Job candidate arrives early for 10:00 AM interview, manager shows up 10 minutes late and blames it on the candidate: 'I don't know if I want to interview someone who's late'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 13, 2025 8:00 AM EST

Don't you just love it when an employer reframes their own mistake as if it's your fault?

This job candidate arrived at the retail store where he was going to be interviewed five minutes before opening. He was meant to be interviewed right at 10:00 AM sharp. This was confirmed via email. When he arrived there, it looked like no one was inside, so he waited on a bench right next to the front door for several minutes.

By 10:02 AM, nobody else appeared. The candidate took another look at who was there, and finally, an employee let them in. By the time the manager showed up, it had been an additional 10 minutes. That's when the manager showed her true colors. 

She proceeded to blame the delay in the interview start time on the candidate for not being inside at 10:00 AM despite the fact that no one was there to let them in… not even the manager herself. Keep scrolling below for the full story and to find out what happened when the candidate reported the incident to corporate!

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  • You have to hand it to this author for refusing to take the blame, especially given that most individuals under these circumstances would either assume that responsibility or do nothing at all. This candidate did neither of those things. In fact, they even went so far as to follow up with corporate to ensure that upper management understood how incompetent this lady was.

  • "Manager tried to refuse to interview me because I was 'late' when I was actually 5 minutes early and she was 10 minutes late..."

    I'm back! Interviewing with a few companies lately, and this has been one of the worst experiences.
    via p-heiress
  • Store opens at 10, interview is at 10. Walk up at 9:55, door is locked. Sit on the bench by the door. They didn't unlock the doors by 10:02 so I stood in front of the door and saw an employee
    via p-heiress
  • counting the drawer. She came and unlocked the door at 10:05. Said the manager will be here in 5 minutes.
    via p-heiress
  • Manager comes in at 10:10. We go into the office, she starts by saying "I don't know if I want to interview someone who's late." ??
    via p-heiress
  • I tell her I got there 5 minutes early, and her employee is the one who didn't open the door until 5 minutes after opening time. Then reminded her that she was 10 minutes late, and asked what does that say about her? We did a short interview.
    via p-heiress
  • I called corporate the second I left. Update: I just got off the phone with the regional manager of this company, and she took this very seriously!! Asked me all of the
    via p-heiress
  • details and even took the time to ask about myself and see how I was doing and wished me luck finding a position!! Best outcome I could have hoped for!
    via p-heiress
  • A woman sits at a desk opposite a man in a job interview.
    via Unsplash+ (Ahmet Kurt)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • r48811 I was reading about the struggles of employers recently. They were going on about how no one shows up to interviews or walks out in their first week. Of course this isn't because they are shit employers and the applicants are just finding better jobs. Regardless, if I had a dime for every employer who ghosted me, I wouldn't have to work. So fuck their struggles
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress Right!? I've been through three jobs in the past couple months because they've outright lied about the position before I started, or they have absolute shitty managers/supervisors. It makes me sick.
    via p-heiress
  • Efficient_Mastodons Yeah, you don't want to work there. Every time she does something out of line she'll blame it on the employees.
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress I thought the same thing. She blamed this incident on the employee, who told her on the phone that I was late because she didn't see me waiting at the door. Sorry, I didn't realize I was a dog?
    via p-heiress
  • strawberrywine21 Calling corporate was a good call. It might not change anything, but it might. Especially if this is the 5th or 6th time they've gotten the same complaint about that manager.
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress Yeah, honestly I just hope she realizes she can't try to bully someone when she doesn't know the whole story. She tried to embarrass me, and I wasn't having it.
    via p-heiress
  • [deleted] I would have said, "Don't interview me then!" and promptly leave.
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress I should have but already drove there. She was bad at interviewing, too, so that was kind of a plus.
    via p-heiress
  • sliccricc83 What was her face like when you called out her tardiness
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress Just deadpan. Then said "alright let's start" then I let loose and didn't care about the outcome and cracked a few jokes which she didn't understand then she went into a 15 minute story about the company.
    via p-heiress
  • ragdolldream My question is how did she find out you were "5 minutes late?" Like, what shitty potential coworker ran off to tell the manager as she came in that you walked in at 05? Wild.
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress It was the employee opening the store. Apparently they were on the phone at the time the store should have opened (manager told me this) and didn't see me standing at the door waiting so assumed I was late. Even though there's a bench next to the door and she didn't unlock them until 3 minutes after I walked back up to the door. So dumb.
    via p-heiress
  • chainshot91 Clearly you didn't want the job bad enough, you were supposed to break in and be waiting for her to arrive.
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress I SHOULD HAVE LMAO
    via p-heiress
  • LaughableIKR Rules for Thee not for me. If she was so concerned about the time why didn't she know her store was opening late?
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress Because it wasn't supposed to open late
    via p-heiress
  • Heres MyBSAccount A VERY common occurrence right now (or was, I think the unemployment boost ended) is employers intentionally listing $X/hr in listings then putting $X- _/hr on the job offer because then when you reject the offer for being lied to they report you to the office to have your benefits stripped for "rejecting a job offer." My girlfriend applied for 3 companies as management and all 3 referred her to other job portals that only list "cashier $7.25" and telling her "no no it's fine j
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress That is so shitty!!! Two jobs I've had in the last couple of month offered full-time. First one was only 25 hours a week, current one is 30 hours a week. When I told them I needed benefits, manager said I didn't qualify. NO SHIT AMBER.
    via p-heiress
  • BillyClubxxx What did she say when you threw that back in her face?
    via p-heiress
  • OP p-heiress "Let's get started" lol I'm surprised she even wanted to. I let loose though and didn't care about the outcome
    via p-heiress

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Tags

employment issues hiring manager retail worker unprofessional job interview entitled people toxic-work-environment
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