimes you know a job isn't for you before you even finish the actual interview! 

These days, there are plenty of people searching for jobs, but not enough positions to go around. That means that companies can post about an opening and be absolutely flooded with applicants within hours of posting it. They might get hundreds or even thousands of applicants for a single position, and they'll have to wade through tons of irrelevant ones in order to find the perfect person for the position. 

For the people actually needing new work, this can result in an endless cycle of applying, emailing, interviewing, following up, interviewing, and then eventually getting rejected. It seems like a lot of companies now want their potential hires to endure 3 or 4 interviews before they get an offer! It's all just a lot to handle, especially if you're unemployed during the process. And for some people, having their time wasted was an absolute no-no. It's quite empowering to read about the people who matched the energy of negative interviewers by walking right out that door and never looking back. It's a great reminder of all the red flags you might spot while chatting with a hiring manager: some will offer insultingly low salaries, or will get distracted over and over again during the interview. At a certain point, you just have to call it a day and move on to the next (potential) job. 

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  • 01

    'People who walked out of a job interview, why did you do it?'

    Woman in black tank top holds pen to notebook while looking unhappily at woman to her right, wearing blazer and white shirt, also holding pen to notebook and looking unhappy
    via Christina @ wocintechchat.com for Unsplash+

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

  • 02
    mtg-Moonkeeper Interviewer: What would you do if an employee of 15 years asked for a raise? Me: I'd remind him that he already gets a yearly raise... Interviewer: I don't give out raises.
    via u/mtg-Moonkeeper
  • 03
    [deleted] Refusal to discuss salary... this was interview #3
    via u/[deleted]
  • 04
    RumBunBun Years ago, I went to an interview, and sat down with the man who was to interview me. Sat in silence while he read something on his computer for a few minutes, then waited for a minute or so while he looked over my resume (it was a small business, he is the same person who called me to set up the interview and
    via u/RumBunBun
  • 05
    he'd had the resume for a few days.) He finally looked up at me and said, "Well, I'm not sure why you applied for this job; you really don't have any of the skills or experience I'm looking for." He was just so arrogant and I felt like he was trying to make a power
    via u/RumBunBun
  • 06
    move to make a lowball offer. I didn't apply to any job that I wasn't qualified for. I was just instantly ped that he was playing games. I calmly said, "Then I'm not sure why you're wasting my time," and I stood and walked to the door. He said something like, "Oh, no, let's talk," and I told him I wasn't interested in working for him.
    via u/RumBunBun
  • 07
    I had a job already, I just wasn't terribly happy with it, so I really didn't feel like putting up with his b.s.
    via u/RumBunBun
  • 08
    Woman in black business attire with blonde hair looks to her right at woman in suit jacket who holds a notebook and pen and smiles, in office setting
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 09
    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.
    via u/lookssharp
  • 10
    kokumslayer69 Showed up for a construction/trades workers "hiring event". I'm a plumber by trade and work was bleak as h I in my city at the time, so I went. Sh looked legit until they sat us down to speak about the work scope. They claimed to be one of the companies that were building Rogers Place in Edmonton. After they gave us sketchy details they said
    via u/kokumslayer69
  • 11
    "however, if you don't want to do that you can...." And started speaking about how to do door to door sales of mostly chocolate in the higher end communities around the city. They talked construction for maybe 15 minutes and the rest was door to door chocolate sales
    via u/kokumslayer69
  • 12
    and unicef fundraising and how we can have an income of 150k+ a year doing that. I left probably 20 minutes into that. I had a friend who champed it out and stay the entire time. The stories he told me were hilarious. Ironically, 30 minutes after I left, I got a call from a company who was actually a contractor on the Rogers Place job and ended up working for them for 4+ years.
    via u/kokumslayer69
  • 13
    Karbar049 I'm a vet tech. Interviewed at a primary care, single doctor practice. The manager was over 25 minutes late to my interview. While I waited for her, the front desk staff ignored me while they talked cr p about the techs, manager, and clients. The manager said they did not believe in referring to any specialists, because "Dr. A is a specialist in everything
    via u/Karbar049
  • 14
    from grizzly bears to canaries." He was not, he hadn't even done a rotating internship and definitely had not done any type of residency program. I had already worked in a toxic clinic, but at least the doctors were competent. When she asked if I had any questions, I just asked if I could have my resume back, so I didn't waste the paper.
    via u/Karbar049
  • 15
    D Beavis The guy interviewing me interrupted the interview to scream at one of his employees. Like red in the face screaming and berating the guy. And then tried to just pick up where we left off like it was nothing. No thank you.
    via u/D****Beavis
  • 16
    DeftTrack81 Owner of a bar told me in the 1st interview. to never approach him with a problem because I wouldn't like how he fixed it.
    via u/DeftTrack81
  • 17
    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.
    via u/Alpha_Hellhound
  • 18
    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 out the door. My life is worth more than $20 an hour.
    via u/Alpha_Hellhound
  • 19
    Turnbob73 I applied for a register position at Pizza Hut. I specifically told them during my 2 interviews that I cannot be a delivery driver due to my car being unreliable, they even acknowledged that and told me okay. Got the job, came in for training on the first day, the very first thing they do is sit me down in a chair and started up a training video on delivery
    via u/Turnbob73
  • 20
    driving. I asked them if I could skip it since I'm only working the register/in the kitchen, and the manager tells me that every position is a delivery driver. Walked out right then and there and got paid for 1 hour of training.
    via u/Turnbob73
  • 21
    cgi... It was a virtual interview and I ended it. The interviewer was a complete j, 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.
    via u/cginc1
  • 22
    EmbalmMeDaddy Happened fairly recently. Made it to the third interview for a large company. The first two they told me what my role would be, base pay + commission, told me they were so excited to have me on board because of my experience. So I sit down for the third interview. They again go over my role, my pay, etc.
    via u/EmbalmMeDaddy
  • 23
    They say they're prepared to offer me that job right now and had the paperwork ready since this morning. BUT THEN. They say "But we already hired someone for that. So instead what we'd like you to do is.." and proceeded to tell me the pay was less than half what they were already offering me prior for a lot more work.
    via u/EmbalmMeDaddy
  • 24
    Basically I went from being offered a management job to just being asked to train all the new employees they just hired then step down to cashier for $10 per hour. And no guaranteed hours. I stood up and told them I was worried I was wasting their time prior to this interview because I wasn't entirely sold on the job yet.
    via u/EmbalmMeDaddy
  • 25
    But after today, it's become. pretty apparent you guys were the ones wasting my time instead. No thank you. And I left. About an hour later I got a phone call asking for a fourth interview. They called almost every day for two weeks asking me to come back and talk to the owner.
    via u/EmbalmMeDaddy
  • 26
    Oudeis16 I should have; I stayed there out of morbid curiosity to see how low they would go, but I had made the decision I wasn't gonna work there early in the process.
    via u/Oudeis16
  • 27
    I'm glad I stayed. The last thing that happened in the interview was the CEO personally asking us all to promise that, if we ever make a mistake, the company will calculate how much that mistake cost us, and we will voluntarily pay the company that amount.
    via u/Oudeis16
  • 28
    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.
    via u/Balrog229
  • 29
    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 need to know about how little you value your employees.
    via u/Balrog229
  • 30
    I should also note that this job wasn't paying exceptionally well. Above minimum wage, but not at a level that was even enough to live on.
    via u/Balrog229
  • 31
    [d... 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
    via u/[deleted]
  • 32
    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 he didn't bring me back home immediately, I was going to call the police and report a kidnapping. I was brought back to my car, but I
    via u/[deleted]
  • 33
    was not paid for the several hours of my wasted time. Fuck you, Pacific Prime of Cromwell, Connecticut.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 34
    dansize1 Not so much a walk out, but we both knew that it was over. Interview with Radio Shack around 1990. I was a home stereo geek and was looking for the next college job. Interview with a regional manager for a slot in one of his stores.
    via u/dansize1
  • 35
    Interview goes well and he asks if I have any questions. I ask about compensation. He explained that there was a base rate, close to minimum wage, wage, but salespeople were "expected" to exceed that with their commissions on sales made. He went on to tell me that the vacant position was due to someone that couldn't do this on a consistent basis.
    via u/dansize1
  • 36
    "How do you feel about that?" "Well, I can't say that I'm confident enough about your product line for that to make me very happy." Yeah, it was over at that point.
    via u/dansize1
  • 37
    ASK_IF_IM_PENG... Not quite an interview, but... When I finished University I didn't have a sensible job to go to immediately. I went to a job agency and said I was looking for a temporary job for experience working in my chosen field (IT) - I didn't mind exactly what it was, or really how much it paid. We talked about my existing
    via u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
  • 38
    qualifications and experience. At the end of the "interview" they said they had the perfect job for me. Someone will pick me up the following. morning. I said that I could drive, but no... they would pick me up. Fine. As I said, didn't really care where it was or exactly what I was doing as long as it met my (admittedly vague)
    via u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
  • 39
    requests, and they assured me that it was. The following day a minibus came to get me. So where did they take me to work? A salad packing factory, to spend the day literally packing salad. I was getting paid, so what did it matter for one day... The worst was finding out over lunch was that if I had
    via u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
  • 40
    literally just turned up at the factory they would have probably given me work. That is what happened for most of the staff there, who were largely seasonal workers from eastern europe...and those folk were also paid more than me, not because I was new, but anybody who just turned up would likely get work and get paid more than I was.
    via u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
  • 41
    Obviously they took us there by minibus so we wouldn't just leave once we'd been tricked into going. So I did. exactly that, finished my lunch and then walked home.
    via u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
  • 42
    detectivebabylegz I walked out of a second interview. The promised/advertised wage had been changed due to a recent budget change. Was substantially lower than what was promised on the ad and in my first interview.
    via u/detectivebabylegz
  • 43
    It was for an Assistant Manger's role (pre- at a cinema. I thanked them for wasting my time and walked out and got a Five Guys.
    via u/detectivebabylegz
  • 44
    [deleted] I'm in my 30s but look in my 20s. I applied at a music store. The place was an independently owned place in Mineola NY run by some eccentric old guy. He didn't believe I was even in my 20s. He thought I was a teenager lying about my age and demanded to call my parents and high school to get their permission. So, out the door I was...
    via u/[deleted]
  • 45
    PuckDad Walked out of the third interview after they offered me a sales job that paid less with fewer benefits, after I was clear about my wage expectations. I thanked them for wasting both of our time.
    via u/PuckDad
  • 46
    ThomasLipnip I had been told it was a marketing job. The first interview was about marketing and took place in an office. I got a call back and was very happy as it meant I'd be able to get out of a call center and do something I liked. I took my last day off I was allowed to go to the next interview, and when I got there they said
    via u/ThomasLipnip
  • 47
    they wanted me to go to the local home depot with them. I got there and found out it was an MLM. I was so stunned that I let them take me out of the floor, and show off the aggressive sales technique they wanted me to use on random customers. I walked out crying because now I had no days off to interview and I was ashamed to have been tricked by the first interview.
    via u/ThomasLipnip
  • 48
    thornyrosary I moved to a new city, and tried finding a job in my preferred area. I went to an interview where I sat down with two well-polished ladies, who were the company owners. One of the women said, "Glad you could make it! Now, before we really begin, I see where you were being paid X amount per hour at your last
    via u/thornyrosary
  • 49
    job. I'm sorry, we can't afford to pay you that much." I immediately smiled, stood right back up, and said, "Thank you for not further wasting my time." The shocked look on both their faces was priceless as I skedaddled on out of there.
    via u/thornyrosary
  • 50
    They were probably expecting negotiations, but honestly, any person who opens an interview with THAT kind of statement deserves a walkout.
    via u/thornyrosary

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