Interviewer demands candidate arrive for the job interview in a costume, forcing candidate to pass on the opportunity: ‘Why… just why?’

Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor

Jun 18, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

What is an appropriate outfit to wear to a job interview?

There's an episode of Modern Family in which Mitchell arrives at work in a Halloween costume after a few coworkers tell him that everyone dresses up on Halloween. Only when he gets to work in a Spider-Man costume, Mitchell, an esteemed lawyer, discovers he is actually the only one dressed up, and everyone else is dressed in their suits.

That is what I imagined happening when I read the story below. A hiring manager texted a job candidate saying they "like to have fun here" and asking them to arrive in a costume. They proceeded to say that they want to see that they have a sense of humor, and that the costume will help them see their personality. Then they ended the text saying that they will also be in costume.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I read this text from a workplace I'm interviewing for, there is no chance I'm showing up for that interview, costume or no costume.

There's no way of telling whether this is a setup or not. What would happen if you arrive in a costume and the company pulls a Modern Family trick and everyone else is wearing normal clothes? How are you supposed to interview for them like that? But even if this text is completely serious and they all actually dress up for a bit of whimsy in the office… It sounds like an awful place to work, honestly. No one wants their workplace to enforce fun by making everyone wear a costume on a random Tuesday. A fun office is a fun office without needing to try so hard. Either you got it, or you don't.

It seems like the person who posted this text and story on Reddit feels similarly, since they never showed up to the job interview. Keep scrolling to read what others had to say about the whole ordeal.

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Why… just why?

via Ok-Nobody8264
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via Vitaly Gariev

^{Man in a superhero costume working on a laptop, depicted by a model.}
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via Acceptable--4813
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via s**hole1509
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via Ok-Nobody8264
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via ThighCurlContest
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via iB3ar
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via Disastrous_Yam8354
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via Andrej Lišakov

^{Employees in holiday costumes talking to a working coworker, displayed by models.}
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via VersionX
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via _The_Space_Monkey_